sportsgirlkat - Tumblr blog

[sportsgirlkat]

TOTALLY the skating version of Maggie Nichols’ 2015 P&G Championships night two leotard. 

Gabrielle Daleman’s free program costume at the 2014 NHK Trophy and 2015 Canadian Championships. She skated to En Aranjuez con tu amor.

(Source: Zimbio and Skate Ontario)

[sportsgirlkat]

Second to last story from #pgchamps! I look at the performance of Medway, MA’s Matt Felleman in senior men.

[sportsgirlkat]

Covered Aly Raisman’s entire championships for her town paper, the Needham Times.

[sportsgirlkat]

I’ve had the pleasure of covering junior men’s competitor Addison Chung for the last two P&G Gymnastics Championships and boy, oh, boy, has he improved. Can’t wait to see what next season brings for him - his fundamentals are incredible! 

Some people ask why I cover individual gymnasts at events instead of looking to do straight competition stories - it’s because you get to tell stories like Addison’s. 

[sportsgirlkat]

Aly Raisman still has work to do to get back to her 2012 form, but she’s in a great spot with a bronze medal at Saturday’s P&G Gymnastics Championships. My story for the Boston Herald. 

[sportsgirlkat]

Thanks! I am originally from Rochester and grew up dreaming of writing for the D&C, so I am always excited to get a piece in there. Thank you for your kind words!!!

Hi Gymnastics Fans:

If you’re a new follower, welcome. My name is Kat. I sometimes am blessed enough to get to cover gymnastics (aka, I beg, borrow and save to go to events and freelance for a number of different newspapers.) I grew up a mega gymnastics and skating fan, and I try to write about both as much as I can.

Here’s what I’ve written from the P&G Championships so far.

An Aly Raisman preview: 

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/other/2015/08/aly_raisman_seeks_2nd_shot_at_olympic_glory

A story on Eddie Penev’s comeback:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2015/08/13/healthy-eddie-penev-back-national-gymnastics-scene/31641453/

Thanks for reading! I hope you like them! 

-Kat

[sportsgirlkat]

Sports journalism problems

When all your Facebook friends are announcing their pregnancies and you're like, "Hey guys, read my new gymnastics article!"

[sportsgirlkat]

Jazmyn Foburg and Laurie Hernandez are dominating the junior level of women’s gymnastics. The New Jersey duo might be the best examples of how women’s gymnastics might call upon the Garden State for its next stars. 

[sportsgirlkat]

I covered Peter Daggett at his first P&G Gymnastics Championships last year in Pittsburgh. Today, he finished second and is well on his way to what he’s wanted: a national team berth. So of course, I had to do a follow-up to last year’s work. 

[sportsgirlkat]

Hi Gymnastics Fans:

If you’re a new follower, welcome. My name is Kat. I sometimes am blessed enough to get to cover gymnastics (aka, I beg, borrow and save to go to events and freelance for a number of different newspapers.) I grew up a mega gymnastics and skating fan, and I try to write about both as much as I can.

Here’s what I’ve written from the P&G Championships so far.

An Aly Raisman preview: 

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/other/2015/08/aly_raisman_seeks_2nd_shot_at_olympic_glory

A story on Eddie Penev’s comeback:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2015/08/13/healthy-eddie-penev-back-national-gymnastics-scene/31641453/

Thanks for reading! I hope you like them! 

-Kat

[sportsgirlkat]

You know you have arrived as a gymnastics writer when my-bff-nastia gets a Tumblr question about you. 

Thanks, anon. 

Saw that the Boston herald sent a reporter for Raisman... Did any other gymnast pull their local media? Like is the Houston chronicle there?

Not really…lots of Indiana media but I know the Boston Herald reporter and she’s basically a big gym fan and really pushes to be allowed to cover these events so that’s why she’s here! Covering Aly of course but also she just loves being at USAG events and goes to almost all of them.

[sportsgirlkat]

Change in Olympic Gymnastics Team Size.

Reading all the thoughts on Tumblr and articles about the change in Olympic team size. Is there any indication on how event finals will work? (I could be missing this, given I’m reading all of this on the fly while Commencement organ music pounds away next to my office, haha.) Thank you in advance!

[sportsgirlkat]

When you go to the local Babies R Us to pick up a gift for a friend, and you’re in your 30s but don’t have kids of your own, you make sure to proclaim loudly several times, “I am just here to get a gift for a friend.” “It’s so much fun to buy gifts for all of my friends who are having kids.”  “I’M JUST HERE TO GET GIFTS FOR MY FRIENDS.” 

[sportsgirlkat]

Hung my head as I lost the war, and the sky turned black like a perfect storm. Rain came pouring down When I was drowning That's when I could finally breathe

taylorswift's Clean. Aka, the song that probably describes my current state more than any song ever. Probably listened to it 16 times on today's 2.5 hour MBTA ride to work.

[sportsgirlkat]

Seeing a lot of people asking, "How could she stay?" regarding the Ray Rice incident. Because it's lonely being a victim. There is no guarantee that people will be by your side if you do breakup or pursue charges. If you do start to speak up, you will have people tell you to "keep it quiet and work it out." There's a lot of promises made and a lot of promises broken. And if you don't have your own family/friends who will stick up for you, it's even harder. In a situation where the abuser has the edge status or income wise, a lot of family and friends will tell a victim to suck it up.

A victim will rationale the controlling or abusive behavior because they think it might not happen again, or begin to think it's their own fault. How does a victim think it's their own fault? Because if a victim feels like no one is around to stick up for a her/him, or no one is around to say, "Hey, that's not right," to a victim, then a victim will think it's all in their head.

It's easy to think you would be strong in the circumstance of any type of abusive relationship (be it dating, family, stalking, emotional or otherwise), and run and report, but the mind games and loneliness can be debilitating. 

[sportsgirlkat]

2014 U.S. Gymnastics Championships - The Recap

I jumped right into a busy time at my full-time non-writing job after covering Nationals, and didn't get a chance to link to these. Here are my stories from Nationals. 

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Eddie Penev finishes with two medals, makes Senior National Team

Penev with new confidence heading into Nationals

Boston Herald

Raisman to return

Junior men - Day 2

Junior men - Day 1

Junior men - Massachusetts gymnast preview

[sportsgirlkat]

I interviewed her (http://bostonherald.com/sports/other/2014/08/raisman_to_return) and she is not looking to return for this Worlds. 

If Aly shows up at the October camp looking super fab what would her chances on being apart of the World team since so many girls are injured.

Well if she’s in her 2012 shape or at least very close, she could definitely make it.

For the sixth spot on my team I have Bauman or Nichols. (For beam/floor) Aly could for sure fill that spot as well!