i… have never been this excited about a russian junior… and that’s saying something folks!!

Progress

Gymnastics and Onion headlines is back

Elena Gerasimova [2004] - Balance Beam (beautiful! also her reaction at the end <3)

Gymnastics + the onion part 3 (I know about the 5th one srry)

perfection from finney!!

Hi Jazzi! Idk if you got my previous message, sometimes tumblr is weird. I hope you’re having a great Sunday. Which teams do you think will end up being qualified for Tokyo? I feel like the level is super high and the fight will be very intense and awesome to watch! Do you follow both WAG and MAG? I mostly follow WAG but I like watching some MAG events like HB, PB, and VT. - GSS

Hi! Your message came through, I was just sooooooo busy yesterday I didn’t even check tumblr. I’ll answer your other questions today though! I’m going to be spending literally all day doing assignments/studying for my finals tomorrow!

I would love to see USA, Russia, China, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Romania, and the Netherlands all qualified. I feel like there are more than 8 teams that I want though, and I agree that the level right now is very close, especially after the top 4 or so. I mostly follow WAG but I’ll watch all of the MAG events if I can at worlds/Olympics.

Oh that's so cool that you are a coach! How long have you been doing it for? It must be very rewarding. Do you still do gymnastics yourself? Speaking of bars skills, what do you think of the Nabieva trend that's happening lately? I love it, not gonna lie, even tho I don't think all of the attempts I've seen are really worth it cause they probably incur more E deductions than what they gain from the skill... - GSS            

I stopped doing gymnastics in 2016 when I graduated high school, but I’ve been coaching my old team ever since because I’m still in the area! I LOVE the Nabieva trend, I think it’s such an awesome skill! I think there will definitely start to be a lot though that aren’t *quite* true Nabievas, like you said though...

Sunisa is certainly looking like she’s not going to play around! I’m sooo excited to see her debut! Have you seen that walkover to gainer onodi combo she trained on beam?? I’m so in love! Speaking of, what are your fave skills on every event? I love fhs vaults, bhardwaj on bars, onodi or triple spins on beam, and floaty DLOs on floor! - GSS

YES OMG. I always show crazy combos like that to the girls I coach like “alright guys who wants to try this” lololol (they’re all like, levels 3-6). She’s such a talent.

My favorite skills are probably

vault: anything floaty and perfect (like, Simone’s amanar, Alex McMurtry’s dty, etc)

bars: delchev or bhardwaj also

beam: onodi also lololol but also love a good floaty Chinese layout

and floor: clean triple twists! and a podkopayeva!!!

I don't know exactly my plans for this Christmas yet but I think my family and I will go to my grandma's who lives in another town and get together with my relatives there. It's usually a very chill day with lots of great food and I love it cause I don't get to see my cousins very often so it's usually a chance to catch up! Are you excited for the upcoming gym year?? What are your fave gym countries and which new seniors are you most excited to see debut? - GSS

I’m really excited for the 2019 gym year! The year before the Olympics always has such a great energy. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Sunisa Lee does and also how all the gals who competed at YOG transition into the senior ranks! My fave gym countries are probably USA, Russia, and Netherlands. Also love Japan and Belgium!

Monday ended up not being too terrible for me! I hope you aren't too stressed out with all the things you have to do :/ What do you like doing in your free time (when you have any lol)? Do you like going out or are you more of a "stay at home and chill" kind of person? I'm a mix of both but especially when I have particularly stressful weeks, I really need some quiet time at home to recover haha! What are your plans for Christmas and New year's? - GSS

So glad your Monday was good! Mine was pretty alright, too. I’m definitely more of a “stay home and chill” kind of person. I don’t have too much free time at the moment but I’ve always enjoyed reading and journaling. I also love going on day trips. I live in PA so I’m pretty close to lots of cool places like Baltimore, Philly, NYC, etc. :) For Christmas and New Year’s my family mostly chills at home and we get together with some family friends and hang out in the evening (for both lol). We also always call my NZ fam on Christmas eve which is fun bc it’s always Christmas day for them! What are your plans?

I’ll never forget the conversation I had with my ex guy friend a few years ago. We were 24. And he was talking about this girl he met at work that he really liked. She was 17.

He was telling me how he liked her, and didn’t want to have sex with her until she was 18, and he just wanted to date her cuz sex would be “wrong”

But here’s what struck me about the conversation. When listing all the things he liked about her, not one of them was ABOUT her. It was about how much she like him and was interested in him and his life in his hobbies. How she found everything he did was amazing and cool.

And here’s where it really hit home for me “she’s not like girls our age” (I guess forgetting he was speaking to a girl his age) But what he meant by that wasn’t that she was special, what he meant was “she’s not old enough to have met more interesting people to compare me to” and “she’s not experienced enough to fight me on my bull shit”

Because of course a teenage girl is gonna find a 24 year old man who has a nice car, a money to pay for things and the freedom to be involved in all his fun hobbies, of course she’s gonna find all that Amazing. Cuz she’s in highschool. Where as “girls his age” expect that. It’s not cool and amazing. Girls his age expect more. Girls his age also aren’t gonna fall for cheesey one liners and compliments, especially not in the same way an insecure still figuring herself out teenage girl is.

And let me tell you, this guy was no “loser” when it came to women. He was popular, good looking, everyone knew him, and for a lack of better words he “got around” But when it came to serious relationships I’m sure he heard a mouthful from the few women he dated “get a stable job so you can move out of your parents house” (and look no shade, the economy is rough but if you’re dating someone and they’re not even looking for jobs it’s annoying and trust me there was no fire under his ass to try) You know who he isn’t gonna hear that from? A teenage girl in highschool.

Thankfully nothing came of this. But what I really want to say, young people, if an older person is interested in you don’t trust them. Especially if you’re in highschool or just getting out of highschool. They don’t think you’re special, they think you’re not gonna be able to see their flaws. They’re trying to feed their ego. Cuz guess what? You are special. And you deserve every opportunity to figure out how goddamn special you are and be able to find someone just as special as you, and find you just as special and be able to have healthy equal relationships with that person. But that person who’s 6, 7- 10 years older than you isn’t interested in how special you are. They’re interested in how special you make them feel. And they will manipulate you to keep it that way.

Older people, keep your friends in check. Like I said, this guy wasn’t a loser, he didn’t have a history of dating young girls, he championed women’s rights, LGBT rights- you name it. White knighted his way past my ability to see thru his facade. Took me way to long to see what a shitty person he was.

I did have a very relaxing weekend but somehow I'm never really ready for mondays regardless lmao. Getting up today was pretty tragic but hey I made it with a lil help from my friend coffee. Are you a morning person? I wouldn't say I am, even tho once I manage to get up, I'm more productive in the morning than afternoons/evenings. Wow it's so cool that you have triple citizenship!! Do you have relatives there and do you visit often? - GSS

I felt super sick when I woke up this morning because I’d only had like 3 cups of tea since yesterday afternoon rip. I’m normally not like that at all, but c’est la vie. I would say I’m kind of a morning person in the sense that I like to wake up with time to spare before I need to leave and go anywhere, but I’m much more productive in the afternoon/evening. It takes me a while to get going. It seems like we’re sort of reversed in that sense lol!

So yeah I’ve visited New Zealand like 4 times with family and actually went to uni there for a year in 2017 but that sort of fell through so I’m back doing school in the US! :)

Hope you end up having a good Monday!

I’m at 5 what about you?

American Girl really got up here in their magazine what is definitely the USA Women’s Gymnastics 2016 Olympic team. Left to right: Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Gabby Douglas

list of underappreciated gymnasts:

cheng fei

gabby douglas

mo huilan

elvire teza

daiane dos santos

ksenia semenova

anna dementyeva

koko tsurumi

Oooh communications sounds so interesting, what would your dream job be for the future? Would you want to travel around or settle somewhere? I love traveling but idk if I would want to do it for a living. I’m so behind with my Christmas decoration and gift shopping, I barely started putting up the tree. Why I always leave it all for last minute I will never know! I hope you’re having a fab weekend! - GSS

I don’t really know what my *dream* position would be yet, but I definitely know that I want to travel a lot before settling down anywhere! I have New Zealand and British citizenship as well as American, so I’m blessed that moving to different countries is a little simpler for me. I’m not too behind with decorating but I haven’t bought a single present for anyone yet, it’s so bad!!!!! My weekend has been pretty good despite being really busy with work and school, I hope yours was good too!