USA National Team Training Camp Videos

USA Gymnastics released training videos for a few of the athletes from May's camp. Here are the most interesting.

The Game Changers
Since the abrupt retirement of Elizabeth Price from elite gymnastics, there seems to be a huge gap (in my head anyway) on which athletes need to be on the world team. Ebee's a solid all arounder who could have been used anywhere. Will we need separate VT/FX and UB/BB girls, for example? Is there another strong AAer coming up? Things are still fuzzy and Worlds is months away and US Nationals in August will be most telling. These are the girls that might have the chance to break into a specialist spot and challenge the top AAers.

Rachel Gowey
Rachel is showing upgrades on all events in this video. The most exciting are her Amanar on vault, triple twist dismount off beam, and 3.5 twist on floor. She would be most needed on UB/BB and having a solid VT just helps with her AA potential. It's hard to determine where she falls on FX without seeing an entire routine and knowing the health of the top girls (Biles, Ross specifically). She definitely is going to make Nationals very interesting.



Aly Baumann
Aly is a WOGA gymnast and after Ebee left, it almost seemed inevitable that we'd need a WOGA athlete for their UB/BB work. Baumann has been on the radar since earlier camp videos were released and continues to show promise. Like Gowey, she will need to show consistency to stand a chance at making the Worlds team. She's not as strong on vault and floor exercise and could lose out to someone like Gowey who can be used as back up on other events. On the other hand, we don't know the full composition of her sets and an excellent start value could make her someone that's hard to leave at home.


The Comeback Kids
These 3 comebacks are from injury not from retirement. Amelia Hundley, Lexie Priessman, and Laurie Hernandez all returned for this camp. Not much has changed for Hundley or Priessman but it was nice to see their general fitness level and what events they could be most valuable on. Rumor has it that Lexie has her Amanar back but she showed a DTY in the video here (Hundley here). Laurie Hernandez was the only junior somewhat close to challenging Bailie Key but has been out due to wrist injury. She continues to show promise although execution seems to be a huge issue based on what is seen in the videos. The errors noted in the video aren't typical for her so time will tell if this is most likely due to not enough time to train after returning to practice - watch here.

Camp starts again today. There's a very extensive list and you may need to look at it multiple times to realize who will be there. Gabby Douglas will return to her first camp since 2012. It will be exciting to see what comes out of these camps. Simone Biles will also return to camp and we'll have a better understanding of her shoulder injury status. Erin Macadaeg and Melissa Reinstadtler were both beautiful gymnasts that grabbed my attention at 2013 Nationals with their beautiful presentation. They both did Level 10 for the year and this is their first time returning to camp as elites for this season. Felicia Hano has moved to Gym-Max and this may be her first National Team camp since the gym switch.

For a complete list, check usagym.org. Good luck to all the athletes participating!
May 2014 Women's National Team Camp Playlist