@jonjones229 Might be an unpopular opinion, but I really think they should turn the team competition starting next year into 10 teams TOTAL. It's always been way too many teams, too many heats, too many moving parts, too hard to follow, and too much emphasis on basically 3-5 teams anyway.
@jonjones229 Seems like being on the second heat can be a great advantage for this event. You can watch which strategies worked well and which didn't and adapt accordingly
@goodwill I would always agree. Getting to watch the first heat gives a lot of information. I guess that's why teams are seeded so that the better teams do come in the second heat.
However, the weather may have royally screwed them. There's no cover on that field. Being wet under foot is going to make it a lot harder to get grip in that Bob push and that may make the second heat slower overall. Not to mention the psychological/physical side. Athletes will have timed meals/pre workouts for the event.
@belle33 I agree with everything you said. Also, considering these possible differences in heat weather conditions, they really should have some kind of cover, if they can't have the events on closed venues
Aside from maybe Froning, are teams most Made of athletes later in their careers or that were good but not great individually?
Or has it become a tier 1 category on its own?
@christina198585 I’d say it’s more just the tier two (or like tier 1.5) athletes that couldn’t go individual. Lots of those happen to be aging athletes, but a few who could have gone individual but just want to place higher rather than coming middle to bottom of individuals. /my2cents
@christina198585 Yes. From my gym at least most of the team members are old Indy games/regionals athletes who want to give it another go with 1 rookie.
@christina198585 With the current rules, yes it consists of a handful of big names (like Froning and Thorisdottir) along with a lot of lesser known athletes whether early or late in their careers. The teams have to live geographically close to each other to qualify, so it’s tougher to have stacked teams.
There were a few years of “super teams” where that didn’t apply, and there were a few more bigger names involved.
@christina198585 You get a mix of both really. Some of these will go individual, they are probably still coming up. You also have a good mix of those that either can’t qualify or don’t want to qualify indi anymore. Thinking of someone like Baylee Rayl was on team before she qualified individual.
