re: Remove

TB357, Does Kai need surgery on her ankle?? She has been plagued with this for two or three years. If so, I hope they get it done so she can compete soundly nest year.

Even if Kai of any of th either girls need surgery, most hospitals are canceling all elective surgeries until further notice

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T357 thanks for your reply. I’m sure the coaches know the importance of getting everyone healthy, but the other issues I wasn’t so sure of. I know I’ve been reading about the routine construction issues all season long from you and others who know the sport so well. I keep wondering why the coaches don’t recognize the problem. Some things are beyond their control, like injuries, but tweaking routines seems like a fairly easy fix. Do you think DD and Jay are on the same page in that regard? How do you feel about the co-coaches arrangement, and how long do you think that will go on for? TIA

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I’m gonna spit ball here. DD and Jay both love difficulty, which I respect a lot. It’s refreshing to see athletes go above and Beyond what is required. As great as Ross is for UCLA, I really get bored with her. She is literally doing bare minimum every time. I have tremendous respect for trinity Thomas who does it both with her execution and difficulty across all events. I want LSU to continue to compete with high levels of difficulty, I just to be smart about it. I see zero point in putting difficulty in the routine if the execution is awful. Mistakes are mistakes and will still get deducted.

I think jay still sees DD as the true face of the program considering she has been here for 40 years but everyone’s opinions are still important, they actually agree on most things but the buck has to stop somewhere. I think DD wants to retire at some point really soon but wants to try to get a national title before going out. I thought we missed a golden opportunity not winning a title with Finnegan’s class (not that we didn’t accomplish great things) but LSU has some pretty crazy stacked classes coming in. Issue is other teams like Florida, Utah and UCLA do as well. In order to achieve a national title, the adjustments as discussed before will need to take place. We won’t have a talent issue. Our goals are all right there and the issues are all fixable.

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As for next season for an early look, we will have a lot of exciting options

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Not to forget Chase Brock, who's a powerhouse on vault and floor! I can see her in a Sarah Edwards role in the long run.

The freshmen will really provide some much-needed depth that was missing this year. If Ferrer can return to her freshman level, that'd be even more depth.

Btw which vault was Alyona training? Yurchenko full or 1.5?

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Not to forget Chase Brock, who's a powerhouse on vault and floor! I can see her in a Sarah Edwards role in the long run.

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Brock has a lot of potential to play a big role on power events. I gusss I’m hesitant to say she comes in and competes immediately as she is coming off two seasons in a row with injuries. Maybe she makes a big splash this fall when she comes in.

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The freshmen will really provide some much-needed depth that was missing this year. If Ferrer can return to her freshman level, that'd be even more depth.

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I don’t know what the status of Ferrer is at this point. As stated before, she has lost a lot of weight within the last year and it will take a Time for her to get back the stamina and strength to compete again.

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Btw which vault was Alyona training? Yurchenko full or 1.5?

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Only did fulls this spring as expected coming off the Achilles injury. I suspect they try to upgrade to 1.5 at some point

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Maddie Rau?

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Rau will be hard pressed to find a spot in the lineup if her vault doesn’t clean up. It’s very messy in the air and the landing has always been uncontrolled.

DD has stated countless times that we threw her vault out there this year because we had no other options and we didn’t.

Kai, Dunne, Bryant, Edwards and Johnson are probably going to be favorites to start with Arenas, Brock, Ryan, Alyona and Rau competing to win that last spot. Rau will have very stiff competition to hold onto a spot. Last year her competition was Nibbs, D’Antonio and Durante.

All the people I listed are not the only options btw. Dean will still provide depth to bars, Goodrich will on floor, Rau will on vault. With our injury situation over the last few years, depth can’t be under stated enough. You just never know when you will need someone. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get to that point again.

I agree essentially with your picks

Olivia Dunne vaulted significantly better this past JO season than Elena Arenas did but Arenas has had a more decorated elite career as a vaulter. Regardless that is a good problem to have. I am intrigued to see what Brock, Alyona and Ryan bring to vault next year. I also anticipate a couple kids upgrade their fulls. The goal is to have five 10.0 vaults. I can live with a clean stuck full!

I think Arenas gets in the bar lineup. Her routine is super clean and has a beautiful double layout. Dunne and Alyona have nice routines with questions on the dismounts. Jay has to figure out the dismounts between Dunne and Alyona. They also realistically should water down Alyonas routine. She can still have a hard routine not starting from a 10.4.

I think Bryant knocks Dean out the beam lineup at some point unless she can’t stay on the beam. Her form is much better as is her leaps. Alyona could be intriguing, but she didn’t train beam a whole lot this spring before being thrown out there. She has a good routine but a full offseason to train and polish should make it a wildcard. Dunne is going to bring killer beam scores If DD gets rid of the switch leap to switch half

I just question Kai being able to get healthy enough for a full season on floor. It’s been a issue for years. I hope they figure it out because she is wonderful on that event and can be a game changer. Alyona can be useful on floor, only if they put usable tumbling in there. Her coaches botched her routine construction as an elite.

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I also was hesitant to include Katlyn Johnson because I just don’t know what to expect from her. She’s been so injured lately.

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She is 2021 I thought. She has over a year to get healthy and together before LSU. She had surgery last year after a elite qualifier. Jos were cut short anyways this year.

I keep thinking she is 2021. It seems like a really long time ago that I watched her at the US Classic. Time has really flown by. It’s crazy to think that Dunne, Erenas, and Johnson were all elite just a few years ago. But I’m happy they each stepped down to JO. It’s much easier on their bodies in the long run.

I’m not sure why some of these girls don’t work more in the off-season like Miya did. All the coaches commented about how much she improved and how hard she worked in the offseason to get into the aa. I know not all of them need to but some of them could definitely use the work and reps in the offseason. I’m super excited about next season but I hope they don’t pull Bridget off all events. She has gotten better every season and always been so dependable and such a team player.