Welcome to Gymnastike's newest series, Quick Hitts, which is a creative wordplay on my last name, thank you Anne. While the video interviews that gymnastike uploads are absolutely fantastic, nothing beats a good, old-fashioned written interview. To kick-off Quick Hitts, I interviewed Casey Jo Magee. Casey Jo competed four years for the Arkansas Razorbacks, finished out her NCAA career with the silver All Around medal, and is now trying to make her way into the elite scene. Look for Casey Jo this weekend at the WOGA Classic as she tries to qualify elite!

How did your training go while at Arkansas?
Training at Arkansas was a lot harder than the club training I had done in high school. We went through a coaching change right before my senior year of high school, so I took senior year kind of easy and I got to Arkansas and it was a big change. Vault was always my weakest event and when I came to Arkansas I thought I would be done training vault. I thought I was recruited mainly for beam and floor and maybe bars, but when I got here they said they wanted to teach me a harder vault. I ended up learning a yurchenko half and competed that and then competed a full for senior year in order to score higher. It was a big change for me. The coaches expected a lot only because they had higher expectations of the team and the program had high expectations. My recruiting class was the still in the building process of the program; each new class had more talent than the last. It was a great experience.

What made you decide to go elite after college?
Well, I never tried to be elite while in club, both my coaches when I was younger had asked me if I wanted to train and qualify elite, but at the time I knew what kind of time commitment it would be and I was already in the gym so much and I wasn’t ready for the work that it would require in the gym. I wanted a tiny bit of a social life while I still could. While finishing up at Arkansas after competing the yurchenko full and had learned the full in on floor right before season of senior year, I realized I was still learning and my body was still healthy and I wasn’t ready to be done. I thought, I was already a level 10 club gymnast and there one only one more thing I had yet to do. I didn’t want to look back and wonder what if I had tried?

Where are you training now?
I am still training in Arkansas with the team.

Is the same coach training you as before?
Yes. We also have a new assistant coach name Don Holton, but Mark and Renee are still coaching me.

What is it like training with the team but not being on the team?
It was different at first. I am actually the volunteer student coach for the team. I travel with them for meets, I help move mats, and talk to them when they need it. Last semester I didn’t really know my position because I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but I wanted to make sure I was able to help out. I didn’t want to seem like I was trying too hard to be on the team when I wasn’t. I definitely missed being on the team and having that aspect, but I knew that my time is over and that it’s these girl’s turn to learn how to be leaders and how to get their team to their potential. It’s great that they found a place for me and have allowed me to continue helping the girls with their gymnastics. I think this transition has helped me get used to not being on a team, but still involved.

Are you putting in more hours now than you were before?
Not really, because I work out with the team I work out on their schedule to help the coaches. Most of the time though I go in 30 minutes early and then leave 30 minutes after the girls do in order to get more numbers in.

What does a typical training week for you?
This semester because of traveling workout is Sunday, Monday, off Tuesday, workout Wednesday, travel or light workout on Thursday and then compete Friday and off Saturday. I usually go along with that, although if I feel like I need more I will go in on Tuesday, which is their day off. A lot of times when we travel my coaches will contact the host coaches and talk to them which allows me to use the home team’s training facility in order to not have too much time off.

Are you competing in a qualifier this month?
Yes, I am competing at WOGA next weekend.

How are you feeling about that?
A little bit of every thing. Definitely excited, but nervous. A few weeks back I realized how fast it was happening and how soon it would be here. I got a little stressed out and thought I should have prepared better, but then I talked to a lot of different people about it and they calmed me down. I still had a couple of weeks and needed to relax. I really focused on the next weeks and getting as much done as I could. I have changed a couple different things that I was originally planning on doing, mainly because I have added so many skills I was over time on events.

What other skills have you added since college to elite?
On beam I used to do round-off, layout stepout every once in awhile for my mount, but now I’m doing round-off tuck full for my mount. I’ve also added a triple turn. I’m doing a double turn into an inward full turn which is a .1 bonus. I have been working a cartwheel gainer full ½. Over the summer when I first started training elite I was working round-off doubles and Renee asked if I had ever tried gainer dismounts, I said no and started playing around with them. The more I started working on it, the more I thought about the technique and wanting to master this skill. I have also added a side somi. Originally I was going to compete full in first pass, round-off backhandspring 2 ½ second, whip half into rudi third, and finish with a front handspring front double twist. But I hadn’t done enough number of my full in since last summer, and I was really inconsistent and I decided I’m just going to do a double back and the others will stay the same. This fall I had worked with whip half into a front double, but I didn’t get enough numbers in, so I went back to the passes I competed this past year.

You can view a few of the upgrades in this video:

Watch more video of Casey Jo Magee on gymnastike.org

And how are bars coming? How confident are you with a week left?
I am feeling much more confident. It took awhile to get used to the bar setting, but now that I’ve gotten used to it I like it more because I have learned to use my tap better. Bars are coming along really well. I’ve got my Shaposhnikova timing, and it’s a lot more consistent than not. The toe shoot to high bar, is coming along better, that was a transition. I have been able to hit routines and make the dismount as well.

What are your plans for after graduation?
I’m most likely moving to Austin, Texas at the end of May when I graduate.

Where will you train when you move to Austin?
I’m going to train at Capital Gymnastics. I came to visit a couple times and I met Barry (Hyder) back in October. Right after Christmas I spent a week there and trained with Barry and really liked him and the girls. I’m excited.

What’s your favorite new skill that you have added to your routines?
I’m really excited about my triple turn on beam and the tuck full mount because you don’t really see people competing those.

Click here to view Casey Jo's gymnastike videos, and for more information on Casey Jo and her progess check out her blog! Thank you for tuning into Quick Hitt's premier and check back later this month for interview number two.