an incredible club that I was lucky enough to play for but

The Olympic qualification journey for the countrys top gymnasts is about to get very interesting. The standard has never been higher in the GB squad and Sky Academy Sports Scholar Sam Oldham cannot wait to strut his stuff against his team-mates and rivals in the competitive arena again.Rio is less than five months away and this weekends English Championships and the British Championships in April will go some way to determine who will be on the plane for Brazil.Oldhams Olympic dreams were reignited with a recent trip to Rio, but now the nerves and pressure will crank up. Here are Sams latest thoughts as he prepares for action.....Its finally here! This weekend my competition season gets under way at the English Championships at Loughborough University.Ive spent the last five months preparing for the start of this Olympic year and its been a tough but really motivating process. Oldham (centre left) was in Rio taking in the Olympic facilities in February After the disappointment of picking up small injuries which left me unable to seriously contend for a place on the World Championships team, I took a step back with my coach Sergey to look at the big picture and make some small changes to our training programme.The main thing we decided was that my health needs to come before everything else. It was something at times I sacrificed since making my comeback from my ankle surgery in 2014 after the Commonwealth Games.We went back to basics and built myself back up again to a place where I was healthy and my fitness level was very high. I refreshed my ankle rehabilitation programme and began working on my shoulder stability strength. Oldham has been putting in the hours during the winter and off-season By December my ankle was ready for full training again and I had no pain in my shoulders for the first time in over a year. This was a great platform to start from and I began putting together the routines I wanted to use for 2016.This Olympic year came around and training was really positive. The changes I made to my training schedule meant I stayed healthy with no injury issues throughout January and February. I had the trip to Rio with the GB squad to sample the surroundings which really fuelled my motivation even more. Sam Oldham desperate to get back into the competitive arena I made great progress during this visit and I came home ready to push on towards March and the start of my European team selection campaign.Im really looking forward to getting back into the swing of competition this weekend (poor punch line I know!).Ive had great preparation with my winter training and Im very positive I can hit the ground running. Gymnasts Louis Smith and Sam Oldham discuss the pressures of an Olympics My target for this weekend is to have a solid competition and to compete to the level Ive been training at, no more no less.Next week I fly out to Doha for the second leg of the Apparatus Gymnastics World Cup circuit. So things are really getting going now. Im so excited to get started and motivated to keep working hard.WHATS COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS…MARCH 19: Sam Oldham, English Championships, LoughboroughMARCH 28 - APRIL 3: Jessica Judd, pre-season training in USAAPRIL 9/10: Sam Oldham, British Championships, Liverpool Also See: British Gymnastics About the Scholarship Meet the athletes Blogs Videos Galleries sWell Marble Water Bottle . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. sWell Bottle Sale 17oz . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. http://www.swellwaterbottlesale.com/Swell-Traveler-Bottle-Sale/ .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Swell Water Bottle Sale . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Swell Water Bottle Wood Collection .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training.Former Aston Villa striker Tony Cascarino thinks that turmoil off the pitch has exacerbated the problems on the field this season. Villa are rooted to the foot of the table, eight points off safety, after Sundays 6-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool, their 16th loss of an increasingly bleak campaign.Remi Garde, who took over from Tim Sherwood in October, described the weekend result as humiliating but the clubs problems do not all lie at the door of the beleaguered Frenchman, according to Cascarino. Tony Cascarino has branded Villas recruitment awful He told Sky Sports News HQ: Its actually probably worse off the pitch than it is on it. Now some Villa fans will ask how can that be after a 6-0 home defeat by Liverpool.There are lots of issues and things that need to be dealt with at Villa. The uncertainty comes from the owner, down to the manager - will he be there next season? Is he a manager or a coach? I think thats uncertain. Recruitment has clearly failed. Ten players were brought in last summer and very few have worked. I find it very difficult to believe that you have to pick players up for a relegation battle. Do you need to motivate players for that? You have got a problem if you do, because the players should be doing it for themselves. Remi Garde reflects on Aston Villas 6-0 loss to Liverpool They have got some big decisions to make.dddddddddddd Randy Lerner has put a lot of his own money into it and continues to do so. Its an incredible club that I was lucky enough to play for but their recruitment has been awful.I dont believe they have got the right person involved that can liaise between the manager and the chief executive and the chairman, a role that all the very best clubs have.When you say manager, you have a manager who brings all his own staff in, five members, and has a budget but Villa dont know whether they want a manager or a coach. Villa need to decide if they want a manager or coach, says Cascarino Theyve gone for the European model, where you just have the coach who looks after the players, trains them every day and decides the team for Saturday; with the manager one, you have an expensive outlay if it goes wrong as you have to get rid of the manager and his five staff. I can understand why they dont want to go down that road.But Villa are in No Mans Land. I dont know if they know if they want a coach or a manager. They dont know what league they are going to be in - well, they do probably now, but up until recently they were very unsure. Also See: Liverpool hit Villa for six Carragher: Villa an embarrassment Garde questions Villa spirit Aston Villa news ' ' '