Sports
Simone Biles Is Stepping Into The Olympic Spotlight Again. She Is Better Prepared For The Pressure
Spring, Texas – Simone Biles isn’t “cured.” Let’s start there. A cure indicates finality. The ultimate and final victory. If the gymnastics superstar had learned anything in the three years since those odd, unsure days in Tokyo when she prioritized her mental health and personal safety over her chase of additional Olympic gold, it is that the battle to defend oneself never truly ends. Only partially won.
It’s a lesson she learned in front of the entire world in Japan when Biles arrived as the face of the Summer Games only to withdraw from many competitions, including the team final because her body just stopped doing what her brain told it to do.
At that moment, Biles blamed “the twisties.” On the surface, she was correct. However, they emerged from something deeper and more difficult to define.
“She can’t even explain it (and) the doctors she sees probably can’t either,” said Laurent Landi, who has been coaching Biles with his wife Cecile since 2017. “It was a traumatic event that occurred at a horrible moment for her, and she was unable to deal with it. It’s as simple as this. She couldn’t function. “She couldn’t be a gymnast at the time.”
She can now, but the journey to this point — Biles will compete for the first time in 2024 at this weekend’s U.S. Classic — has been rough. It has taken a new perspective, at times a literal mother’s touch, and ongoing attention to work on herself, which she now realizes has no expiration date.
Biles tried to take all of the extra attention before Tokyo in stride. She portrayed a sense of normalcy. It was only a facade. Her pent-up emotions and aggressions eventually drove her to “crack.”
Biles was in therapy before Tokyo but had interrupted treatment before traveling abroad. With millions watching, she went off the floor at the Ariake Gymnastics Center after a misplaced vault in the women’s team final and contacted her family, who had stayed from home in Texas because of COVID-19 restrictions imposed for the games.
Simone Biles: AP Image
Simone Biles Is Stepping Into The Olympic Spotlight Again. She Is Better Prepared For The Pressure
Nellie Biles answered the phone and heard her daughter exclaim through tears, “Mom, I really cannot do this.” “I’m lost; I can’t do this.”
So she didn’t. Biles withdrew from a few finals before returning to win bronze on the balance beam, a medal she considers one of the most meaningful of her career. As terrible and frightening as the experience was, it was necessary because it taught Biles that mental health is something she cannot ignore.
“I couldn’t run away from it, you know,” Biles told The Associated Press. “I just acknowledged it and stated, ‘Hey, this is what I’m going through. This is the assistance that I am going to receive.”
Help has driven Biles back to the top of her sport, with another Olympics on the horizon. Help manifests itself in various ways and often from unexpected locations
Biles is confident she is in a better place this time, thanks partly to weekly Thursday meetings with her therapist, which have become an immovable part of her schedule.
Biles went into a practically empty arena last fall in Antwerp, Belgium, for podium training before the world championships, her first team competition since Tokyo. Something about the scene triggered, as Nellie Biles describes it, “a PTSD moment.” Biles dashed off the floor to gather herself after being triggered by an unexpected event.
There were more tears. Increased anxiety. More calls. More reassurance.
“She almost didn’t go back out there,” Nellie Biles explained.
After being “a little bit hesitant,” Biles pushed through, thanks in part to the decision to meet with her therapist, which she rarely did close to competitions before commencing practice for the U.S. Classic in Chicago last summer
The US women were given the afternoon off, and some went to a chocolate factory. Biles opted to remain behind and FaceTime her therapist instead.
“I know how important it is for me to stay present, mindful and not be too anxious,” she stated. “So yes, we will keep that up.”
There were other home comforts in Belgium. Specifically, her family.
Every day, Nellie Biles went to Simone’s hotel room and braided her daughter’s hair for 30-45 minutes, which was a first.
“My daughter is (27) and I know (she) can braid her hair,” Nellie Biles remarked. “But it’s just that touch and closeness. It is that connectedness. It was just what she needed, and it worked.
The meet concluded in the same way that many others had during Biles’ decade-long reign at the top: with a fistful of medals packed in her suitcase for the return flight home, setting the stage for a potentially momentous Olympic year.
Before Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, the idea of Olympic history threatened to—and occasionally did—overtake her.
Simone Biles: AP Image
Simone Biles Is Stepping Into The Olympic Spotlight Again. She Is Better Prepared For The Pressure
It does not anymore. Life has, thankfully, gotten in the way.
One year ago, Biles married Jonathan Owens, the current Chicago Bears safety. The two are constructing a home in the Houston suburbs that will be completed (hopefully) in late summer or early fall
In some ways, she resembles many other 20-something brides in Biles’ orbit. For example, former Olympic teammate MyKayla Skinner had a daughter last September. A part of Biles thinks, “That’s what I should be doing.”
Instead, she’s “still flipping out here,” still making her way to the Biles family’s gym, the World Champions Centre, and practicing with other Olympic hopefuls, many of whom are nearly a decade younger and grew up idolizing her.
Why does she keep putting herself through this? Well, that’s the most important issue of all.
“I think everything I’ve been through, I want to push the limits,” she stated. “I want to see how far I can get. I want to see what I’m still capable of so that when I retire from this sport, I can be fully satisfied with my career and say I gave it my best.”
She is well aware of what may happen this summer that the millions captivated by what happened in Tokyo — from the crowds who cheered her on to the social media haters who labeled her a quitter or worse — would tune in to see if she cracks again.
Those closest to Biles believe she is better prepared for whatever may arise
“She knows something like (Tokyo) can happen because it did happen,” Landi stated. “So it’s just like, ‘OK, I’m going to be careful, I’m going to follow the same protocol every time and then I’m going to avoid (the pitfalls)’ and that’s all you can do.”
Is it the last time? She will not say. That is too far ahead. She does not frequently use the phrases “Paris” or “Olympics” in her chats. This may appear to be purposeful, but it is not. It’s just something she does.
“It’s not like I think that ‘Olympics’ is a plague and I’m trying to avoid it or trying not to say it,” she stated. “I just think there are other things I have to get to before that.”
The U.S. Classic, which takes place this weekend in Connecticut, will feature 2020 Olympic champion Sunisa Lee and 2012 Olympic champion Gabby Douglas. The United States Championships are later this month, and the Olympic Trials start in late June.
Simone Biles: AP Image
Simone Biles Is Stepping Into The Olympic Spotlight Again. She Is Better Prepared For The Pressure
One turn, routine, rotation, and encounter at a time. With all of her tools, including her therapist, at the ready.
“I feel very confident with where I’m at mentally and physically, that (Tokyo) is not going to happen again just because we have put in the work,” she stated.
There is also something greater at risk here: a message sent by Biles to others. It’s OK to not be OK. It is acceptable to make yourself vulnerable and to be open and truthful about the process, no matter how messy it becomes.
She says she’s lost track of how many people have told her, “Because of you, I’m getting the proper help that I deserve.”
It can be jarring in certain ways. She never intended to become the face of this movement, but it happened anyway.
If Biles retreats to Tokyo rather than face her troubles full on, those folks may lack the guts to ask for something they desperately need. That’s a blessing from the recent Olympics that far transcends any medal.
“As unfortunate as it (was) … it’s exciting because I know that by speaking out it’s helping other people,” Biles stated. “And that’s what I’ve always wanted to do, inside this sport and outside this sport.”
So, she’ll salute the judges on Saturday and return to the spotlight.
No, she has not been cured. She is better, though, even if she is still a work in progress, as are so many others who found the strength to say “me too” after witnessing the biggest star in the American Olympic movement open up about her troubles with so much at risk
This is the true lesson of Tokyo. It was vital, no matter how difficult it felt at the time.
“It’s good that it happened,” Biles stated. “Because I don’t think I would have got the proper help that I need (without it).”
SOURCE – (AP)
(VOR News) – The Utah Hockey Club did not begin the season in the manner that they had planned to, despite the fact that they were playing their first game of the preseason on the ice.
The first goal that they scored at the beginning of the season was not the way that they had anticipated the season to begin.
Des Moines, Iowa, which is located in the state of Iowa, was the location of the first game played by the organisation that was once known as the Arizona Coyotes.
Specifically, the game will take place in the state of Iowa. Specifically, the game was developed in the state of Iowa, which was also the location where it was manufactured. The St. Louis Blues, who were the team that was competing for the championship.
We represented Utah in this particular game.
The penalty call was delayed, which resulted in Utah being required to remove their custodian in order to make room for an additional attacker. This was done in order to provide space for the additional attacker.
It was necessary to do this step in order to clear space for the attacker to move about a bit. Because of this, St. Louis was able to take the lead in the game with a score of 1-0 at the beginning of the second quarter.
This allowed them to gain control of the game. As the puck made its way down the ice and into the empty net of the opposition, the winger for Utah, Dylan Guenther, was unable to gain hold of it at the point, and he was also unable to catch up to it in time while it was falling. The disaster took place at this particular instant in time, which was the ideal time for it to take place that it did.
A defenseman with the Blues named Anton Malmstrom was given official credit for scoring the goal, and St. Louis “congratulated” Utah on scoring its first goal in the history of the team.
Malmstrom was given credit for Utah Scoring the goal.
The individual who was identified as the player who scored the goal was Malmstrom. It has been determined that Malmstrom is the individual who was responsible for scoring the goal. At the conclusion of the official investigation, it was determined that Malmstrom was the individual who was responsible for scoring the goal.
On the flip side, it would appear that yet another case of trolling was directed at the Blues. After the actual opening goal for Utah, which was scored by Michael Carcone a little more than six minutes later, Kevin Connauton added another goal later in the quarter to bring the score to a draw.
This brought the score to a tie. As a consequence of this, the score stayed tied. As a consequence of this turn of events, the score ended up being something like 2-2.
Guenther also made atonement for his prior transgressions by scoring a power-play marker that put Utah in the lead by a score of 3-2. This was a significant accomplishment for Guenther. As a consequence for his earlier misdeeds, Guenther was given this sentence.
Due to the fact that this achievement was achieved, Utah is currently in the position of being in the lead. It was on Friday that a signing took place, which ultimately led to the extension of Guenther’s contract for an additional eight years into the future. We have completed this extension.
Carcone scored his second goal of the game into an empty net, this time into the Blues’ net, during the final minute of the game. This would be his second goal of the game. Ultimately, this goal was the deciding factor in Utah’s victory, which was officially recorded as a 5-3 score.
It was generally agreed that Carcone’s goal was the one that clinched the victory. The final goal of the contest was scored by Carcone, who scored the game’s decisive goal. Utah was able to win the game and take home the victory as a result of Carcone’s goal, which was the goal that ultimately decided the outcome of the game.
However, despite the fact that the situation had already beyond the point of no return, the social administrator for the Blues was still able to successfully extract the last laugh from it. His efforts were successful.
SOURCE: SN
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Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
No Panic for Patrick Mahomes and The Chiefs After Another Quiet Travis Kelce game.
Sports
Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
Uncasville, Connecticut Caitlin Clark had a tough playoff debut, ending up with a black eye after being jabbed in it by accident early on.
The Indiana Fever’s star rookie missed 10 of her first 11 attempts before scoring 11 points and eight assists in the team’s 93-69 loss against the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.
The AP Rookie of the Year refused to use the early first-quarter eye-poke to justify her poor performance.
AP news Image
Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
“Got me pretty good in the eye; I don’t think it affected me,” remarked the woman. “I felt I had excellent shots, but they didn’t go down. It is a difficult moment for it to happen. I thought I had gotten some great looks. You usually hit three wide open threes in the first half.”
Clark’s shooting woes persisted early in the third quarter, prompting the Fever to seek a timeout. In frustration, the young star smacked a chair onto the bench. That appeared to get her going a bit, as she came out and made her next three shots. Unfortunately for Indiana, Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey got hot, scoring 11 of her 27 points in the third quarter, and the Fever never recovered.
“My shot felt like it was right there,” said Clark, who went 4 for 17 from the field and missed 11 of 13 3-pointers. “It’s quite irritating as a shooter when it won’t go down for you. That’s what stinks about it. We were right there, and I believe we cut it to eight, but they came back down and hit a three on us.”
The Sun changed up their defensive strategy in terms of who was guarding Clark. DeWanna Bonner, who stands 6-foot-4, drew the assignment a lot.
“I took on the challenge, next game she’ll come out firing,” Bonner told me.
Clark will get another chance Wednesday in Game 2, with the hope of sending the series back to Indiana for a crucial third game on Friday.
The WNBA’s single-season assist leader made her regular-season debut in Connecticut in May. She struggled in that game as well, missing ten of her fifteen attempts.
Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
Even though this was an away game, as they had been much of the season, the Fever had a sizable fan base in Connecticut. The sellout crowd seemed to be fairly evenly split, cheering on almost everything positive Clark and Indiana did.
“Caitlin has a lot of fans. “She’s amazing,” Mabrey stated. “They can come see whoever they want to come see, but at the end of day we’re here to win a championship.”
SOURCE | AP
(VOR News) – Nine times in the passing game was Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, targeted when he debuted in the 2023 season.
He did, however, only finish with four receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown overall. He responded the next week with seven receptions for 69 yards, the Chiefs adding another score to his record and thus allaying some of the worries of some who were on the sidelines looking in.
Kelce’s third consecutive week of poor performance marked the end of his third game of the 2024–25 season.
Two days before the year ended, this Chiefs event occurred.
Although his four receptions and thirty yards are all season highs, if they had been attained concurrently they would have been among his worst efforts from the previous season.
Once more on Sunday’s triumph over the Atlanta Falcons, a sluggish effort from the offense was evident; Kelce was not an exception to this rule. While this is the case, quarterback for Chiefs Patrick Mahomes thinks the most important symbol of respect is Kelce’s receiving less than a month away from his 35th birthday.
“I mean it’s crazy since teams are still… the respect factor Travis has is just unreal,” Mahomes said to reporters. “It is well-deserved, but we are calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it seems like just two or three people are going to him,” the spokesman added. He understands this clearly.
His desire to win at the end of the day is, in my view, the most admirable trait about him; he is not simply interested in having an impact on the game. I shall give it top attention in the future to keep giving him the ball whenever he is there and on the pitch.
At the conclusion of Week 3, Kelce ranked second only to Rashee Rice in terms of targets, receptions, and yards by the pass among all Chiefs pass catchers. This shows Kelce has made notable advancements on the right path. The other man merely had 12 receptions and 14 targets; Rice had 14 targets and 12 receptions for 110 yards.
Their differences were quite considerable. As of right now this season, three games have been played; Kelce has not yet found the end zone. He had two outstanding catches in the second half.
One was a third-quarter 17-yard gain that put the Chiefs in red zone.
The head coach and Mahomes both expressed hope that Kelce would finally reach his big-time goals after the weekend’s victory. Although this is the new normal for one of the league’s best tight ends, nobody seemed to be worried about it.
This is still the case after a week; yet, the longer Chiefs games pass without a vintage Kelce effort – or anything that even loosely resembles one – the more attention will be paid to his specific stats.
Though he has lost a lot of agility compared to his prime, Kelce is still able to get open. Besides, his head is still clear, hence he is obviously capable of writing correctly.
For a different set of factors, he is not getting targets or catches inside the rhythm of the offensive, though. Maybe we could have opened that window if our sample size had been larger.
Mahomes believes that everything else will take care of itself if other guys start (or, in Rice’s case, keep going) and Kelce keeps on going.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes stated, “The more plays Rashee makes, the more effectively we can run the football, which allows us to involve (Xavier) Worthy, thereby increasing Travis’s opportunities to be open.” “Individuals are genuinely concerned about attempting to remove him, which is facilitating opportunities for other players.”
SOUREC: SI
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