WAG Is this surprising or not? Amimee Boorman moves

[gymdog]

Funny thing is that Simone only trained there for a few months. The new gym opened less than a year ago. Her sister still trains there though and I'm sure Simone will be around, keeping in shape, practicing for exhibitions etc. One thing I only recently learned, is that her brother runs it. He was taken in by different family members and is a bit older.

The sister seems to indicate she retired from gymnastics after Westerns! I guess it's probably a good time for their family to finally have some time with less intense commitments.

 

[Gymmommy71]

When I read all this I just imagine how different the public reaction would have been if this was Gabby's family that had built a gym and took all these coaches/had coaches move, etc. The public freaks out cause she gym hops and changes coaches multiple times, but it sounds like Simone did similar stuff. I guess she always had this same coach, but the facility and other coaches are so varied it's hard to keep track - and her family seems to be very intertwined/in-control of her training facilities. Not exactly a standard elite training situation.

Just interesting to me that people vilify Gabby for gym hopping, but applaud Simone's family for literally building her a gym where they can control all aspects of her training.

 

[gasrgoose]

When I read all this I just imagine how different the public reaction would have been if this was Gabby's family that had built a gym and took all these coaches/had coaches move, etc. The public freaks out cause she gym hops and changes coaches multiple times, but it sounds like Simone did similar stuff. I guess she always had this same coach, but the facility and other coaches are so varied it's hard to keep track - and her family seems to be very intertwined/in-control of her training facilities. Not exactly a standard elite training situation.

Just interesting to me that people vilify Gabby for gym hopping, but applaud Simone's family for literally building her a gym where they can control all aspects of her training.

I've yet to read of a negative interaction with Simone or any of the Biles. And just for the record I see very few, if any, similarities between Gabby and Simone's history.

 

[Ginger]

When I read all this I just imagine how different the public reaction would have been if this was Gabby's family that had built a gym and took all these coaches/had coaches move, etc. The public freaks out cause she gym hops and changes coaches multiple times, but it sounds like Simone did similar stuff. I guess she always had this same coach, but the facility and other coaches are so varied it's hard to keep track - and her family seems to be very intertwined/in-control of her training facilities. Not exactly a standard elite training situation.

Just interesting to me that people vilify Gabby for gym hopping, but applaud Simone's family for literally building her a gym where they can control all aspects of her training.

Simone never made any bashing comments about Bannon's, or am I missing something?
From what I read, it sounded like Aimee was the one who wanted to leave Bannon's (not sure why - if someone knows, please share) and Simone understandably followed her.

It is understandable as well that Gabby was impressed by Chow's coaching abilities and wanted to work with him, nothing wrong about it at all, but the bashing comments about Excalibur are not okay. If Excalibur didn't make it work during Gabby's family financial difficulties, she wouldn't be where she is now (triple Olympic champion), so they deserve her respect for that at least.

 

[txgymfan]

Simone's parents have been very successful. They are not dependent on her success. She has never moved cities or coaches. Borman left Bannons, they trained somewhere, then created WCC at a smaller facility which had pits and built the new WCC.

People seem convinced that every time someone says positive things for a Final Five gymnast its against Gabby. I think we all wish Gabby well. We find the situation with Aimee interesting.

I also think some of us are suffering from Olympics withdrawal. We still want to be into the gymnastics team.

 

[Gymmommy71]

I thought people were reporting upthread that some of the gyms where she worked out a good portion of the optional coaching staff ultimately moved to her family's new gym? Or maybe that was her original gym where all the coaches came from? Bashing old gym's or not, I can't imagine many gyms being too thrilled about that - unless the owner was looking to retire and was closing their doors. Some feathers had to be ruffled about that, at least to some extent, even if people didn't speak out publically.

 

[Seeker]

Some of the info reported up-thread is not completely accurate. That aside, it is also not Simone or Amy's fault if others chose to join WCC when the permanent facility opened. I think this is pretty normal when a new gym opens. That choice was made by the families of those gymnasts, not Simone. Is Simone a draw? Absolutely!! But that's a given.

It is also not uncommon for new "gyms" to work out at established facilities for a period of time (generally at off-hours so as to not interrupt their team/operations). I've seen this happen a few times locally when construction was underway. I believe that MG Elite also works out at more than one gym. There are many reasons for this to happen (equipment, space, timing, etc etc etc) and it is generally not frowned up as those parties involved more than likely have an agreement to govern the relationship.

 

[Terry]

S
I also think some of us are suffering from Olympics withdrawal. We still want to be into the gymnastics team.

That much is for sure. This was just an incredible Quad. So much going on -- Marta's last hurrah (what happens now???), Simone's rise, two returning Olympians, unbelievable success of the US team. Anything from here forward is a let down.

 

[Terry]

But it is also somewhat disconcerting to see a team like Aimee and Simone break up -- albeit under totally positive circumstances. That level of success and the obvious closeness they shared is delightful to see. Although it was inevitable that there would be some sort of change at some point, most of us did not see this coming this soon. So it was just somewhat jarring.