TIGER SQUAD NOTES
January 17
Bowing out of Squads Alive on day one is disappointing. Falling victim to Soyon and the Lillies is terribly unpleasant. Losing by OVER FOUR POINTS is tragic. Soyon is convinced that this is proof that her cuddling and smiling is a more effective method of training gymnasts than my howling and mad arm flailing. I refuse to believe this foolishness, so I will be doing my best to block this entire day out of my memory forever. Feel free to join me.
Rants aside, I simply must congratulate Miss Coolmen on a fabulous performance. My dear, excellent work! Your dedicated preparation paid off well. And Miss Liukin, I'm aching to see so much more from you, but you did a nice job squeaking through vault, beam, and floor. Bars we will blame on Mr. Koncady. Crystal and Morgan, today was not so great for either of you obviously, but I am glad to see that you are still working and feel confident that both of you will continue to improve. Ms. Kane, welcome to our squad. You should be a very fine replacement for Ms. Phillips.
Ladies, let us waste no time in getting back to work to ensure that this sort of travesty never occurs again!
January 15
Miss Liukin, Miss Wilson, Miss Raducan, and Miss Coolmen: you've been chosen to compete at the Texas Flyers meet this weekend. Congratulations on your hard work. I am confident that all four of you are very well prepared and will give strong performances in Houston. Coaches Driedle, Koncady, and I will be travelling with you. For the rest of the week, the four of you will be working primarily with Coach Driedle and the other girls chosen to compete during squad workout time.
Miss Phillips and Miss Star: If we could have sent five more athletes, I think you both would have had a strong chance of competing. I hope you aren't discouraged, but let this motivate you even further. Both of you are improving every day. I say this seriously, not just to make you feel better. Coach Driedle doesn't post the rankings every day, but she distributes rough copies to us coaches so we can banter and stragize for the good of the team as a whole. You have both made significant jumps in the past week or so; I think that you, Kelly, might have made the greatest jump in the gym. You missed out on the TFG trip very slightly. Don't let this frustrate you, but let it anger you just enough to kick it in high gear this upcoming week. There are more meets on the schedule, and I want to see both of you competing.
What I meant to say just now, Kelly and Crystal, is that you will be training with Soyon and the Lilly squad while I am gone. This worries me slightly, as I fear that I will return to find you both spouting nonsense about love and kindness and flowers. Please, if you find yourself making mistakes or slacking off, start reprimanding yourself in a harsh tone. If Soyon tries to tell you that it's not a big deal and we all have off-days, IGNORE HER. It is important to keep yourselves toughened up. There is no place in elite gymnastics for silly fluff and flowery nonsense.
- Coach Dan
January 11
To the new Tiger Squad: Welcome. I'm Daniel Brink, your new coach/slave driver *insert evil grin*. You may call me Coach, Coach Dan, Dan, or Sir Brink, whichever pleases you most.
Lois says I should tell you a little about what I expect from you. I'll tell you what I expect. I expect you to work and to act like an elite athlete. You ladies are at the top of your sport. You are here to be the best, and to be the best at anything you have to be willing to put in the work. It's hard work, it's sacrifice, it's dealing with mean, cruel, and heartless coaches like myself. If you want fun and games, go back home and compete Level 10, get a nice college scholarship, there's nothing wrong with that. It's a choice you make. If you are here I am going to assume you want to do the best gymnastics that you can possibly do. I love you all, of course, and sure I'm hoping we'll get to know each other and talk and all that other feely-wheely stuff. In the gym, though, during a workout, you will be treated like an athlete, like a world-class athlete. If you are not acting as such, I'm not wasting my time with you. If I'm screaming at you, be glad, because it will make you a better gymnast. I don't scream at those who don't appear to desire to become better gymnasts. No, I let them wallow in their own mediocrity. I don't ever want to feel that I am working harder than you, that I want it more than you. If that is ever true, then Topopolilly Gym is not the appropriate facility for you.
That said, we don't have to be serious and intense all the time. When workout is over or before it has begun, we're going to relax and enjoy life. I like jokes and stories, I like hearing about your classes and boyfriends and whatnot, and we'll have some fun. I'm trying not to scare any of you off because we only have six girls. The squad needs each one of you. If one of you leaves, we'll get a transfer from Opilly or, god forbid, Lilly. I'm telling you, once Soyon is through with her little Lillies and all their feel-goodiness, they'll never survive with me, never. If you want to give each other hugs and make up team cheers and whatnot, you certainly may, and if it's a good cheer I might even join in once or twice. If you hate each other, though, we'll live with that, too. If you hate me, that is a slightly larger problem, but we can live with that, too. *Smiles.*
- Coach Daniel Brink
Individual Comments Regarding Intersquad and General Progress:
Miss Liukin: I am delighted to have a true Russian. You know the value of hard work much better than we softy Americans do. Sixth place in the intersquad, very commendable. I'm pleased with your progress thus far.
Bars appears to be your weak point, the geinger needs some serious work. This is a prime example of why Mr. Koncady should spend less time flexing his muscles and more time teaching gymnastics.
You have strong vaulting and tumbling. Your double layout is one of the best in the gym, maybe the very best, and I'm also pleased with the progress your making with your Tsukahara vaulting. I think the 2 1/2 is coming along brilliantly. Your beam is good right now, but you need to be doing many routines a day to work out the little checks and bobbles. Your bars, oh dear. I want you to tell Nicholas to work with you on the Geinger, and if he starts in on some sort of nonsenese, give him your best Russian glare. Also, the Bi turn needs work. I do like your dismount; the double layout works very well for you.
Miss Raducan: I think it is best if we try not to think about your intersquad performance. I will chalk it up to your arriving at the gym a few days later than the others. You have a very nice clean style on all of your events, and I think your biggest challenge will be to keep pushing yourself. It seems to me that you have become very comfortable with the level of gymnastics you are doing right now, and I do not see the intensity in your training that you can see from the gymnasts that are new to the gym or the younger girls, these girls that still have to make a name for themselves. You have the name and results, but I don't want you to be satisified. There is more that you can accomplish if you decide that is what you want. You must not become lazy in your old age, my dear.
Miss Coolmen: Good job at the intersquad. You are working hard and improving every day. I want to see you loosen up a bit, and have more confidence in your routines, particularly on floor, where your dancing seems pained. You have been holding back, maybe because you are nervous about competing with such talented gymnasts. You need to realize that you can be as good as anyone here.
I'm most happy with your vault and beam routines. On floor, as I said before, I'd like to see more attention to your dance. Your tumbling isn't bad, we just need to give more attention to your form and body positioning in the air. On bars, I'd like to see a tighter, cleaner swing. Here, too, I feel like you're holding back, and the routine seems sluggish. If you are confident, everything will come easier.
Overall, you are doing very well and you should be pleased. You are working hard in practice and that will pay off.
Miss Phillips: I'm sure that you're pleased with third place at the intersquad, and you should be. You have been working hard. I hope this keeps up, because you have a great deal of natural talent. Your beam routine is a delight, and I hope that you can keep it consistent. I will help ensure this, of course, with repetitions. With the new combination, you have considerable difficulty and you work the beam quite aggressively; this makes the routine wonderful, but also opens the door for falls and smaller mistakes. We absolutely must make sure that it will be a solid routine.
On bars, you have a lovely swing and excellent positioning and form. You have considerable difficultly in this routine. I think you can pull it off, but you are going to have to work. I don't want you competing a routine that we are not both confident you will hit.
We must keep working on your vaulting. You have a very nice technique, but I think you need some more power. We will work on this, with more conditioning and maybe we can make some small changes to your approach and block off the horse that will help.
Your perform your floor routine well, but once again, I'd like to see just a little more power in your tumbling.
