Make It Small with Trinity Thomas

Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're celebrating this weekend's NC Double A Gymnastics Championships by doing splits at a party. Okay, fine, fair, I'm always doing the

Right now, I'm definitely on a down swing. I have a dongymnastics since November, and honestly, I don't I don't know that I will do gymnastics again, but I'm not completely closing that door, just kind of we'll see good.

That's you don't have to you get to decide. Maybe you'll get the itch.

Yeah, maybe we'll see Okay.

On to this week's big event in Fort Worth. So, the semifinal rounds of the twenty twenty five NCAA National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships get going Thursday on ESPN two Semi Final one at four thirty Eastern, Semifinal two at nine pm Eastern, and then they culminate with the Championship Final live on ABC on Saturday. I want to start with the basics. Can you tell us how the eight competing teams make the cut to get to compete at this national Championships.

Yes, So they were all at their own regional locations and they had to be the top two teams out of the regional location to make it to the national Championships, which is not easy. There's a play in day where the bottom two teams one team gets to go, and then there are two sessions of four teams and the top two teams from each session go from Day one of regionals today two and so then there are four teams left and the top two teams from Day two on the Nationals.

They are individuals competing as well. How did they qualify?

Yes, So basically, if you're an individual and you place at the top of Day one of Regionals, then you get to qualify to go to Nationals. If you weren't on those two teams that already qualified.

Okay, got it? Okay, So semi final one tomorrow is an all sec showdown. We got number two seed Oklahoma, number three seed Florida, number seven seed Missouri, and number eleven seed Alabama. Which team is coming in feeling the most confident? Which team has most people believing that they'll advance?

Yeah, honestly, I think all of the teams have a really good shot. They are so good this year. And I mean I will have to say obviously Oklahoma and Florida at the top. So I think that those teams are definitely.

Like people will assume that they will advance.

But it's a hard yes, but it's a.

Hard competition, and Missouri can bring it like those other teams can bring it. So I think it's gonna be a lot of fun this weekend just watching everyone. It's gonna be who's on and it's like mental game. They're all physically like incredible. All the teams are incredible, but it just comes down to who can hit and do no wobbles and hit their cast handstands and stick when it counts.

Who are some of the standout stars from those teams that you'll be watching for?

Okay, So Alabama, I'll say Gaby Gladio. She I feel like she's a big one.

And then Lily.

Hudson their team is pretty awesome. Missouri, Jocelyn Moore, Amari Drayton. Again, their team is awesome. There's so many and then oh you honestly, the freshmen. I think the freshmen for OHU have been like incredible for that team and so important, even though like they've got their Faith tours, they've got their Jordan Bauers, they've got those big names, but the freshmen have done a great job for Oklahoma this year. So the freshie's for Oklahoma. And then what was the last one?

Florida?

Florida the Okay so obviously lean long Selena Harris, but again, their team is so deep this year, so honestly, like they lean on each other and that's so cool. Obviously, every team has had adversity this year, and so it's nice when you have a deep team to be able to put the next one up and they're just as good as the last.

So we know you've really moved on to your media role when you forgot your own team. You're really so unbiased at this point that you forget your own squad. So I love the idea of the freshman coming out of Oklahoma as being one of the stories this weekend. Any other great stories, whether that's athletes looking to break a record, maybe someone coming back from injury, or something else for that first semi final you'll be watching for.

I definitely think Helen Who's story is incredible. She didn't do gymnastics last year, she was doing learning so much about herself and about the world year and comes back and I think she's got three perfect tens now on meme, so really, look, I mean, she could win that beam title.

She is one of the.

Most incredible beam workers in the NCAA right now, and so I think her story is really special and it'd be so cool to see her walk away with a national title on TAM.

Yeah, you know, it's so interesting in certain sports, particularly ones where there's a lot of mental pressure it's about perfection. It's not about reacting in the moment. It's about having done it so many times that you can sort of get out of your head and let it happen. That there are athletes like that who step away and when they come back with a different perspective, how it changes their sport as well. And it feels like you've been

Yes, absolutely, I mean the pressure at Nationals is like nothing else. Obviously, every team's biggest goal, whether like it's in the forefront or of their mind or in the back like is to win a national championship. And so that's always like that overhanging like dirt cloud. I don't know, but it's like it's a great thing, but you can't

It's just another meet.

It's about the way that you approach it and look at it, and for me, I would always try to make it small, Like I do this every single day in the gym. I've worked for this moment. It's just another beam routine, it's just another bar routine, it's one more vault, it's one more floor routine. So it's just like really breaking it down in your mind to not make it bigger than what it is.

Yeah, and I feel like Oklahoma, of all the teams, would be really ready for that kind of approach because they've been so consistent all season. Their scores have been across the board like they just don't waiver. So I would love to be their coach heading into this and just be like, listen, you've done it literally every single time. Just do the exact same thing you've pretty much done

I mean LSU is a great team again, so much talent across the board. I honestly think as long as they come in, just be them, Like they just have to do their normal. They have to trust their gymnastics.

That team is. I mean, they've gone team of veterans too.

Like, they've got a lot of girls that have been to several national championships. A lot of them are back from last year coming off of the national championship, so they literally, I think, just have to be them.

What are you watching for in terms of stars from some of these teams in the second semi final?

I know Michigan State this is their first time in I can't remember how many years, A long time coming to the national championship, but like they cannot be underestimated. They are incredible, absolutely amazing. Again, They've got some great veterans on their team, and I definitely think that they can make it out of this round one of Nationals and their I don't know. Oh, I love Nicki Smith. She's so much fun. She's an incredible gymnast. She brings

They had that that fault last year.

Didn't quite go the way that they wanted it to, didn't even make it to four on the floor, which is like not obviously not normal for OU, And so I think they're they're coming back. They've got a new team right mostly like a very a very young team with a lot of contributing freshmen, like we were saying, But I think that for them, I feel like their overall like team chemistry this year, and kJ has talked

Yeah, so the big stories heading into the semi finals are, of course Oklahoma, this team that's been a powerhouse but really fell apart last year and is trying to have a little revenge tour LSU. They're quote unquote trying to protect the crown after winning it all last year. And then like you mentioned, all these upstart teams. There's a ton of parody this year and a lot of people see the field is pretty open for this year, like anything can happen. The top two teams advanced to the

Oh my goodness, do you want me to say what I think is gonna happen or what I hope happened?

Give us both. I'm guessing Florida's in there somewhere.

Obviously, I'm a Florida Gator, so I've gotta have the Florida Gators in there, so I think the Gators are going to go.

I think, oh, this is so hard.

I'm going to go with the Gators in Missouri, and mostly because I really want Missouri making to four on the floor.

I think that'd be really cool for them.

So the Gators and Missouri out of that first session, and then the second session LSU and oh gosh, I'm.

Gonna say, Michigan State. That's what I want.

Okay, all right, Well, we'll know who you're rooting for at least, or at least what you'd like to see happening. There are also the twenty athletes that are competing individually, including a couple Olympians, two time Olympians and twenty twenty four Olympic gold medalists Jade Carey who's competing for Oregon State and Jordan Chiles of UCLA, and then twenty twenty four US Olympic alternates Leanne Wong that you mentioned from Florida,

Yes, I'm excited for all of them. I'm just glad that they are. I mean, they bring you so many more eyes to NC DOUBLEA gymnastics, which is so important. They've really paved the way and they've done a great job, and I'm just so glad they're enjoying their collegiate experience because me personally, like college gymnastics was like the best part of gymnastics for me, it was my favorite part.

I think that they're hard to beat, all of them.

Yeah, I definitely think that everyone all eyes are on them and everyone's excited to just see what happens this weekend. I obviously, Jay Carey has been on the top of the individual rankings all season and so she's definitely want to watch for that all around title. So it'll be interesting to see how it all pieces together and what happens this weekend.

Why was college your favorite? What did you like so much about it?

Oh? Oh, my goodness. I love the team, the team atmosphere I loved. I obviously was at Florida, so I loved Gator Nation. I loved competing under all the lights, with all of the literally all the seats filled in the stands, Like that's an unreal feeling. And getting to like band together with a team that we're working towards a common goal every single day for four years, and just growing closer and closer with my coaches and with

You know, for a lot of fans, they're getting into watching more of the NCAA. You know a lot of people come around for the Olympic cycles and you know, every four years for the big events but more and more fans are starting to realize how much great gymnastics is happening at the collegiate level, and to your point, those Olympiads coming back and competing or helping with that

Oh, that's a good question.

I think honestly, it's hard to focus when there's four teams on the floor at one time. But they do do two events at a time for viewers, so that makes it a little bit easy but easier. But just listen to the commentators. They'll kind of like guide you to one side of the screen or the other. Sometimes it will be full screen if there's the one event

So for sure, you're going to be part of the stream team coverage on ESPN Plus. Can you tell us more about that.

Yes, So we have a meeting to This is gonna be my first time being a part of the stream team. This is my first time covering the national Championships. So I'm excited to be here in a different role. Last year was here as a student assistant coach for the Gators, and then previous years I was here as an athlete. So just being able to like move into new roles

But I'm excited.

I'll be over on the stream team, which I assume just means like I'm covering certain teams while everybody else is covering the main stream, and so I'll be paired with Bridget Sloan and so that'll be fun, another gator, but it'll be it'll be fun. So we'll just be talking, having a conversation and if you want to tune in, like I'm sure it'll be great.

Yeah.

So there's a handful of you on that stream team, and then fans can follow their specific squad action throughout the arena with a dedicated stream and commentators. So you'll be split up into two teams with commentators for each feed, and that way, like you said before, when there's so much happening at once, if people have found that there's one team that they want to follow, they can follow on the stream team on ESPN plus what there are all those events going on at once? How do you

Yes, I'm still trying to figure that part out. You mean, like as a commentator, as like.

A spectator either way, I guess like when there's so much.

Going on, Yes, when there's a lot going on, I sometimes bind myself like trying to watch both at the same time.

But you kind of have to choose a little bit.

So if someone's doing a major skill, so like if if someone's doing let's say we're watching floor and beam, if someone's doing a tumbling pass, I'll take my eyes to floor. Uh, if they're doing a major skill on beam, I'll bring my eyes to beam. So I just try to like kind of watch the majors skills as much as I.

Can and wait for the crowd to go oh, I know.

But it is hard. Sometimes when there's a lot going on, it's hard and you're like, oh, I want to watch both, and sometimes you just have to go back and watch that routine later if you want to like really sit there and watch the whole thing. So it can be hard when there's a lot going on on the screen.

So your first championship's back, not as an athlete or coach, do you think you'll have any emotions about watching other people try to win out and live out their dreams or even some pangs of like, oh I wish I was out there.

Honestly, I mean I've had my time. Obviously I never got to win a natural championship with my team, which is unfortunate. But it's been so fun to sit back and watch everyone because I have never done that before. Like I would see this in that like a little bit, but I never paid attention to what everyone else was doing because I was like focused on my team and focus on what I was doing, and like what I was there to do a job, and that's what I

Yeah, for sure, and it's such a changing space, I mean college gymnastics over the years, especially because of NIL. Before the NIL changes that went into effect in twenty twenty one, it was almost unheard of to see Olympians competing at the NCAA Championships. Those athletes would have turned pro, they would have forfeited college eligibility. Now they can actually make money with endorsements, and they bring all these eyeballs

Of the world.

Yes, again, you said, it brings all the attention to the nc double A gymnastics, which is really cool because the Olympics only happens every four years, so it's it's cool to have another another big platform for people to watch gymnastics if they love gymnastics. And it does make it hard for everyone else, but I honestly it elevates the competition and that's I think. I can't speak for everyone, but that's what we want. That's what we want in gymnastics,

Like they're all just as good.

So I think it's important to like note that, like, yeah, the Olympians are great, but like these other girls are just as good at college gymnastics as they are.

And so it's like.

Really cool to see like the playing field kind of like just continue to elevate. They elevate each other, they make each other better, and like it's a good friendly competition. It's incredible. So I think that they enjoy the friendly competition.

Yeah.

I might not win as much, but it makes for a good story. And I could say, as a washed up old athlete, the stories I tell the most are like the Olympians I competed against, got my ass beat by more so than when I was like winning lesser events. So they have the story later of like, oh yeah, I was at Championships alongside you know, these Olympians, these superstars that you've all watched on TV all the time. It does feel like also maybe the parody is the

Yes, absolutely, there are definitely more programs like trying to figure out how how can we make these these college programs, these college gymnastics programs bigger, How can we get more eyes on our team?

So I think like.

Marketing has been doing a great job at a lot of the teams and the coaches I mean play a huge role in that as well in the athletic department. So it's been nice to see people trying to make new programs and grow their own programs. It's been so cool to see that transformation and continuing to just keep pushing the sport forward.

It's such a fun watch it is, and it's something I think we just give fans enough information to want to go check it out and then they'll be hooked, just like we all are every year with the Olympics when they roll around. All Right, So we've got semifinals on ESPN. Two championships on ABC and the stream team on ESPN Plus. Trinity good luck this weekend, and thanks so much for giving us some time.

Thank you so much.

We have to take another break when we return. It's not just gymnasts who dazzle with backflips, stick around slices. Welcome back slices. We love that you're listening, but we want you to get in the game every day too, So here's our good gameplay of the day. Watch the NCAA Gymnastics Championships. The semi final rounds are today, with Semifinal one at four thirty Eastern and Semifinal two at