Gym World’s Jared Nun was mic’d during the Senior D session at the 2018 JO Nationals. Listen in as he coaches level 10 Rachel DeCavitch on bars in this episode of coaches wired “Uchimura, Uchimura, Uchimura”
20 Questions with 2 Time JO National Qualifier Rachel DeCavitch (Gym World)
Our next 20 Questions Athlete is one of my personal favorites, she is kind of an “under the radar” athlete, but this young lady has a tremendous amount of talent. Rachel “Red” DeCavitch, of Gym World in Ohio, has high flying bars, huge tumbling and a beam mount that has garnered 4 Yahtzee Award Nominations. Rachel, who excels on the uneven bars, will be part of our Coaches Wired Series coming up here soon; so stay tuned to catch her high flying bars routine with commentary and words of encouragement from her Gym World Coach Jared Nun. So, let’s get to know Rachel a little bit better as she enters into her final season with Gym World and Region 5 Gymnastics before taking off to pursue her collegiate gymnastics career in 2019. As summer comes to an end Rachel will try to swing her way to a 3rd JO National Championships in 2019.
How did you get into gymnastics? How old were you? My dad was a gymnast when he was younger so my parent put me and my brothers in gymnastics. I started when I was five.
What is your favorite event? My favorite event is bars or floor
Favorite Skill to train/compete? My favorite skill is a shaposh on bars
Dream Skill? My dream skill would probably be a shaposh half
What is your favorite part of gymnastics? My favorite part about gymnastics is the 
feeling of when I get a new skill and when the hard work pays off. Also I like that I get to be with my best friends almost everyday.
What college do you plan on attending? I will be attending Kent State University
What is your favorite meet to compete at? Why? My favorite meet is definitely JO Nationals because competing with Region 5 is just so fun and is a great experience.
Biggest accomplishment in gymnastics so far? My biggest accomplishment so far is committing to Kent State on a full ride scholarship.
Who do you most admire in the sport of gymnastics? The person I most admire in gymnastics is probably Aly Raisman
What is your favorite Region 5 Insider Feature or Series? My favorite Region 5 Feature is “Eye on 5”
What is your go to playlist or song before meets? I actually don’t listen to music before meets.
3 Things you could not live without? 3 things I could not live without are 1: my phone 2: a blanket 3: my friends/family
If you could be any animal, what animal would you be and why? If I could be an animal I would for sure be a sloth because I sleep ALL the time!
5 Most Important or Must have Items in your gym bag? The 5 most important 
items in my gym bag are 1: deoderant 2: lotion 3: extra hair ties 4: phone charger 5: my grips/wrist guards
Do you have any pre-meet rituals or superstitions? I visualize my routines before I start
What do you like to do outside of Gymnastics? Outside of gymnastics I like to hang with my friends, snuggle with my cat, sleep
Most embarrassing meet moment or gymnastics moment? Once when I was younger I forgot my floor routine. I got so scared I just stood in the middle of the floor and cried until the music stopped.
If you weren’t a gymnast, what sport would you do or try? If I was not a gymnast I would play soccer. I used to play it when I was younger and I remember really enjoying it.
What is the most valuable piece of advice or wisdom your coach has given you? The most valuable advice my coach Mr. Ganim gave me was to not let your fears control you. Sometimes fear is good but not when it is controlling you from reaching your goals.
Bonus Question:Tell me something interesting about yourself…. Something interesting about myself is that I have never broken a bone
Check out Rachels JO Nationals Gallery Below
[wonderplugin_carousel id=”84″]
Making Moves Monday (August 27,2018)
Region 5 is making their move into 2019. Check out some of the new skills being done from our gymnasts around the Region. If you want your upgrades to be included in future Making Your Move posts upload your video to your Instagram page (must be public or put up on gym IG) and tag us @region5gyminsider. #R5MakingMovesMonday
We start off today’s post with a cool old school release (that ain’t easy). Check out this Comaneci on bars (cast front flip) from Natalie Berrutti (IGI).
Anna Grace McCullough or AG (Branch) Nice Layout Layout triple series.
Just a few bar upgrades from JPAC (Keep up the good work Kyle!!!)
Abby Singh (Phenom) starting to put that 1/2 set together with 2 BIG upgrades for this year.
Michigan Elite’s Logan Hinson with a tough front 1/1 front Rudi combo.
Nice Clear Hip Tkatchev combo from Abbey Buda (Bay Valley)
Rhyley Pitts (World Class) Punch Double Front
Kaitlyn Grimes (BIG) New Bar Set in the works for 2019
Kendall George (Buckeye) wants that 10.1 start value….. Kick over Pike Front (Pike Front Toss) on beam
Katie Lagman (Premier West) New bar combo for her first year of level 10.
Photo Gallery: 2018 USA Championships Day 2
Championships Coverage Page
Photo Galleries: Podium Training | Day 1
[wonderplugin_carousel id=”83″]
Shilese Jones Grabs National Team Spot, Day 2 Recap #USGymChamps
Final Results: Juniors | Seniors
Interviews: Lilly Lippeatt | Shilese Jones
Competition Routines
Championships Coverage Page
The chime came across the arena sound system signifying the end of the touch warm-up period for rotation one in Day 2 of the 2018 US Championships. Standing focused and ready, Lilly Lippeatt waited for the announcer to introduce her and the green light to go on. Below the huge American Flag, Lilly begins her beam routine with cheers of go Lilly in the background. She began tumbling down the beam ending in her straight body layout two feet. Solid throughout the routine including her favorite chimmy sideways on the beam scored two tenths better then night one.
Leading off again in rotation 2, Lilly continued to stay true to her goal of making the presentation count. Smiling and tumbling while bringing the audience onto the floor with her during her clapping section was a treat to watch. Her 12.5 was an improvement over her day 1 score.
video by:USA Gymnastics
After her Yurchenko full on vault she moved 1/2 way around the arena to bars where she struggled on her Ricna in day 1. Unfortunately she had the same outcome on day 2 taking her Ricna a bit long and stomach dropping to the mat. However she got back up and finished her routine on a solid note, better then day 1 in my opinion, and finished up her championships with a 11.15. The crowd got a treat in this final rotation however as the top two bar workers for juniors were swinging their way atop the awards podium. Midwest Gym Center’s Sunisa Lee, the class of the meet on bars, sent her huge Nabieva (layout Ray) into the sky before catching and sailing her beautiful Pak salto down to the low bar for 14.75. 2018 National All Around champion Leanne Wong from GAGE, who by the way made huge improvements on bars in one year, scored a 14.25 to which coach Al Fong was ecstatic and raised her hand up to wave to the appreciative crowd in the TD Garden.
The TD Garden crowd erupted when Simone Biles name was announced at introductions of the senior athletes and the energy and support from the crowd continued the whole meet. Our Region 5 ladies were riding a high coming into second day of competition from their performance on Friday in Day 1. Shania Adams started off her day on vault with a nice Yurchenko full. Over on floor, Shilese Jones had a long wait before she was able to salute and compete but she didn’t let it kill her energy launching another double double into the air landing standing straight up and down well just like Simone does. She had a little too much juice coming out of double Arabian and bounced forward. She maybe getting ready to punch a front out of it soon…. we shall see!!
In the second rotation, Shania once again looked very confident and aggressive on her bar set nailing her connections and handstands to finish 8th overall on the event. Shilese power was in over drive on vault as she took a big hop back on her Yurchenko double full for 14.35, a little more then three tenths lower then on night 1.
Video by: USA Gymnastics
Onto the third rotation and of course can’t talk about Shania on balance beam without mentioning her wolf squat turns, text book on what the turns should look like. The turns were so good even Tim Daggett commented on the live broadcast
[highlight]Wow that was great, really calm…. and if you only saw people like her do that you would think it was easy”[/highlight]
After impressing Tim on her mount she nailed her layout layout series and finished up strong with her best landed double full dismount combo of the week for a 13.3 good enough for 7th overall in the competition. While Shania was grabbing Tim’s attention, Shilese was nailing another routine this time on bars to the excitement of her coach Christian. Her combined total for both days of 27.55 landed her in a tie for 6th on the event. The highlight for me in this rotation was the tumbling clinic put on by Jade Carey and Simone Biles, the two best on floor hands down. Yes Simone has a higher start value and scored higher, Jade was my floor champion on night 2.
In the fourth rotation well Simone did another almost perfect Cheng for a 15.6 and vaulting, catapulting herself to the national championship by over 6 points. Back on earth finishing in 2nd was Morgan Hurd, 2017 World Champion, and third went to Riley McCusker, who actually had the second best all around score of night 2 with a 56.7. Shania finished up on floor and almost touch the rafters I think on her double pike which she way over did and bounce and flew out of bounds onto her butt which was a bummer ending to what was otherwise a great competition for her. Shilese headed over to beam where once again had solid routine nailing her standing Arabian and her front tuck cold. She took a small step on her double back dismount combo for a 13.2 and a final total of 109.85 good enough for 5th all around and place on the 2018 USA National Team.
video by: USA Gymnastics
Lots of great gymnastics this past week in Boston. Thats all for this Gymnas Tea party. Next up Pan American Championships and WORLDS!
