This is what is happening to Breanna Dowell, who will compete at tomorrow’s American Cup, right now. Mostly because her coach Al Fong is a fuckwit. Many of us were shocked she even got this assignment at all after his outburst following her worlds experience. But she did, and even though it’s the result of a bit of an injury crisis it is still an important chance for her.
Dowell has plenty of raw potential, and can pull off some impressive tricks on bars. She does a Church like it’s nothing, manages to catch a Tweddle to Ezhova some of the time and can work out of her Shap. The quality of her swing is good, and she can do a DLO full. This is quite convenient, because as usual the US is weak on bars. A reliable 15er, even if she contributes nothing else, will have bought her ticket to at least this year’s worlds and quite likely the next too.
And yet on bars, Al basically has her freestyling. This being GAGE, no composition is too poor and no built in deduction too obvious to be avoided. Her podium training from Scam was no exception:
Too long, too inefficient, not enough connected. An earlier effort had her paying tribute to Komova with an orphan half pirouette. Why? Dowell has so much talent, but if she’s not careful, Fong’s poor composition will do her out of another worlds berth.
In other Scam news, I really want Victoria Moors and her new full-in from beam to snatch a cheeky bronze. A girl can dream.
STOI! 