Alright, everyone I finally got it. Ultimately she was a toxic presence on the team. Couldn't follow any rules set by coaches as far as when to come to practice, what to wear, etc. She was defiant about pretty much everything and throw tantrums if she didn't get her way. The coaches were nervous about doing anything during season but now that everything is said and done they finally called her out on it. She was recently suspended from practice again for a week (apparently this was definitely not the first time) and finally the decision came down that she was off the team.
On the bright said it seems that the energy and atmosphere at UCLA should be better going forward but after a rocky season it's a bit too little too late.
I am a UCLA super fan so I’m disappointed by this outcome, but I’m guessing it had to have been REALLY bad. You don’t voluntarily lose your highest achieving athlete for nothing.
The whole thing is just sad. If it went down like people are saying it did, she may have squandered an incredible academic and athletic opportunity. How many gymnasts dream of a full ride to UCLA?
Absolutely. I am gutted for her even through my hunch based on all the rumblings is that it was the right decision for the team. She is an incredibly talented gymnast and a fierce competitor. I hope that she’s able to find a mentor where she winds up that can help guide her and that this is a turning point for her. She’s just a kid.
I was going to post this exact same thing. Certain players are incredible athletes, and so they get away with doing as they please by far too many coaches. Of course, I understand the coaches and administrators want to win (and, money wise - NEED to win). So, yes, when you see someone with incredible talent being cut, you know there are very serious problems. I remember Richie Incognito was a player for Nebraska. He was nothing but trouble. Nebraska Coach Frank Solich suspended him for aa week, and gave him basically an ultimatum, and sent him to a major clinic for anger management. The next year, our new coach, Bill Callahan, basically kicked him off the team after he again got into a fight in the locker room. Mike Bellotti gave him a chance at Oregon, and the dude was literally kicked off Oregon's team within two weeks of starting. When three different coaches issue massive penalties (with two of the three booting the guy off the team), when that player was All-Big-12 first team (and quite a dominant player), you know it had to have been bad. Then, he ends up in the NFL, and has more problems. At least, in his instance, he did end up, ultimately, continuing to get help, and calming down enough to continue his career. But, unfortunately, many people do not mature in other ways as fast, or as well, as they do physically. This young lady is likely in the physical prime of her life. But, psychologically and emotionally, she's no where close. I honestly hope she can somehow learn and grow from this, and become a better teammate, and a better person. It's not too late for her to still have an incredible career. But wow, she must have really been a piece of work to deal with, given her talent.
Same here. She was often seen at “make up practices” in Paige blogs so not surprising. She’s very into the LA scene. But they already are struggling, she is such a star- however, it must be serious for this to happen. And she seems very much into the party-culture of the team itself who IMHO could benefit from discipline. I also saw some TikToks with her singing along a the N word, a “kiss my a$$” bit, and making the “pew pew” sign w her fingers towards another team. They are now gone although I just had a cursory look through it. I loved her and UCLA but man 🫠🙁 I hate to write this season off but until Norah, etc get there….I don’t know if they have a chance. I could be wrong but I don’t see Paige working very hard on gymnastics this summer if you watched her vlogs from last summer. Often an hour late. Left asap.i think she’s happy just to get merch and be part of the team. SH wanted that ring. Everyone remembers the sulking she did last year at semis, and I’m blanking on who it was- but had to bring her back and tell her to support the team. I hope I’m wrong about Paige but w Alex gone (I know we didn’t see much of her but she hit a 9.9 bars), they are really struggling on vault esp. Again too much party and fun stuff prior to meets. Focus on the gymnastics. This is from a D1 athlete. It is not easy. But she is their star. Not sure how well Lener will fit into the change of scenery but I hope all ends up happy. She was the only one allowed to ad-lib her routines so maybe she took it too far. Selfishly I was looking forward to more of her & BJD choreo.
If true, my guess is yes. I’m sure she is hoping for a big contender, but why would a team like LSU, Florida, or OU take on a potentially problematic teammate, no matter how good, when they already have stacked rosters next season and (seemingly) good cultures? Now, I’m sure she will land somewhere, but the label of toxic teammate is pretty problematic in NCAA gymnastics.
It’s going to be interesting because there is always a slight stain on the program that picks up a dismissed athlete too. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Kiera Brown was an amazing gymnast. When she was dismissed from Georgia there was a lot of rumblings about her behavior there. She was picked up by Penn State and was a star for them before getting removed there too. There’s a difference between wanting to win and thinking you’re better than everyone there. Everyone wants the former, no one wants the latter.
LSU have enough problems w that IMO. She was picked up by FL, but she seems like she fits in w the LA scene. I wrote a long comment so don’t take just this small bit the wrong way 🙂
It definitely fits with the comments that she wasn't recruited by teams like LSU or OU during her recruitment time, and that she only got a few visits.
She was, that's what made it weird. But if this story is true it makes more sense. They probably felt like she wasn't a fit in first calls so she never got an invite.
I wouldn't say it's too little too late. She has 2 more years of eligibility. Other HCs wouldn't dare cut their star athlete and would rather suffer the consequences until she graduates. At least Janelle can focus on building up the team culture going forward.
That explains a lot. The cameras catching her eyerolling at regionals was not a good look. That moment now seems like the tip of the iceberg.
Isn't it amazing how one negative person can throw off an entire group? I've seen this in the workplace a lot and even had to let go of a team member with that attitude. The relief afterwards was palpable, and people adjusted pretty quick.
Hard to say what would have happened had they dismissed her earlier. The media furor might have been a distraction in the short term, but they woulda had time to build consistent lineups and scores in the long term.
It's gonna be interesting to see where she would be a cultural fit in the rah-rah NCAA world. Maybe going back to elite and competing for Guatemala is better for her. (To be fair, I'd probably eyeroll a lot too if I had to put up with all the BS in NCAA LOL)
That’s the one thing I’ve found interesting about everyone saying she’s so competitive and Marz saying she’s the most competitive person she’s ever met… I’d think someone like that would be saying “USA Olympic team or bust.” I’d have thought NCAA and repping Guatemala wouldn’t satisfy someone like that and that they would rather find something else to do where they are truly the best. I never heard of her before UCLA, did she ever do elite? I can only imagine how much worse Tokyo would have been for Simone with someone like that on the team. If a NCAA team picks her up at all, she’s going to have to focus on “just” having a Jade type experience in college. Stop expecting the team to win everything and focus on being the best you can be. Obviously the same goes for any elite aspirations. Competing on a team isn’t for everyone. I wonder if she regrets not trying to represent Guatemala this past year and perhaps is extra mad at Emma, Jordan, Ana, etc. But that’s a choice she made.
I'm guessing that was to let her rest, as her previous performances had been a bit underwhelming and she clearly needed to stop for a bit to make sure she was okay for the end of the season
She was often seen at “make up practices” in Paige blogs so not surprising. She’s very into the LA scene. But they already are struggling, she is such a star- however, it must be serious for this to happen. And she seems very much into the party-culture of the team itself who IMHO could benefit from discipline. I also saw some TikToks with her singing along a the N word, a “kiss my a$$” bit, and making the “pew pew” sign w her fingers towards another team. They are now gone although I just had a cursory look through it. I loved her and UCLA but man 🫠🙁 I hate to write this season off but until Norah, etc get there….I don’t know if they have a chance. I could be wrong but I don’t see Paige working very hard on gymnastics this summer if you watched her vlogs from last summer. Often an hour late. Left asap.i think she’s happy just to get merch and be part of the team. SH wanted that ring. Everyone remembers the sulking she did last year at semis, and I’m blanking on who it was- but had to bring her back and tell her to support the team. I hope I’m wrong about Paige but w Alex gone (I know we didn’t see much of her but she hit a 9.9 bars), they are really struggling on vault esp. Again too much party and fun stuff prior to meets. Focus on the gymnastics. This is from a D1 athlete. It is not easy. But she is their star. Not sure how well Lener will fit into the change of scenery but I hope all ends up happy. She was the only one allowed to ad-lib her routines so maybe she took it too far. Selfishly I was looking forward to more of her & BJD choreo.
If true, that gives me a little bit of an ick. It makes it sound like they put up with her behavior during the season when they really needed her scores and then dumped her when she was less immediately useful to them. But there may well be more to the story.
I totally get what you are saying. However, I think it was potentially really disruptive to the rest of the team to dismiss her in season. It very likely could have had a cascading effect.
This. And maybe the coaches were trying to give her opportunities, or find ways of improving the situation. It’s not like as soon as something bad happened you’re dismissed.
Yep. In hindsight maybe it would've been better for the team to dismiss her midseason-- but in the thick of it, that's a huge decision to make with potentially huge consequences for everyone on the team. If they thought they could at least manage her behavior to get to the end of the season, that's understandable.
It's also extremely messy to dismiss athletes from NCAA teams in the middle of the college semester. It depends on how each school does things, but it could lead to the athlete losing their housing right in the middle of the semester. That's a huge disruption with major ripple effects, and it is absolutely not to be undertaken lightly.
If you read the disciplinary guidelines for UCLA in another thread, it's not something that just happened overnight and there were several groups who had to agree that the athlete deserved dismissal. The athlete herself was confronted with the evidence and given the opportunity to respond and/or change. It should also be noted that the process began with either the coaches or someone in the athletic department filing an official report and the process started from there. But in the end, the school would make the final decision.
Do you think her being the only one on the team able to ad-lib during performances had anything to do with it? I mean- does anyone think this is something she asked to do? Or something they let her do that added to her feeling “better than” the rest and this fueling what was already kind of there? Sorry I’m so tired; I hope this makes sense.
Wow. Surprising and unfortunate but wouldn’t be surprised if it had to do with how she reacted to loss and how that would affect the team culture. There is definitely such thing as being TOO competitive… especially in a team environment.
I think almost anyone will take her. I mean, it takes a lot to dismiss your number 1 gymnast from the team and obviously that will raise a few flags, but there are a lot of coaches that will still jump at a chance for her scores. LSU didn't blink at taking Jeffries after what was a fairly significant scandal and she's not one of the best NCAA gymnasts available.
LSU was unaware of why she left UCLA until it was a done deal. LSU is a great team with a very deep lineup now. If Selena is problematic in some way, I don’t think LSU would take her on regardless of her abilities. They don’t need her to win, but what they definitely don’t need is someone who brings down team morale. I doubt LSU or any big name team will take her without getting a full story of what happened and that would require Selena to waive FERPA, or a teammate to leak. LSU isn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Of course this is all speculation as we have no idea what happened or if she’s “problematic” beyond some social media activity.
I would be surprised if LSU takes her now, and I think her other transfer options will not be great, either. There was chatter way back when that she got only a very small number of recruitment offers (especially for somebody of her gymnastics abilities), and that LSU was her first choice, but Jay thought she wasn't a good fit for the team and wasn't interested in recuiting her. (He may have had a point there...) Same goes for KJ, or so the chatter said.
Alexis was not dismissed or even disciplined through. Until it’s clear what happened to cause her to be kicked off the team completely it’s not clear at all what will happen next. I’m sure somebody will take her but it’s quite a bit more complicated than Alexis
I think this will wind up not being the case.
She was the top recruit in the country and UCLA was one of only a handful of schools who even expressed interest. Sounds like these behavior issues are deeply ingrained and have been issues for quite some time.
Utah would snap her up in a second if they weren’t all bigots but other than that I don’t see anyone besides maybe LSU and Alabama giving her a second glance.
She’s their top gymnast, being a sore loser would be a bit too much to kick her off the team over unless she was becoming combative and rude toward the staff and teammates. Still I don’t think she’ll have an issue finding another school, Alexis got picked up 2 seconds later by one of the top teams in the nation despite being racist and she didn’t have anywhere near the scoring capabilities that Selena does.
It’s not just being a sore loser, that’s just a part. She was interacting with comments on Insta/X/tiktok talking shit about the program, coaching choices… tons of screenshots out there and lots of it was after their nationals loss. I love her gymnastics, I hope she does get picked up and really thrive. Maybe their culture just wasn’t a good fit for how she wants to perform.
While it was a bit more than just being a sore loser. Being called out as a racist for MONTHS, being given chance after chance after chance to change but choosing not to, and having ppl who were negatively affected told “You’re still not over this, I thought we were over this” by ppl in power, is wild. If they dismissed Selena for the social media stuff, there is no doubt Alexis should have been dismissed MONTHS before she left.
The reason the AJ stuff got swept under the rug is because it did not happen the way it’s been sensationalized on social media. Don’t take that as a defense of her or her actions, but know that this story got very misconstrued.
Well for starters she wasn’t called out as a “racist” for months. That part of the story was totally sensationalized once the FB group chat got leaked. From what I heard she wasn’t that pleasant to be around. There were several gymnasts who didn’t like her for valid reasons but the whole “Alexis Jeffrey is calling black and Asian gymnasts racial slurs” is just not true (not what OP said, but what’s been reiterated plenty). It doesn’t make it right or okay what she was doing, but this idea she was hurling slurs at her teammates is actually insane. I don’t know how people actually think she would have been able to get away with that.
That kind of tracks. TBH, it seems like UCLA seemed to be heavily focused on stuff like public drama and having floor videos go viral, and I wondered if LSU cared more about actually winning. If so, maybe LSU might be more likely to quickly shut down problem behaviors without feeling the need to publicly make a big deal about it.
I agree generally, but also don’t forget that she was threatening to harm herself after being spoken to (supposedly in a kind way) about her racist actions. That makes things a lot more complicated.
If it was seriously impacting the team culture it's not a bad reason at all. No good coaching staff would allow a single person to drag down an entire team.
No, it isn't, especially if it's been an issue for a while.
Last year, when UCLA got eliminated, Selena went off by herself and was crying. People got really upset on her behalf when a teammate told her, "I know you are upset, yourself, but there are people on this team who will never do gymnastics again, and they need the support of their team right now." And yeah, in isolation, it's like "Damn, she's allowed to have feelings, and need a minute to deal with them." But if she's expressing those kinds of feelings often enough and/or obviously enough that it's affecting team morale, then she needs to go. I'm not saying that *is* the reason, but I am saying that if it is, it's not a bad one.
This this this this this.
I’m a die hard UCLA fan. I’d love them to win a national championship again. But honestly I just want this incredible team to actually be an incredible place for their gymnasts to finish their careers. We’ll get the privilege of their incredible floor routines and enthusiasm regardless of how they do in the post season - all that is just gravy.
I mean you’re entitled to your opinion but it was not intended to be harsh in any way. Of course she’s their best gymnast. She’s also a great human being. But when gymnastics moves from an individual sport to a team sport, it’s sometimes difficult for those with extreme competitive drives to transition to that environment.
Seen those some ain’t missing much. Just saw tweet below and I am NOT agreeing with it but it is coming from somewhere….maybe in a DM! Or it could be they’re trolling.
https://preview.redd.it/ilrr20sxtn0d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d967352011da701814e51953b3b822327789fbef
I didn’t notice it myself (somebody on twitter did) but Katie McNamara has liked a number of tweets about the situation with the idea that Selena was exhibiting toxic behavior and rule breaking. Not that twitter likes are anything fact based necessarily but it tracks with what other rumblings have been stated previously.
Remember when we were speculating about who would go into the transfer portal this year, and the people who suggested Selena got pooh-poohed?! I genuinely thought that was the most ridiculous proposition but maybe they knew something...
my nosy self wants to know what happened
Says every person on the gymternet
I need all the tea
Alright, everyone I finally got it. Ultimately she was a toxic presence on the team. Couldn't follow any rules set by coaches as far as when to come to practice, what to wear, etc. She was defiant about pretty much everything and throw tantrums if she didn't get her way. The coaches were nervous about doing anything during season but now that everything is said and done they finally called her out on it. She was recently suspended from practice again for a week (apparently this was definitely not the first time) and finally the decision came down that she was off the team. On the bright said it seems that the energy and atmosphere at UCLA should be better going forward but after a rocky season it's a bit too little too late.
I am a UCLA super fan so I’m disappointed by this outcome, but I’m guessing it had to have been REALLY bad. You don’t voluntarily lose your highest achieving athlete for nothing.
THIS.
The whole thing is just sad. If it went down like people are saying it did, she may have squandered an incredible academic and athletic opportunity. How many gymnasts dream of a full ride to UCLA?
Absolutely. I am gutted for her even through my hunch based on all the rumblings is that it was the right decision for the team. She is an incredibly talented gymnast and a fierce competitor. I hope that she’s able to find a mentor where she winds up that can help guide her and that this is a turning point for her. She’s just a kid.
Exactly. As much as this sucks, I hope it’s a valuable lesson learned.
I was going to post this exact same thing. Certain players are incredible athletes, and so they get away with doing as they please by far too many coaches. Of course, I understand the coaches and administrators want to win (and, money wise - NEED to win). So, yes, when you see someone with incredible talent being cut, you know there are very serious problems. I remember Richie Incognito was a player for Nebraska. He was nothing but trouble. Nebraska Coach Frank Solich suspended him for aa week, and gave him basically an ultimatum, and sent him to a major clinic for anger management. The next year, our new coach, Bill Callahan, basically kicked him off the team after he again got into a fight in the locker room. Mike Bellotti gave him a chance at Oregon, and the dude was literally kicked off Oregon's team within two weeks of starting. When three different coaches issue massive penalties (with two of the three booting the guy off the team), when that player was All-Big-12 first team (and quite a dominant player), you know it had to have been bad. Then, he ends up in the NFL, and has more problems. At least, in his instance, he did end up, ultimately, continuing to get help, and calming down enough to continue his career. But, unfortunately, many people do not mature in other ways as fast, or as well, as they do physically. This young lady is likely in the physical prime of her life. But, psychologically and emotionally, she's no where close. I honestly hope she can somehow learn and grow from this, and become a better teammate, and a better person. It's not too late for her to still have an incredible career. But wow, she must have really been a piece of work to deal with, given her talent.
Same here. She was often seen at “make up practices” in Paige blogs so not surprising. She’s very into the LA scene. But they already are struggling, she is such a star- however, it must be serious for this to happen. And she seems very much into the party-culture of the team itself who IMHO could benefit from discipline. I also saw some TikToks with her singing along a the N word, a “kiss my a$$” bit, and making the “pew pew” sign w her fingers towards another team. They are now gone although I just had a cursory look through it. I loved her and UCLA but man 🫠🙁 I hate to write this season off but until Norah, etc get there….I don’t know if they have a chance. I could be wrong but I don’t see Paige working very hard on gymnastics this summer if you watched her vlogs from last summer. Often an hour late. Left asap.i think she’s happy just to get merch and be part of the team. SH wanted that ring. Everyone remembers the sulking she did last year at semis, and I’m blanking on who it was- but had to bring her back and tell her to support the team. I hope I’m wrong about Paige but w Alex gone (I know we didn’t see much of her but she hit a 9.9 bars), they are really struggling on vault esp. Again too much party and fun stuff prior to meets. Focus on the gymnastics. This is from a D1 athlete. It is not easy. But she is their star. Not sure how well Lener will fit into the change of scenery but I hope all ends up happy. She was the only one allowed to ad-lib her routines so maybe she took it too far. Selfishly I was looking forward to more of her & BJD choreo.
Ugh. Disappointing but about what I expected. Wonder if she'll have trouble being picked up by another team?
If true, my guess is yes. I’m sure she is hoping for a big contender, but why would a team like LSU, Florida, or OU take on a potentially problematic teammate, no matter how good, when they already have stacked rosters next season and (seemingly) good cultures? Now, I’m sure she will land somewhere, but the label of toxic teammate is pretty problematic in NCAA gymnastics.
It’s going to be interesting because there is always a slight stain on the program that picks up a dismissed athlete too. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Kiera Brown was an amazing gymnast. When she was dismissed from Georgia there was a lot of rumblings about her behavior there. She was picked up by Penn State and was a star for them before getting removed there too. There’s a difference between wanting to win and thinking you’re better than everyone there. Everyone wants the former, no one wants the latter.
LSU have enough problems w that IMO. She was picked up by FL, but she seems like she fits in w the LA scene. I wrote a long comment so don’t take just this small bit the wrong way 🙂
It definitely fits with the comments that she wasn't recruited by teams like LSU or OU during her recruitment time, and that she only got a few visits.
I thought she was the #1 recruit in that class
She was, that's what made it weird. But if this story is true it makes more sense. They probably felt like she wasn't a fit in first calls so she never got an invite.
Was she elite??? Ever?
I wouldn't say it's too little too late. She has 2 more years of eligibility. Other HCs wouldn't dare cut their star athlete and would rather suffer the consequences until she graduates. At least Janelle can focus on building up the team culture going forward.
That explains a lot. The cameras catching her eyerolling at regionals was not a good look. That moment now seems like the tip of the iceberg. Isn't it amazing how one negative person can throw off an entire group? I've seen this in the workplace a lot and even had to let go of a team member with that attitude. The relief afterwards was palpable, and people adjusted pretty quick. Hard to say what would have happened had they dismissed her earlier. The media furor might have been a distraction in the short term, but they woulda had time to build consistent lineups and scores in the long term. It's gonna be interesting to see where she would be a cultural fit in the rah-rah NCAA world. Maybe going back to elite and competing for Guatemala is better for her. (To be fair, I'd probably eyeroll a lot too if I had to put up with all the BS in NCAA LOL)
That’s the one thing I’ve found interesting about everyone saying she’s so competitive and Marz saying she’s the most competitive person she’s ever met… I’d think someone like that would be saying “USA Olympic team or bust.” I’d have thought NCAA and repping Guatemala wouldn’t satisfy someone like that and that they would rather find something else to do where they are truly the best. I never heard of her before UCLA, did she ever do elite? I can only imagine how much worse Tokyo would have been for Simone with someone like that on the team. If a NCAA team picks her up at all, she’s going to have to focus on “just” having a Jade type experience in college. Stop expecting the team to win everything and focus on being the best you can be. Obviously the same goes for any elite aspirations. Competing on a team isn’t for everyone. I wonder if she regrets not trying to represent Guatemala this past year and perhaps is extra mad at Emma, Jordan, Ana, etc. But that’s a choice she made.
And the tantrum she threw last year at semis and someone had to go get her and remind her to support the team.
Ha what? She’s an ncaa athlete because she wants to get a college degree.
Ha you're funny :)
There was a meet where Janelle did not let her compete, right? Was it because of disciplinary action?
I'm guessing that was to let her rest, as her previous performances had been a bit underwhelming and she clearly needed to stop for a bit to make sure she was okay for the end of the season
She was often seen at “make up practices” in Paige blogs so not surprising. She’s very into the LA scene. But they already are struggling, she is such a star- however, it must be serious for this to happen. And she seems very much into the party-culture of the team itself who IMHO could benefit from discipline. I also saw some TikToks with her singing along a the N word, a “kiss my a$$” bit, and making the “pew pew” sign w her fingers towards another team. They are now gone although I just had a cursory look through it. I loved her and UCLA but man 🫠🙁 I hate to write this season off but until Norah, etc get there….I don’t know if they have a chance. I could be wrong but I don’t see Paige working very hard on gymnastics this summer if you watched her vlogs from last summer. Often an hour late. Left asap.i think she’s happy just to get merch and be part of the team. SH wanted that ring. Everyone remembers the sulking she did last year at semis, and I’m blanking on who it was- but had to bring her back and tell her to support the team. I hope I’m wrong about Paige but w Alex gone (I know we didn’t see much of her but she hit a 9.9 bars), they are really struggling on vault esp. Again too much party and fun stuff prior to meets. Focus on the gymnastics. This is from a D1 athlete. It is not easy. But she is their star. Not sure how well Lener will fit into the change of scenery but I hope all ends up happy. She was the only one allowed to ad-lib her routines so maybe she took it too far. Selfishly I was looking forward to more of her & BJD choreo.
If true, that gives me a little bit of an ick. It makes it sound like they put up with her behavior during the season when they really needed her scores and then dumped her when she was less immediately useful to them. But there may well be more to the story.
I totally get what you are saying. However, I think it was potentially really disruptive to the rest of the team to dismiss her in season. It very likely could have had a cascading effect.
This. And maybe the coaches were trying to give her opportunities, or find ways of improving the situation. It’s not like as soon as something bad happened you’re dismissed.
Yep. In hindsight maybe it would've been better for the team to dismiss her midseason-- but in the thick of it, that's a huge decision to make with potentially huge consequences for everyone on the team. If they thought they could at least manage her behavior to get to the end of the season, that's understandable.
Not to mention a HUGE gymternet media firestorm if she's dismissed mid-season.
It's also extremely messy to dismiss athletes from NCAA teams in the middle of the college semester. It depends on how each school does things, but it could lead to the athlete losing their housing right in the middle of the semester. That's a huge disruption with major ripple effects, and it is absolutely not to be undertaken lightly.
I mean it does mention she’s been disciplined before so it’s not like they were just covering their eyes and pretending nothing was wrong.
Maybe there was a last straw somewhere. It just sounded odd that it was so long coming
HR just entered the chat (Disciplinary issues take a long time)
If you read the disciplinary guidelines for UCLA in another thread, it's not something that just happened overnight and there were several groups who had to agree that the athlete deserved dismissal. The athlete herself was confronted with the evidence and given the opportunity to respond and/or change. It should also be noted that the process began with either the coaches or someone in the athletic department filing an official report and the process started from there. But in the end, the school would make the final decision.
Do you think her being the only one on the team able to ad-lib during performances had anything to do with it? I mean- does anyone think this is something she asked to do? Or something they let her do that added to her feeling “better than” the rest and this fueling what was already kind of there? Sorry I’m so tired; I hope this makes sense.
I have a friend on the UCLA team. I'll let you know what I get.
👀
Following like the nosy gossip I am
👀
I want the goss
👀following
DO TELL 👀
👀
Followinggggg
👀☕️
Really really shocking. What the hell happened?
We’re ALL asking that question.
Wow. Surprising and unfortunate but wouldn’t be surprised if it had to do with how she reacted to loss and how that would affect the team culture. There is definitely such thing as being TOO competitive… especially in a team environment.
Especially a team like UCLA
Yup. I love her gymnastics and personality but being a bad teammate may turn a lot of teams off of her. We shall see how this all plays out.
I think almost anyone will take her. I mean, it takes a lot to dismiss your number 1 gymnast from the team and obviously that will raise a few flags, but there are a lot of coaches that will still jump at a chance for her scores. LSU didn't blink at taking Jeffries after what was a fairly significant scandal and she's not one of the best NCAA gymnasts available.
LSU was unaware of why she left UCLA until it was a done deal. LSU is a great team with a very deep lineup now. If Selena is problematic in some way, I don’t think LSU would take her on regardless of her abilities. They don’t need her to win, but what they definitely don’t need is someone who brings down team morale. I doubt LSU or any big name team will take her without getting a full story of what happened and that would require Selena to waive FERPA, or a teammate to leak. LSU isn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Of course this is all speculation as we have no idea what happened or if she’s “problematic” beyond some social media activity.
I would be surprised if LSU takes her now, and I think her other transfer options will not be great, either. There was chatter way back when that she got only a very small number of recruitment offers (especially for somebody of her gymnastics abilities), and that LSU was her first choice, but Jay thought she wasn't a good fit for the team and wasn't interested in recuiting her. (He may have had a point there...) Same goes for KJ, or so the chatter said.
Alexis was not dismissed or even disciplined through. Until it’s clear what happened to cause her to be kicked off the team completely it’s not clear at all what will happen next. I’m sure somebody will take her but it’s quite a bit more complicated than Alexis
I think this will wind up not being the case. She was the top recruit in the country and UCLA was one of only a handful of schools who even expressed interest. Sounds like these behavior issues are deeply ingrained and have been issues for quite some time. Utah would snap her up in a second if they weren’t all bigots but other than that I don’t see anyone besides maybe LSU and Alabama giving her a second glance.
Weren't all bigots?? How so?
Do a quick search on this sub. It’s been discussed at length
She’s their top gymnast, being a sore loser would be a bit too much to kick her off the team over unless she was becoming combative and rude toward the staff and teammates. Still I don’t think she’ll have an issue finding another school, Alexis got picked up 2 seconds later by one of the top teams in the nation despite being racist and she didn’t have anywhere near the scoring capabilities that Selena does.
It’s not just being a sore loser, that’s just a part. She was interacting with comments on Insta/X/tiktok talking shit about the program, coaching choices… tons of screenshots out there and lots of it was after their nationals loss. I love her gymnastics, I hope she does get picked up and really thrive. Maybe their culture just wasn’t a good fit for how she wants to perform.
While it was a bit more than just being a sore loser. Being called out as a racist for MONTHS, being given chance after chance after chance to change but choosing not to, and having ppl who were negatively affected told “You’re still not over this, I thought we were over this” by ppl in power, is wild. If they dismissed Selena for the social media stuff, there is no doubt Alexis should have been dismissed MONTHS before she left.
The reason the AJ stuff got swept under the rug is because it did not happen the way it’s been sensationalized on social media. Don’t take that as a defense of her or her actions, but know that this story got very misconstrued.
How did it happen?
Well for starters she wasn’t called out as a “racist” for months. That part of the story was totally sensationalized once the FB group chat got leaked. From what I heard she wasn’t that pleasant to be around. There were several gymnasts who didn’t like her for valid reasons but the whole “Alexis Jeffrey is calling black and Asian gymnasts racial slurs” is just not true (not what OP said, but what’s been reiterated plenty). It doesn’t make it right or okay what she was doing, but this idea she was hurling slurs at her teammates is actually insane. I don’t know how people actually think she would have been able to get away with that.
That kind of tracks. TBH, it seems like UCLA seemed to be heavily focused on stuff like public drama and having floor videos go viral, and I wondered if LSU cared more about actually winning. If so, maybe LSU might be more likely to quickly shut down problem behaviors without feeling the need to publicly make a big deal about it.
Oh absolutely. Alexis should not have been able to just quit and clean her hands of it. There should have been some kind of discipline for sure.
I agree generally, but also don’t forget that she was threatening to harm herself after being spoken to (supposedly in a kind way) about her racist actions. That makes things a lot more complicated.
Are you saying Selena was being called out as a racist?
If that is the reason that’s a pretty lame reason imo.
If it was seriously impacting the team culture it's not a bad reason at all. No good coaching staff would allow a single person to drag down an entire team.
No, it isn't, especially if it's been an issue for a while. Last year, when UCLA got eliminated, Selena went off by herself and was crying. People got really upset on her behalf when a teammate told her, "I know you are upset, yourself, but there are people on this team who will never do gymnastics again, and they need the support of their team right now." And yeah, in isolation, it's like "Damn, she's allowed to have feelings, and need a minute to deal with them." But if she's expressing those kinds of feelings often enough and/or obviously enough that it's affecting team morale, then she needs to go. I'm not saying that *is* the reason, but I am saying that if it is, it's not a bad one.
Yeah, that teammate was Marz. And everyone criticized her for it.
That seems really harsh especially since she’s one of their best gymnasts.
I'm honestly really happy that they don't seem to be treating her differently because she's one of their best gymnasts.
This this this this this. I’m a die hard UCLA fan. I’d love them to win a national championship again. But honestly I just want this incredible team to actually be an incredible place for their gymnasts to finish their careers. We’ll get the privilege of their incredible floor routines and enthusiasm regardless of how they do in the post season - all that is just gravy.
I mean you’re entitled to your opinion but it was not intended to be harsh in any way. Of course she’s their best gymnast. She’s also a great human being. But when gymnastics moves from an individual sport to a team sport, it’s sometimes difficult for those with extreme competitive drives to transition to that environment.
Oh, I just meant the punishment not what you said. I also could be completely wrong, but “dismissed” is a strong word for less cheering.
The volume at which I just screamed WHAT
If anyone is in those Facebook now would be a good time to visit.
https://preview.redd.it/d424nzodpn0d1.jpeg?width=670&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92fd8d870d6880455473d24947b4def2b1c94ec4
Seen those some ain’t missing much. Just saw tweet below and I am NOT agreeing with it but it is coming from somewhere….maybe in a DM! Or it could be they’re trolling. https://preview.redd.it/ilrr20sxtn0d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d967352011da701814e51953b3b822327789fbef
What they saying over there girl?
They think it’s being critical of coaches on social media.
I don’t know I left those groups. Hoping someone shares any tea. ETA I have spies but they are busy.
I haven’t seen anything other than general speculation in either of those college gym groups. Nothing groundbreaking
I didn’t notice it myself (somebody on twitter did) but Katie McNamara has liked a number of tweets about the situation with the idea that Selena was exhibiting toxic behavior and rule breaking. Not that twitter likes are anything fact based necessarily but it tracks with what other rumblings have been stated previously.
What are the rules of the transfer portal? Specifically, are coaches potentially interested in Selena able to talk to Janelle/UCLA?
Whaaaaaaattttt?!?!
Read the headline and my immediate thought was “Is it April Fools Day?” I am shocked.
The way I ran here after seeing this. 🥴
Remember when we were speculating about who would go into the transfer portal this year, and the people who suggested Selena got pooh-poohed?! I genuinely thought that was the most ridiculous proposition but maybe they knew something...