Even the best, can come from a small town.

Usually when you think of an Olympic gymnast, they come from a well known gym with a strong background.  WOGA, Parkettes, Cincinnati Gymnastics, GAGE. Well what about Gedderts Twistars in Dimondale, Michigan? Home of the 3 time American Cup champion, 2 time senior National Champion, and World all around champion, Jordyn Wieber. Can talent like this really come from such a small town?

(Photo belongs to Triple Twist)

Before 2006, how many of you knew what "Twistars" was? 

Let's just say, Jordyn Wieber has put Twistars on the map. But she's not the only gymnast in their successful history. So far, she has come the farthest. But let me assure you, she is not the only "star" from Twistars. In fact, it started way back in 1993. Before little miss Wieber was even born. You may not have known about it, but you should have. And if you still don't, let me enlighten you on the history of John Geddert and his athletes. 

Behind Jordyn, the next gymnast closest to her Olympic dreams was Katie Teft who emerged onto the scene in 1993 when she won the all around and beam title at the JO National Championships. She then qualified to elite placing 4th all around at the US Classic and 4th again at her first national championships. In 1994, Katie won the American Classic and the US Classic. She went on to place 8th all around at nationals. In 1995, Katie was a member of the gold medal winning Pan Am's team as well as placing 4th on beam. She placed 9th all around at nationals that year. In 1996, the year of the Olympic Games, Katie finished 10th all around at nationals and went on to win a silver medal on bars and a bronze on beam. At the Pacific Alliance Championships, she won the gold medal with the team and placed 4th all around. At the Olympic trials, Katie placed 8th all around. Just missing the cut for the 7 member team.

Throughout most of Katie's career, Gedderts Twistars wasn't even around! She trained with John and Kathryn Geddert at Great Lakes Gymnastics until the gym opened up in 1996. Katie continued to train elite in 1997 with the goal of the 2000 Olympics in mind, but injuries forced her back to level 10. Katie then had a new goal of getting a college scholarship. In 1999, she enrolled with the University of Massachusetts and competed with them for 3 years until they dropped their gymnastics program. Katie then transferred to Central Michigan for her senior year. She was a bar finalist in the NCAA Championships.

(Photo belongs to Twistars USA)

John Geddert has coached several elite athletes including:

Katie Teft

Melissa Green

Laura Szczepanski

Heather Berry

Melissa Grupe

Jane Macintosh

Jordyn Wieber

Kamerin Moore

Grace Williams

Most of these girls trained under John and Kathryn at Great Lakes Gymnastics, before Twistars opened. A lot of you may be familiar with Kamerin Moore and Grace Williams. Kamerin was an elite in 2007-2009 and her long term goal was to compete at the 2012 Olympics. Unfortunately she has been plagued with injuries throughout her entire career and decided to compete level 10. She recently committed to the University of Nebraska, along with teammate Grace Williams who was an elite in 2010. Grace is a 2 time JO national champion and won the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup in 2011. 

(Photo belongs to Twistars USA)

Speaking of Level 10....Gedderts also have a very strong level 10 team. Not only is it the best in Michigan, but one of the best in the United States. John has coached over 40 gymnasts to the JO national team and several more to the title of JO national champion! Many of the Twistars level 10's earn scholarships to division I or II colleges! 

(Photo belongs to John Geddert)

This year Grace Williams won the JO national title, helping region 5 secure the team title in the Junior D  session. In the Senior C session, Arlyn Amor placed 6th on floor and helped region 5 win the team title again. Twistars qualified 10 gymnasts to Nationals this year overall. 

Now here's two girls to watch, who are currently training for elite:

Bayle Pickel- 2011 JO National Champion

Lauren Bancroft-Nastia Liukin Cup Qualifier

(Photo belongs to USA Gymnastics)

John Geddert was recently named "elite coach of the year" while Jordyn Wieber was named "athlete of the year." Now that's quite an accomplishment! John has been the "Region 5 coach of the year" thirteen times and the "Michigan coach of the year" seven times! John also won the first ever "USA national coach of the year" award in 2007! John has been coaching for over 32 years and has also opened another gym in Dewitt.

(Photo belongs to Gymnastike)

So as you can see, Twistars USA is among the best in the world! That just proves that even the most successful athletes can come from a small town! Congratulations to John and Kathryn Geddert on their success!

Written by: Ashlee

Shawn Johnson's "Winning Balance" book review

Title: Winning Balance

Rating: 5 stars

If you have not bought a copy of Shawn Johnson's book "Winning Balance" yet, you are missing out! I have read many books written by gymnasts over the years, but none have been as great as Shawn's has. The book explains Shawn's life in great detail from the time she was born until February of 2012. She explains how she got started in gymnastics, the day she got her first fan mail, her first time at the Karoyli ranch, the Olympic experience, dealing with the media, and so much more! While reading the book, I felt like I was Shawn myself. I could totally understand how she was feeling! Reading her book made me realize what being an elite athlete really was like. I learned things about Shawn that I never knew. My favorite thing about the book would have to be that it's coming from Shawn personally. I like that fact that she wasn't afraid to share her diary entries and real thoughts with us. Once you pick up this book, you will have a hard time putting it down! This a book that I recommend for everyone to read!

Click here to buy your copy today! 

Catching up with Bayle Pickel!

Last February we interviewed the 2011 JO National Champion Bayle Pickel. (You can read it here.) Where she shared with us her plans on going elite and some of the new skills she was training. On February 16th, Bayle passed her elite compulsory test with a score of 37.325. Shortly after she injured her knee ending any chance of qualifying to elite this year. We caught up with Bayle again to catch up on her progress! 

You injured yourself earlier this year, what exactly did you do?


"I opened up on a double front and landed wrong. I broke my tibia, fibula, and tore my calf muscle."

How is your training going and are you back to full strength? 


"Training is going good! I am almost up to full speed. I am doing tumble track, vaulting on the tumble track, and sprinting! I started working beam skills on the floor just this week. I have been trying to get my knee as strong as possible so when I'm back doing everything, I won't have any problems!"

You mentioned trying to go elite in our last interview, is that still the plan?


"Yes! I still have hopes of being an elite. I still plan to train elite. I will have to test my compulsories again!"

Do you know when your next meet will be? 


"I'm not positive on when I'll be competing next, although I do know that it will be at the end of this year. I will probably test (for elite) whenever the next compulsory is, normally they are in January. I do not know for sure on when I will be competing, but I'm almost 100% positive it will be at the end of the year."

Is it hard watching your teammates compete while you're on the sidelines? 


"Even though I was hurt, I was still there to support my teammates. It was definitely hard watching everyone else work on new skills while I sat there. I am going to be a little nervous for my first meet but excited at the same time!"

What is it like training at Twistars with one of the biggest contenders for the Olympics in your gym? Does it ever get distracting with all the media attention and publicity Twistars has been getting? 


"I absolutely love the atmosphere of the gym right now! Everyone is extremely positive and always there to help if you need it. Jo is such an inspiration to everyone in that gym! She's positive and knows how to perfect her skills. I actually don't mind the publicity, I think it's pretty cool!

Follow Bayle on Twitter

Highlights from the 2012 National Championships

The 2012 Visa National Championships have come to an end. We are now one step closer to the London Games! Here's a look at some of the highlights from the senior and junior competition.

Jordyn Wieber becomes national champion for the 2nd time in a row. She and her coach John Geddert also became athlete and coach of the year! I'd say that's well deserved. 

Gabby Douglas finished just 2 tenths behind Jordyn and that was with a fall! All I can say is, Jordyn better watch out, because she's not the only one anymore!

Sarah Finnegan came second on beam and really showed everyone that she is a contender for one of those 5 spots that will travel to London in July. 

The 2012-2013 senior national team was named as well as the 12 girls that will compete at the trials. They are: Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, Elizabeth Price, Sarah Finnegan, Sabrina Vega, Kennedy Baker, Brenna Dowell, Bridget Sloan, Mckayla Maroney, Alica Sacramone, Rebecca Bross, Anna Li, and Nastia Liukin. Many people are upset about Nastia being taken to trials after she struggled to perform a bar routine on both days of competition. Not to mention she fell on beam day 2. Honestly, I respect Nastia and everything she has done. But it's not fair she she advances to trials, but Chellsie Memmel couldn't advance to nationals. 

Lexie Priessman of CGA won the junior division. This is her last nationals as a junior and she definitely ended on a good note!   

Laurie Hernandez is my new favorite junior. She was 11 years old on day 1 and was 12 years old by day 2. For being so young, Laurie really does have a lot of talent. She is also a phenomenal dancer with a lot of emotion and expression. We'll have an interview with her coming out soon!

           

Valeri Liukin is stupid for letting Rebecca Bross continue the patterson dismount and he is stupid for letting Katelyn train the amanar vault. Watch how scary similar her vault from day 2 looked to Rebecca Bross's almost career ending injury. The only difference is, Katelyn was able to walk away. 

Only the top 6 finishers from the junior division made the national team. A few of these girls will turn senior next year, so we can assume more girls will be added later. Not to mention, most "teams" are comprised of 6 members. Which means if this team went to a meet, there would be no alternates. So it's safe to assume more girls will be added. 

Moments before the competition began, Mckayla Maroney fell on her back during warm ups. She was taken to the hospital and it was announced that she suffered from a concussion and broke her nose. Towards the end of the meet she tweeted this picture, of course looking fabulous. Her petition to the Olympic trials was accepted. 

Trials are now in 2 weeks. All I can say is...let the games begin!

Visa Championships- Day 1 Reflections

The first day of the 2012 Visa Championships was a success! After this competition, Martha should have a lot to think about. All I can say is, USA...we are deep!

This was only Nastia Liukin's second competition since 2009 and the first time she has competed bars since the 2008 Olympics. Let's just say she did okay. Her bar routine was not what everyone was hoping to see. She had some form breaks, a mishap on her pac salto, and didn't do her planned dismount. However on beam, she did better than she did at classics 2 weeks ago. I wouldn't count Nastia out just yet, but she really needs to step it up and hit on day 2! (Watch Nastia's bars and beam here)

Is it sad that a former national champion and multiple world medalist is no longer in this Olympic picture? 2 years ago, Rebecca was on my Olympic team and would have been competing in the all around. She's just not the same person anymore. Really her only shot at making the team would be on bars, which she did put together a decent routine on day 1. Beam however, she has been struggling with. I'm not going to even bother talking about her patterson dismount. 

Wieber and Douglas lead after day 1. This makes me a little nervous. However both girls did great, Gabby of course was phenomenal on bars, and I feel like Jordyn did the best floor routine we've seen her do yet! The only thing I don't understand is why Tim and Elfi make comments about Gabby being a lock for London and possibly winning this meet, but they don't really do that for Jordyn? She's defiantly not getting the same hype Shawn and Nastia got in 2008.  I'm anxious for day 2 now.  (Watch Jordyn's floor here)

Asac is back and boy is she looking great! She hit 2 powerful vaults (laidout rudi and yurchenko full) and had a great beam set. I was so impressed with her. (Watch Alicia's vault and beam here)

Sarah Finnegan was beautiful as always. Her beam set was near flawless! She is one of my new favorites.

I totally forgot about Sloan and to be honest, I never even considered her a contender. But on day 1 she proved that she IS a contender. This was her first meet doing the all around since the 2009 World Championships where she become world champion. Her bar routine looked great and her floor was pretty decent too. 

Kyla Ross had a great meet! Really her only struggles came on floor during the last rotation where she had the lead! She also decided not to do the amanar, but her double was great. I just feel like her routines aren't hard enough. She truly is an amazing gymnast and she has such nice lines!

Despite the ugly leotard, Mckayla delivered! Her amanar is sky high, I can totally see her doing a triple in the near future. On floor, she looked beautiful . I really liked the 3 1/2 twist that she opened with. Martha was keeping a close eye on her and I think she should be impressed. 

The only place Aly really stood out to me was on floor. That was an awesome routine! As we all know, her bars are really hurting her all around score and her amanar landings have been iffy. (Watch Aly's floor here)

Some extra tidbits: Gabby is a beast. Sabrina Vega looks worn out. Elizabeth Price and Kennedy Baker are really impressing me. Universal Sports talked about Nastia Liukin WAY to much. 

My predictions after day 1:

1. Jordyn Wieber

2. Gabby Douglas

3. Aly Raisman

*All photo's belong to USA Gymnastics

Shawn Johnson Retires

As many of you know by now, the 2008 Olympian Shawn Johnson has retired from competitive gymnastics. It was announced Sunday afternoon, just days before the VISA Championships and her book is released. As one of Johnson's biggest fans, I know how much her gymnastics will be missed.

Fans were so excited when Shawn made her return to gymnastics in 2011. Things were looking great for Shawn! She had decent routines on 3 out of the 4 events and even made the Pan Ams team, but shortly after; things went downhill. Shawn began having problems with her knee which she injured while skiing. This became a setback for Shawn who could not train at full strength, let along upgrade. Many people suspected her to retire soon, especially when she choose not to compete at the 2012 Secret Classic because she was not ready to compete. Johnson was on the roster for nationals and was scheduled to start on bars.

Obviously, this decision did not happen over night. Shawn's training partner Gabby Douglas told a news reporter she hadn't seen Johnson in a while, which means Shawn had been out of the gym for quite some time. Although I don't want Shawn to retire, I'm happy that she's doing whats best for her. Not to mention, I'd much rather her retire and not even try to make the Olympic team, then give it a shot and not make the team. If she was healthy, she might have had a chance. But being in the condition that she's in, I think she made the right choice to retire. I also appreciate the fact that she did it now, rather then wait to do it during nationals or trials and take the attention away from those who are trying to make the team.  Now we know she's not in it for the publicity, although I'm sure this will help the sales for her book. We wish Shawn the best in whatever she decides to do next.

10 Reasons to love Amelia Hundley

If you don't love junior gymnast Amelia Hundley yet...here's 10 reason's why you should!


1. She has an awesome smile!

Photo Credit: John Cheng

2. She actually looks like she's having fun during her floor routine!







3. She improves with every competition.

Photo Credit: USA Gymnastics

4.  She's a solid competitor. 



5.  She has a positive attitude. 

Photo Credit: USA Gymnastics

6. She's a fan favorite!

Photo Credit: John Cheng

7. She has a lot of potential

Photo Credit: USA Gymnastics

8. She has lots of power and is fun to watch (Not to mention she is adorable) 



9. She competes like a senior out on the junior stage.

Photo Credit: USA Gymnastics

10. She does the Hundley Shuffle!




Follow Amelia on Twitter
Check out her Website