Olivia Reeve - Team Sparkle - moves to Chows

[marie83]

Hi all,

Remember team sparkle from youtube?
They have moved once again from Tolworth to Europa (due to travel time I believe) but Olivia Reeve has moved even further afield to Chows! Her dad apparently has a job over there. I noticed on twitter over the summer that she was over there training with Shawn, but had no idea it was going to be a permanent move.

She is going to be competing level 10. Her first meet is on Jan 12th in Iowa! I hope she does really well there - she is certainly a similar gymnast to Shawn - very powerful!

 

[GymSurvivor]

Very cool.
Olivia and all the other girls apart of team sparkle are amazing gymnasts that will all go far in their own ways!

 

[bogwoppit]

Now that is an epic move, hard to imagi e anyone getting a job relocation to Iowa! But hey anything is possible.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

No one would be flocking to Chows if Shawn had left for greener pastures as a level nine/ten. Not a dig at Chows, just saying.

 

[gymdog]

Now that is an epic move, hard to imagi e anyone getting a job relocation to Iowa! But hey anything is possible.

My guess is they probably got relocated to the Midwest and they tried to get close to the gym. Not entirely improbable...some companies can transfer people to many locations. I know someone who did move for gymnastics and her mom really did a job transfer too, but they basically chose where. In this case maybe they did the same thing, or maybe they had to get transferred to the US and chose this gym. The latter seems more likely to me in the case of an intercontinental transfer since I can't imagine she has better chances of making the National Team or an Olympic team. She probably has better chances at an NCAA slot.

Just speculating of course. To be honest, I wouldn't really judge them either way, it just doesn't seem very likely to me they decided to randomly move from the UK to Chows.

 

[bookworm]

I would think her chances were better for the National Team (with actual assignments) if she had stayed in the UK...we have a few girls at our gym on "national" teams but not in the US...most of their scores at their meets internationally wouldn't even qualify them to HOPES in the US but in other countries , they are the cream of the crop (and train and live here). That said, her training at Chow's is probably what she's after because if she's a citizen of the UK, she won't be eligible for certain things here in the US system.

 

[Faith]

Interesting.

I looked at her website recently and she has barely competed at gymnastics the last couple of years, injury I think. She was diving as well and was successful there, although it made make me wonder if she was overtraining.

Team sparkle has moved around an awful lot- they seem to follow the coach, Rochelle Douglas. I'd be interested again to see how they do in a few years, these kids are well known from this Internet promotion on youtube etc. from about 7 or 8 years old, added pressure they don't need IMO.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

I'm going to be at that meet! Also, for all you naysayers, Iowa is not the desolate land of wheat fields and bathtub drug production people seem to think it is. You're thinking of South Dakota.

 

[gymdog]

I would think her chances were better for the National Team (with actual assignments) if she had stayed in the UK...we have a few girls at our gym on "national" teams but not in the US...most of their scores at their meets internationally wouldn't even qualify them to HOPES in the US but in other countries , they are the cream of the crop (and train and live here). That said, her training at Chow's is probably what she's after because if she's a citizen of the UK, she won't be eligible for certain things here in the US system.

Yeah, that's a good point, she'd have to get citizenship anyway. For some reason that wasn't even occurring to me.

Anyway I guess they could move just for training but there are good coaches in the UK...not sure why an intercontinental transfer would be their first step.

 

[coachmolly]

I'm going to be at that meet! Also, for all you naysayers, Iowa is not the desolate land of wheat fields and bathtub drug production people seem to think it is. You're thinking of South Dakota.

And Chow's is in Des Moines, not a place like Dallas or New York, but not itty bitty either. Apparently the city of Omaha (Nebraska) has more Fortune 500 companies than any other city in the US, I imagine Des Moines probably has a similar draw for big business- lower costs of living and running a business but still has easy access to airports/transportations and centrally located between East and West coasts. I think there are a lot of financial type companies in that area, as well as BIG farm business- corn producers and the like (but I imagine it's more likely this kids dad is heading there for banking/financial work). I think it would be much more suspicious if some gym in Wyoming or North Dakota created an Olympic champ and people started flocking there in the name of "job transfers."
I hope she enjoys the US system and the opportunity to train with an Olympic gold medalist and her coach, if nothing else it should be a good experience for her and help her acclimate to life in a new country. It will be interesting to see how she fares in the world of JO competition. It seems that she has a solid foundation of basics to work with though.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I'm going to be at that meet! Also, for all you naysayers, Iowa is not the desolate land of wheat fields and bathtub drug production people seem to think it is. You're thinking of South Dakota.

i'm not so sure about that... and it is right next to south dakota.

 

[gymmomtoo]

We'll be there too--be fun to see her. And the drive from any meet in Iowa is always home through a snowstorm. How does that always happen?? Iowa is fairly flat, but it's nothing like South or North Dakota!

 

[coachmolly]

I looked at her website and it doesn't appear she'll be able to go for NCAA as she has accepted sponsorship money over the past few years. It's possible that her parents/coaches were careful about it, but not being from the US and familiar with the ins and outs of the NCAA system, I sort of doubt that.

 

[bookworm]

I looked at her website and it doesn't appear she'll be able to go for NCAA as she has accepted sponsorship money over the past few years. It's possible that her parents/coaches were careful about it, but not being from the US and familiar with the ins and outs of the NCAA system, I sort of doubt that.

I just looked at her website and the only thought that comes to mind is .."can you say burnout?"...the kid (so she says) hopes to qualify for National teams for gymnastics AND diving...works out 7 days a week either in the gym or diving....no wonder she has had a ton of injuries, she never gets a moment to rest!!!

 

[Faith]

She's another one I know far too much about . Will she be able to keep up the diving where she is now? She's only 13 so has another 3/4 years before senior levels...

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Diving alone is a full time committment (we have friends who know Tom Daley's family) to be the best. A young body needs rest to perform at its best, you can't do both ! How sad