The 2018 Yahtzee Awards have come to a close! We are proud to announce the winners of the 3rd annual Region 5 Insider Yahtzee Awards!
Congratulations to all of this years nominees and thank you to everyone who voted.
So, without further a do we proudly announce our 2018 winners…..
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Best Floor Choreography
Best Music
Most Entertaining
Best Performance
Most Powerful
Best Form
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Most Unique Vault
Best Bar Combo
Huge Air
Most Interesting Beam Mount
Most Unique Beam Series
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Best Stick
Team Spirit
GTC-Rochester Favorite Invitational Most Memorable Meet Moment Briar Burden adds “The Burden” beam dismount to the COP
Coaching Moment
Infinity Gymnastics Closed suddenly just weeks before Level 9 Eastern Nationals,they had an athlete qualify to Easterns. Maddie Rydel was left without a gym to represent or a facility to train in leading up to Nationals. Her amazing coaches Andrei Nitkin and Brittany Lapinski made sure she did not miss out on chance to be there. These coaches found places for Maddie to work out prior to Easterns, including high schools and open gym time at facilities near them. These two coaches, used their own funds to make it to New York. Maddie ended up finishing 2nd on the uneven bars in her age group.
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Thank You to everyone who voted!
Awards will be given out to the athletes and coaches who will be at the 2018 Region 5 Banquet & Congress! If a coach from your gym will be at congress please message us on facebook so we can connect or stop by the Region 5 Store Friday morning. Others will be mailed directly to the winners gyms, so please look for those next week!
Our next 20 Questions athlete is Kendall George of Buckeye Gymnastics in Ohio. This past season Kendall, who is nominated for the Huge Air Yahtzee Award, qualified to her first JO National Championships after over coming an ankle injury. Kendall, who has been a level 10 since 2015, has really grown into a beautiful athlete excelling on the Balance Beam and Uneven Bars. She always looks to be enjoying what she is doing out on the competition floor, not only does Kendall exhibit difficult gymnastics she is also a great teammate and competitor. Kendall, who has entered into her Junior year of High School, has two more years with us here in Region 5, so lets get to know Kendall a little better as she begins her journey to another JO National Championships in 2019.
How did you get into gymnastics? How old were you? My parents put me in gymnastics as an outlet for all my energy when I was younger and my mom was a gymnast as well. I started when I was 2 with mommy and me classes!
What is your favorite event? My favorite event is Beam
Favorite Skill to train/compete? My favorite skill to train or compete is my Jaeger on bars
Dream Skill? My dream skill is a Double Double on floor
What is your favorite part of gymnastics? My favorite part of gymnastics is probably when you finally make the skill you’ve been working really hard to get.
What college do you plan on attending? I am currently Undecided on what college I would like to attend
What is your favorite meet to compete at? Why? My favorite meet to compete at is Buckeye Classic because it’s our home meet and it’s always a lot of fun when friends and family can come and watch!
Biggest accomplishment in gymnastics so far? My biggest accomplishment was making nationals this year after coming back from injury/surgery.
Who do you most admire in the sport of gymnastics? I most admire Mary Lou Retton
What is your favorite Region 5 Insider Feature or Series? Making moves Monday is my favorite because I like to see what people are working on!
What is your go to playlist or song before meets? My go to song is The Champion by Carrie Underwood.
3 Things you could not live without? 3 things I could not live without would be my family/friends, music, and my phone
If you could be any animal, what animal would you be and why? If I could be an animal I would be a parrot because you would be able to fly.
5 Most Important or Must have Items in your gym bag? The 5 most important or must haves in my gym bag are 1. tape 2. grips/wrist guards 3.water bottle 4. tons of extra hair ties 5. granola bars
Do you have any pre-meet rituals or superstitions? I eat pasta for dinner the night before.
What do you like to do outside of Gymnastics? Outside of gymnastics I love to paint and hang out with my friends.
Most embarrassing meet moment or gymnastics moment? Once in level 5 when I finished a bar routine, right after saluting, I went to step off the mat but I tripped and fell flat on my face right in front of the judges.
If you weren’t a gymnast, what sport would you do or try? If I was not a gymnast I would try Softball
Which athletes (any sport) do you respect the most and why? One athlete I respect is JJ Watt because he is a really good football player who also gives back to his community. He did charity work and raised over $37 million dollars for Hurricane Harvey victims.
What is the most valuable piece of advice or wisdom your coach has given you? The most valuable piece of advice my coach Kittia has given me is to trust myself and my gymnastics because my body knows what to do. Also, she told me to take every skill one step at a time!
Bonus Question: Tell me something interesting about yourself….I’m named after a former catcher on the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jason Kendall!
Well we have come to the 3rd and final voting of the 2018 Yahtzee Awards! I would like to thank everyone who voted. If you missed the first 10 categories no worries there is still time to vote. Links to Part 1 and Part 2. Voting closes Wednesday September 12th at 11:59pm.
Winners will be announced Thursday September 13, 2018. Awards will be either mailed out to the gyms or presented to the athletes at the 2018 Region 5 Banquet.
R5 goes 1,2,3 at the Nastia Cup in the Junior Division (Tory Vetter, Jacey Vore, Faith Torres)
Briar Burden adds “The Burden” beam dismount to the COP (Routine Video)
Kaitlyn Higgins (bloody toe nail removed mid-meet could barely walk, but finished) & Taylor Devries (bloody nose from kneeing herself on her bar dismount during warm-ups for her first event, competed with tissue in her nose the entire meet) do not let blood stop them from finishing JO Nationals
Beam Queen Helen Hu makes it 3 in a row at JO Nationals.
Outstanding Coach Moment
1. The quality of the photo isn’t great but it captured a moment between coach Rachel Tracey and my now 11 year old daughter Gaby. A couple seasons ago, Gaby had a devastating injury to her elbow which required 2 different surgeries about 11 months apart. She missed her entire first season as a level 8 and barely competed in her second season. Through Rachel’s understanding and encouragement, Gaby slowly rehabbed back to where she could compete. This photo was taken just before Gaby’s return to beam for the first time at a competition. I know Rachel’s words were something along the lines of “I’m so proud of you and it doesn’t matter how you do”. In this tumultuous era of USAG, showing a child that being healthy and happy is more important than winning a YAHTZEE in my book. ” – Gaby’s Mom
2. Scott Austin, Enrique Trabanino & Shannon Hunt, step up to help athletes during Region 5 Championships after their teammate was injured and their coach was tending to that athlete.These coaches saw a problem and left their own athletes to make sure that the athletes of Champion USA were taken care of during their regional competition. This was truly a selfless moment and shows the camaraderie of the Region 5 Coaches. (read facebook post picture for full story)
3. Infinity Gymnastics Closed suddenly just weeks before Level 9 Eastern Nationals,they had an athlete qualify to Easterns. Maddie Rydel was left without a gym to represent or a facility to train in leading up to Nationals. Her amazing coaches Andrei Nitkin and Brittany Lapinski made sure she did not miss out on chance to be there. These coaches found places for Maddie to work out prior to Easterns, including high schools and open gym time at facilities near them. These two coaches, used their own funds to make it to New York. Maddie ended up finishing 2nd on the uneven bars in her age group.
[highlight]Are you ready for the new JO composition and rule changes for 2019? Not sure check out our new R5 Insider Podcast as we break it all down for you.[/highlight]
Well that is a wrap for the 2018 Yahtzee Awards!!! If you missed voting for Part 1 & Part 2 there is still time! Click the links to check out the first 10 categories and cast your vote for your favorites. All polls will be closed Wednesday at Midnight and winners will be announced Thursday!
It’s about that time again for the JO competition season to begin and on this episode we break down all the new event requirement/compositional changes for the 2019 season. We talk about each change and give some examples of what could be done to meet that requirement. We also look back on the 2018 USA Championships and how Region 5 did along with our highlights of the competition. This year in USA Gymnastics hasn’t been tough to say the least and we discuss the current situation and give our thoughts on safe sport and a new president.
Thank you to all our current Patreon contributors for your continued support
Show Breakdown
2:06 – Discussion about the 2018 USA Championships
5:20 – The form and GAGE style of Leanne Wong (2018 JO National Champion)
7:45 – Lilly Lippeatt competing with injury at Championships
10:18 – Discussion of the senior results from Championships
18:44 – Region 5 seniors Shania Adams and Shilese Jones
21:05 – Interview clip with Shilese from Championships
23:45 – Thoughts on safe sport and the current situation with USA Gymnastics and how it affects JO Program, and a new president
39;27 -Discussion on the new JO Rules for 2019-2022
40:11 – New Level 6/7 Vault discussion
55:08 – Change to Level 8 Vault
57:21 – It’s Now a 10.1 start, How is this achieved?
1:02:33 – New compositional or event changes (bars release/dismount discussion first)
1:08:30– New changes on Beam
1:12:00 – New changes on Floor, It’s all about the combinations
1:23:40 – R5 Insider Yahtzee awards presented by A-1 Awards. Some categories still need to be filled Link to vote for the first 5 categories, Link to vote for the 2nd 5 categories , Link to vote for last 4 Categories
1:28:03 – JO National Team camp at Flip Fest, Who is going for Region 5?
1:29:41 – Region 5 Honors Awards Banquet, Region 5 HOF Inductees
Briar Burden adds “The Burden” beam dismount to the COP
Hunts
Perfection
