re: Remove

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At a bigtime school like LSU the best should hit the floor loyalty aside.

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Yep. I hope after these super seniors are gone, we start to see this.

One media member had the balls to ask about other options on beam besides Sami during the media session today


Jay's response was he has full confidence in Sami. Says decisions are based on things in the gym and then mentions every athlete goes through struggles.


Seems doubtful we see Kiya and Haleigh in the AA on Friday with everything else going on both. Realistically, they probably arent going to take a major risk with SEC's right after this just for one regular season meet.

Tigerbait just watched the interview haha loved that media member being like she hasn’t scored over 9.775 (or something around that level) is it a good idea to keep putting her on beam ??.

Sad about hailey and kiya - if they can’t compete hope that we put Aleya in on bars and then maybe kj on beam to replace kiya if we need to. I was happy with Sarah replacing kiya last week just think we could organise the lineup better so that hayleigh is last to go ( if she is able). Do not want to see Sami on beam or floor

Finally someone has voiced what I’ve wondered for a while. Is this NIL stuff, and fame, and social media a distraction for some of the girls? I’ve wondered if they’re as mentally focused on gymnastics as they are on other things. I’m not talking about all of them, certainly not Haleigh or Kiya. But a few of them I do think may be focusing on other things more than gymnastics. I don’t know what Jay was talking about in particular when he said there was a lack of focus during warmups in Friday, but I thought that was a little red flag. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into that.

It’s not just a gymnastics issue. I believe the problem exists in some part in other sports as well, football in particular.

I was just theorizing when I stated that but it seems to make the most sense to me. Prior to her social media presence blowing up, Livvy was one of the cleanest gymnasts on the team with a pretty much secured spot in at least 2, potentially 3 of our lineups (I would’ve had her on floor over sierra last year if she was healthy given her lines she’s had for years and how clean her tumbling has proven to be on floor her entire gymnastics career along with her elegance in the choreography). It now feels like she’s paying more attention to building her brand, securing deals and posting photos and videos of herself over the details of her gymnastics like the rest of her teammates. Despite their issues internally with the program and their struggles during meets this season, even UCLA, who’s program’s social media accounts have more interactions than LSU, have less brand deals than Livvy as a collective and seem to be focusing more on trying to execute their routines in and out of the gym, than promoting themselves online, despite being in Los Angeles and having more opportunities to do so solely based on location. I’ve also noticed it a little bit with Sarah and Christina lately too.

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I don’t know what Jay was talking about in particular when he said there was a lack of focus during warmups in Friday, but I thought that was a little red flag. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into that.

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I don’t think you’re reading too much into it though. I had the same thought/question/curiosity about this statement

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Jay's response was he has full confidence in Sami. Says decisions are based on things in the gym and then mentions every athlete goes through struggles.

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Sami’s entire beam career is a struggle though.

Shaquilleoatmeal- that post is one for the ages!

All kidding aside - like, why Jay, why? When the media even has the guts to question it (I think there is a double
Standard when it comes to gymnastics versus other sports and being reasonably critical of the athletes) - then you know it is an extremely noticeable problem.

Actually I do know what I’m talking about with regards to Livvy. Look at her form on bars in 2017/2018 vs now. She has regressed significantly. She has multiple form issues throughout her routine including on her dismount and has struggled with it all year long. If the judges actually did their job, she wouldn’t score above a 9.8 ever. And while yes, most of her social media brand began building prior to coming to LSU, the NIL rules being put in place have resulted in a massive increase in her popularity to where she can now make money off of her brand. As a fan, it often, at least to me, feels like she’s putting more energy and time into her brand than her gymnastics. And that is my opinion. Also, the comments on this thread about the team are not an overreaction. They are a general concern for the team and desire for them to be successful, but many coaching decisions have, at least in my opinion, hindered that success from happening year after year. As a long time fan of this program, it’s a bit concerning to me at this point that we’ve had so much talent and supposed depth in this program for years and yet it doesn’t get used as much as it should because the coaches have valued loyalty with the older gymnasts over giving the underclassmen a chance to compete in order to build the depth and the future of the program. We are probably the only team in the country who doesn’t take full advantage of the depth our team has, especially in the freshman class, year after year. We have yet to win a national championship as a program and there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for that

Did y'all see the post on the college gymnastics FB page about the judges on Friday? No judges from Louisiana, one from Utah, and two from Alabama. The other one is from NC and they said she tends to judge high. Hopefully this won't be a factor.

Would be nice but I think it’ll be tough to get people to travel that way. Women's basketball will be hosting a tournament game that weekend plus baseball.