It’s time for the 38th edition of You Asked, The Gymternet Answered! We apologize if we haven’t gotten to your question yet, but we try to answer in the order in which they were received. Something you want to know? Ask us anonymously by going through the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Is Alexis Beucler no longer committed to Georgia?

She’s still listed on College Gym Fans as a recruit for the 2016-2017 school year, so I believe she’s still committed, unless something has happened recently.

Has John Orozco jumped ship and started competing for France?

Haha, no! The U.S. men went to France for some camps and a couple of friendly competitions.

What is the typical age range for the girls at the developmental camps?

For the main developmental camps, I’d say about 10-13 or maybe up to 14 is average. It’s usually the younger juniors who show potential but aren’t quite national team material at this point. Like, you sometimes get girls that age who are prodigies and go right to the national team (or get close to it) when they’re 10-12, like Jordyn Wieber, Katelyn Ohashi, and Bailie Key. But then there are girls who are maybe taking it slow until they get closer to their senior years, and they might score around 51-55 at domestic meets whereas the girls who compete internationally are expected to be hitting 55-59 or so. There are several in attendance at the 2014-2015 developmental camps I wouldn’t be surprised to see make this year’s junior national team. You also have what’s called the development invite camp, which is girls who are about 8-10 and aren’t elite yet but showed potential through J.O. competition and TOPs testing and have a good shot at Hopes or elite in their near future.

Why all the black-and-yellow leotards for Team GB? I’ve been wondering this for a while.

I actually don’t know for sure, but if I had to guess I’d say it’s supposed to be gold, invoking the gold medal maybe? Or just gold in general because they’re classy ladies? I don’t think there’s any relation to their country with these colors though, at least not in the way the Dutch always want to represent with orange (the Royal Family’s colors) or Australia in their green and gold (their national colors). There are no royal or national ties to black and gold for Great Britain, so it could just be a gym program preference, like with the U.S. preference for hot pink?

I am 23 years old and an avid gymnastics fan as of 3 years ago. What is the best way for me to get involved with the sport if I have no prior experience?

Do you mean as a gymnast? I’d say look into adult classes wherever you are! Many gyms have great adult programs that cater to both former gymnasts as well as those with little to no experience. You can learn the fundamentals through these programs, which are often super fun. I take trampoline classes for fun and have a blast doing it even though I had almost no actual gym experience (at least not since I was a kid).

Why did Sasha Tsikhanovich end up at Bridgeport instead of Auburn where she originally signed a letter of intent?

I know she had issues with her immigration status back when she was in high school and her mom’s green card kept getting denied. Sasha needed a renewed student visa, but had to go back to Belarus to get it taken care of…but Belarus wouldn’t let her back. This put her scholarship in jeopardy, and I remember her mom frantically trying to convince Auburn everything would work out. It’s possible Auburn gave up on her, so she opted to go to Bridgeport instead? They were definitely incredibly lucky to get her!

What do you think about the PAC 12’s push to cut NCAA National’s down from 12 teams in semifinals to 8, and then from 6 in finals to 4? They claim this format will give Championships more success because it’ll be more likely to be on TV, which would give them a better following.

I honestly am all for it. I hate a six team final. Here’s my thing – teams practice and compete all year with only 1-3 other teams at meets, so they have no way to prepare during regular season for postseason. Then postseason comes and the two biggest competitions of the NCAA season feature six teams? Pretty much every other sport gets to compete in their postseason the way they do in regular season, so it’s definitely unfair to gymnasts who have to adjust to a new format when it matters most. Having byes in competition can completely destroy momentum, and the sheer length of a team final also becomes disastrous for some teams. Definitely an unfair format. To me, the TV success should be the least of their concerns, but there are definitely other logistical reasons why it doesn’t work.

I think it would suck to cut teams from nationals, but they could conceivably add teams, bringing 16 total and just do four semifinals with four teams each, and then the #1 team from each goes on to compete in finals. This would still seed the way current semifinals seed, so the top teams would have the best shot at making it to finals but there’d also be potential for upsets, just as there is now.

Do you have an opinion about Ana Filipa Martins from Portugal? She’s the most successful artistic gymnast my country ever had. Yes, it’s hard being a gym nerd here!

I love Ana! I think she’s immensely talented and really enjoy watching her gain experience at all of the World Cup competitions. She definitely has the potential to become another JLo or Marta Pihan-Kulesza, where she just reps her country as a badass individual for years and years and becomes an inspiration to other young gymnasts in her country.

What do you think about Alexis Vasquez and her elite retirement followed by her commitment to Denver?

I think it’s sad whenever someone retires from elite, but ultimately they’re making a choice that’s best for their physical/mental health. It’s not easy to train at the elite level, and many gymnasts can’t do it for more than a couple of years. It’s a bummer because she was just beginning to reach her potential especially with that great finish at nationals last year, and I was looking forward to seeing her as a senior. But if the Olympics were her end goal as an elite (as they are for most elites) and she felt like she wasn’t going to make it that far, perhaps she thought it’d be easier on her body to switch back to level 10 rather than keep training at a level that could injure her? That’s why most gymnasts drop back down, when it no longer becomes ‘worth it’ to put in the insane training hours. For some, training elite is still ‘worth it’ without the promise of the Olympics, which reminds me of Macy Toronjo, who went to nationals last year basically “just to have fun” fully knowing she wasn’t going to factor in for the Worlds team. She didn’t even watch her scores, and just enjoyed the experience of competing as an elite.

That’s great for some gymnasts, and if you have the talent to do elite “for fun” then why not? But if it gets to a point where it’s not “fun” or where you’re getting injured and potentially ruining your body for the future (i.e. NCAA) then it might not be ‘worth it’ to continue, so that’s just an idea. The fact that she moved from a known elite gym (Chow’s) to a gym more known for their level 10 success (Triad) shows that she’s still really committed to the sport but just at a different level. As for Denver, I know she has a friend there from her club gym, and there’s also the fact that she can go to Denver and be their big star whereas if she went to Florida or UCLA she’d have to fight week after week for spots on the lineup since they’re so stacked with other elites.

EDITED TO ADD: After speculating above, I heard from Alexis’ mom, who said that instead of looking at schools based on ranking or seeing where she might fit in as a ‘star’ of the program, Alexis chose Denver for their academics, small classes, internship opportunities, and job placement after college. Coaches Melissa and Linas then basically sealed the deal with their personalities and interest in what is important to Alexis, who is grateful to have coaches who believe in her at such a great university. “Many people have told Alexis that Denver is lucky to have her in 2018, but in reality, she is the lucky one.”

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Article by Lauren Hopkins