r/Gymnastics

I know that we’re still waiting on some team announcements, but I was just thinking about how much I loved Natalia Escalera’s floor routine at Worlds last year and how sad I was not to see her on the Mexican Worlds team roster this year, which got me wondering about everyone else’s faves who will be sitting this year out. 

Which currently competing individual gymnasts or teams do you wish we’d be seeing at Worlds this year?

For me, beyond Escalera, I always love seeing Alexa Moreno in vault finals, though I assume she’s probably focusing on World Cups in advance of 2028. (Side note: does anyone know if that’s what Escalera is doing as well?) 

Same with Chuso—I know she’s said she’s skipping Worlds this year to pace herself for 2028 and I completely respect that, but I always love watching her.

I was really blown away by Pak Un Jong’s balance beam performance at the Asian Games and really enjoyed DPRK’s performances overall, so I’ll be sad to miss them as well and hope they’re able to make it to next year’s Worlds.

I’m happy for all of the athletes on Team GB, but I wish there had been a non-alternate spot for Shantae-Eve Amankwah—I really loved her energy during the Commonwealth Games, especially on floor.

And while I know she’s another with eyes on LA 2028 and wasn’t really aiming for this year, I wish that Jade Carey had been able to make a Worlds berth happen—I always love watching her tumbling!

Who are the rest of you feeling wistful about this year?

Have there been any further updates recently on Ana Bărbosu, regarding either NCAA or WAG?

I miss her gymnastics.

Notes:

- Skye Blakely is not injured; Scott Bregman has confirmed that there is an error. My guess is that USAG simply hasn't updated the registration since trials.

- The bigger news which has been overshadowed by this mess is that Zhang Boheng is off the roster.

I noticed on Instagram that Finley Weldon has University of Utah tagged in her bio and has posted pictures there as a student. Her original transfer commitment post to UNH is still up from May, but she's not on their 26-27 roster. Wonder what happened there, I was really excited to see her compete, her beam has such potential! I wonder if she will try to get a walk on spot on Utah's team or if that's even feasible?

Hi everyone! I’m a gymnastics coach and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how many things coaches are kind of expected to just learn as they go. Many (including myself five years ago) get thrown in without fully understanding what they are getting themselves into. Yes, it takes experience to be a good coach, but what if there was something that made you learn faster and made you not so anxious when you step into the gym?
I was talking to another coach at my gym recently and she mentioned feeling like a bad coach because she doesn’t know how to spot many skills yet, doesn’t really know what corrections to give, and just wants to become better. It got me thinking about how helpful it would be to have better resources for things like coach training, spotting confidence/progress, skill corrections, drills, class management, lesson planning, etc.
So I wanted to ask other coaches and gym owners: what do you wish you had at your gym?
It could be anything. Something you wish existed when you first started coaching, something you wish you could hand to coaches now, resources that would make things easier, etc.
Basically, what problems do you run into as a coach or gym owner that make you think, “I wish there was something for this”?
I’d love to hear from coaches of any experience level!