OT Artistic Gymnastics

[cheermommaRN]

I would be interested in seeing a correlation between the current athletes training on the National team and how many of them came from TOPS/HOPES. The whole point of those programs was to start improving the amount of world level athletes we had and it seems to be working.
I can't wait until Rio...

 

[gofriars610]

This is my new favorite thing: Rambunctiously soft-spoken

 

[Ally13]

Simone signed with Nike! I hope they start making leos

 

[Pebbles49]

Simone signed with Nike! I hope they start making leos

You can call me A Rebel without Cause, but I am getting real sick of organizations that are refusing to allow these elite athletes to earn money for their talents when they are at their peak in the sport. A sport like gymnastics, which offer our female athletes limited peaks years at the top should not deny them the ability to compete in college.

Simone, you get your MONEY, why wait! I will like to end this using the famous slogan from the JG Wentworth bank ad - "It's My(her) Money and I (she) Need(s) It Now"!!!

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

I don't think it's a big deal that they have to decide between making money and college. It's worked that way for boys sports for years - you have to weigh the money you can make as a pro against the value of the free college education. Simone just got big enough that the numbers worked out so that going pro was a no brainer.

The vast majority of female gymnasts have no serious income potential from a "pro career" - you really need to be a big name and be a serious Olympic contender. So very few of them are missing out cause of the rule - actually we should be thankful cause I think the NCAA rule keeps them from trying to turn themselves into Gymlebrities so they can do web shows, sell merchandise and travel around doing clinics like we see so much in cheer :/.

Also, competing in college would have been so boring for Simone - she would have had to tone down her routines and would have been so dominate it would have been ridiculous - heck, she's so good that competing elite is probably borderline boring for her too - haha!

 

[gofriars610]

You can call me A Rebel without Cause, but I am getting real sick of organizations that are refusing to allow these elite athletes to earn money for their talents when they are at their peak in the sport. A sport like gymnastics, which offer our female athletes limited peaks years at the top should not deny them the ability to compete in college.

Simone, you get your MONEY, why wait! I will like to end this using the famous slogan from the JG Wentworth bank ad - "It's My(her) Money and I (she) Need(s) It Now"!!!

This is true of all sports. The NCAA is for amateur athletics. Simone is not an amateur. She can still go to college--just not on a gymnastics scholarship. It isn't fair to pit professional athletes against amateurs. It's not a level playing field, so to speak.

Hockey players developmentally peak around the same time--and they can either choose to go to college for a year or two and play for a college team (like Zach Parise, TJ Oshie, and Jack Eichel did), or they can play major junior in Canada, get paid, and forfeit all NCAA eligibility (like Sidney Crosby, Nail Yakupov, and Patrick Kane did). Baseball players as well--they can either play in college or sign with a team and dub around in the minors.

Maintaining amateurism is a gamble, and for some people it pays off (Nastia, Simone, Shawn), and for others it does not. (Rebecca Bross, anyone?)

 

[Ally13]

I agree that NCAA should be kept amateur, but I wish gymnasts that went pro could still compete in college just without a scholarship. Since female gymnasts tend to reach their peak and aim for the Olympics when they're 16-18, they basically reach their max earning potential from endorsements and sponsors before they reach college age. For hockey/basketball/football, it's after college where they have the potential to make the most money as professionals. Most gymnasts that go professional and onto college usually do so a couple years after they're out of the spotlight and aren't making a ton of money from endorsements anyways. Jordyn Wieber for example. Competed elite, went pro, and now is at UCLA being the team manager and probably doesn't have very many lucrative professional endorsements. I think it'd be fine if she competed gymnastics now since she basically doesn't do a whole lot as a pro athlete.

Even though I think an exception would be nice in cases like Bross or Wieber, I think NCAA should be kept amateur overall. I just think it's a little different for female gymnasts because if they want to capitalize on their potential they have to do so basically before they even apply to colleges whereas someone like Jonathan Toews will reach his earning potential/athletic peak around the age when he finishes school.

 

[gofriars610]

I agree that NCAA should be kept amateur, but I wish gymnasts that went pro could still compete in college just without a scholarship. Since female gymnasts tend to reach their peak and aim for the Olympics when they're 16-18, they basically reach their max earning potential from endorsements and sponsors before they reach college age. For hockey/basketball/football, it's after college where they have the potential to make the most money as professionals. Most gymnasts that go professional and onto college usually do so a couple years after they're out of the spotlight and aren't making a ton of money from endorsements anyways. Jordyn Wieber for example. Competed elite, went pro, and now is at UCLA being the team manager and probably doesn't have very many lucrative professional endorsements. I think it'd be fine if she competed gymnastics now since she basically doesn't do a whole lot as a pro athlete.

Even though I think an exception would be nice in cases like Bross or Wieber, I think NCAA should be kept amateur overall. I just think it's a little different for female gymnasts because if they want to capitalize on their potential they have to do so basically before they even apply to colleges whereas someone like Jonathan Toews will reach his earning potential/athletic peak around the age when he finishes school.

Jordyn Wieber is worth about three million dollars. The estimated cost of attendance at UCLA for four years is around $200,000-$250,000 for an out of state student.

I think she made the right call.

 

[cheerKT]

Jordyn Wieber is worth about three million dollars. The estimated cost of attendance at UCLA for four years is around $200,000-$250,000 for an out of state student.

I think she made the right call.

She's also still an Adidas sponsored athlete, so I'm sure she still gets money from them.

 

[gofriars610]

She's also still an Adidas sponsored athlete, so I'm sure she still gets money from them.

Yeah she's hardly a charity case, haha. Plus she gets to go pro in something other than sports when she's all done at UCLA--which is by no means an easy institution to get into.

 

[njallday]

I had this question during worlds but figured it'd be random in the middle of competition talk...

but for 18+ gymnasts who compete for their colleges and team USA... how? Brenna Dowell as my example - she attends OU and competes on their gymnastics team; She competes for Team USA and attends training camps...

I know plenty of olympic athletes in other sports go on temporary leave for a semester or do online/independent study leading up to the olympics but most of them didn't compete for their school. don't you have to be a full time student to compete collegiately? how does she make that work? her classes would have to be mostly online for her to be at monthly training camps, but then how is she making it to all of OU's practices?

 

[cheerKT]

I had this question during worlds but figured it'd be random in the middle of competition talk...

but for 18+ gymnasts who compete for their colleges and team USA... how? Brenna Dowell as my example - she attends OU and competes on their gymnastics team; She competes for Team USA and attends training camps...

I know plenty of olympic athletes in other sports go on temporary leave for a semester or do online/independent study leading up to the olympics but most of them didn't compete for their school. don't you have to be a full time student to compete collegiately? how does she make that work? her classes would have to be mostly online for her to be at monthly training camps, but then how is she making it to all of OU's practices?

She is taking a year off from OU. She completed her freshman year, then decided to return to elite and make a run for Worlds/Rio, so she differed for a year.

Does anyone know if Brittany Rogers took a year off at UGA? She's still listed on the website as a senior, but I'm wondering how she manages training with Canada and school at UGA overlapping.

 

[njallday]

She is taking a year off from OU. She completed her freshman year, then decided to return to elite and make a run for Worlds/Rio, so she differed for a year.

thank you! that makes much more sense. For some reason I thought she was still there for this season and i just didn't understand how she did it all

 

[Ally13]

She is taking a year off from OU. She completed her freshman year, then decided to return to elite and make a run for Worlds/Rio, so she differed for a year.

Does anyone know if Brittany Rogers took a year off at UGA? She's still listed on the website as a senior, but I'm wondering how she manages training with Canada and school at UGA overlapping.

I THINK she might have deferred? Or maybe she works some elite skills at UGA and then spends a lot more time focusing on it in the summer. I don't think Canada is as strict with their national team/training process as the US is so maybe she is able to make it work, but someone like Brenna will need to defer.

 

[cheerKT]

Full list of NCAA college signees. Lots of big names on this list! What a class for Florida.
Master List: Class Of 2016 NLI Signees - Gymnastike

Notably missing: Kyla Ross. I know she verbally committed to UCLA and she's already out of high school. She still maintains her amateur status. I wonder when she intends to actually start college (or if she even does anymore). Anyone know? I really think she could kick butt at that level with her cleanliness.