FanPost

UCLA Gymnastics - Simone Biles Commits to UCLA!

YES.

As I wrote last week, I have been waiting to see if Simone Biles will commit to either UCLA or Alabama, and she's made her choice - UCLA!

This is huge - let's look at Biles' resume:

  • 2013 World Champion - All Around
  • 2013 World Champion - Floor
  • 2013 Silver Medalist - Vault
  • 2013 Bronze Medalist - Beam
  • 2013 P&G Championships (essentially US Championships) - National Champ, Silver on Floor, Silver on Vault, Silver on beam, Silver on Uneven bars.
She has been sidelined for a good chunk of 2014 with a shoulder injury, but she came back super strong this weekend at the Secret Classic, winning the all-around over Kyla Ross with a 61.700.
I'm personally jumping for joy with this commit. Biles is a fantastic all-around gymnast, great power, great form and would be a great addition to the UCLA team.
However, I have a few concerns:
  1. I do not expect her to enroll until after Rio in 2016.
  2. By that point, she may no longer be an amateur. At the rate she is improving, the endorsement dollars may exceed the value of a college scholarship, which is how Coach Val approaches the decision of taking the money or taking the scholarship.
  3. Counterpoint: for every Jordyn Wiber, there is a Rebecca Bross, who just couldn't qualify for the Olympic team, hampered by injuries, but was unable to take the scholarship.
  4. She's already had one major shoulder injury, and continuing to compete elite with the goal to getting to the Olympics and going through probably four years of that high level competition could lead to additional injuries and she may not be at the same level once she's at UCLA. For example, Peng-Peng Lee still has not competed for UCLA with ACL problems.
Welcome to UCLA, Simone. We hope to see you in a few years! Even if you take the endorsement dollars, you can take the same route as Wieber and be a team manager.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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