University of Minnesota Athletics
One For All, All For One
7/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The last competition of the season is the one that is remembered most, and the team's poor performance at the 2004 NCAA Regional meet is what many people are judging the entire season by. Now, I don't want to make it sound like the 2004 season was a bust, because it wasn't. However, it doesn't seem to matter much that the team broke a school record with a score of 197.700 at Arizona State three weeks before the regional meet, or that four gymnasts earned All-Big Ten honors just two weeks earlier. The regional meet is what they remember most clearly, and it isn't a pleasant memory.
"It's kind of frustrating, people think that we had a terrible season because of how we did at regionals," said junior captain Maria Opsahl. "We didn't have a bad season, in fact we had a great season until that meet."
While some teams might be down and out after a bad showing, this isn't the case with the Gopher gymnastics team. In fact, the underachievement at last season's regional championship has provided some great motivation. The returning gymnasts are determined to get better, get stronger, and become good enough that they never have to experience another meet like the 2004 NCAA Regional. Opsahl summarized the team's feeling in a quick and concise manner, "We are never going to let that happen again," she stated.
The four upper-class team members, senior Carolyn Yernberg and juniors Laura Johnson, Opsahl, and Kelly Stout, decided to have a meeting. They realized that to make things better, they had to get back in the gym, and not just any gym, but Peik Gymnasium, where they train during the regular season.
Summer practices are voluntary, but the upperclassmen came to the conclusion that they were each going to stay around campus for the summer and train for the upcoming season. These are women on a mission, and their enthusiasm and work ethic spread to the rest of the team. Not only are the four upper-class gymnasts on campus to train all summer, the entire team is.
"When you go home and train at your club, you're pretty much on your own," explained senior Carolyn Yernberg. "We are each doing our own thing here, but we're still together."
Together is an understatement. In addition to training in the gym together, most of the teammates are sharing an apartment during the summer months. With extra roommates for the summer, living quarters are a little tight. However, when asked about whether or not they are spending a little too much time with each other, they each say that they love the closeness of their team. Some of the women even work together, with several gymnasts working at a summer camp on the university's St. Paul campus. Several others are working as fundraisers at the university's Alumni Association.
Between summer jobs and training in the gym, are the gymnasts really getting a break? Does this really seem like a summer vacation to them?
"Oh yeah, this is a vacation, we can only train for six hours a week," explained Yernberg. "That doesn't seem too hard compared to our practices during the season."
Maria Opsahl agrees. "The summer is a time for us to rest a little and let our bodies heal," she said.
During the summer, practices are much more loosely structured than during the regular season. Since gymnastics is a sport with safety concerns, coaches are allowed to attend voluntary practices to serve as spotters for the athletes. However, the coaches are restricted in their level of involvement at voluntary practices. Coaches are not allowed to plan the practices, meaning that they may not direct the athletes on things such as what skills they practice or how many repetitions they do. So how do the gymnasts know what to spend their time on?
"At the end of last season, we each had a meeting with the coaches, and we talked about what we needed to work on," explained Opsahl. "The coaches are so full of great new ideas, things that we would never think of. Together we decide which skills to work on for the next season and make a plan. When summer practices start, we all know what we need to work on."
As each gymnast makes her way through her collegiate career, she hopes to add elements to her routines to upgrade the difficulty level. Summer is the perfect time to work on new skills, and each gymnast has been working to add to her repertoire. After the new skills are mastered, the coaches will work with the athletes to insert the newly learned elements into their routines.
"I definitely feel like we've made progress this summer," said Yernberg. "Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're only seeing one trick at a time, but I know we're improving."
Yernberg shows how focused she is on gymnastics as she finishes that sentence while watching what her teammates are doing. "Look at what Andy (Andrea Cornelius) just did, she hasn't been able to do that since before her injury. Our freshmen are doing so well, and they are so excited for this season, especially those who were injured last year."
Two members of last year's squad were rehabilitating injuries and weren't able to compete in 2004. The soon-to-be-sophomores, Andrea Cornelius and Ashley Stanton, have yet to see the competition floor during their collegiate careers, but they have just as much enthusiasm and passion in the gym. Both are ready and excited for what lies ahead.
So what is all this hard work for? What does the team hope to achieve in 2005? The team hasn't officially met to make a list of goals for the 2005 season, since the incoming freshmen won't join the squad until the fall semester starts. However, these athletes certainly have some goals in mind. Their main goal is a big one, a trip to the national championship. It won't come easily since only 12 teams will earn the right to compete at the 2005 NCAA Championship, but it is certainly an attainable goal after all the dedicated and continuous work put in by the Golden Gopher gymnasts. All the time spent together over the summer can't hurt either, the team chemistry and support the women give each other is a strength for the squad.
"I'm looking forward to nationals," Opsahl says with a smile. "We really want to get there." Almost as an afterthought, she adds, "Oh yeah, we want to win Big Tens, too."
The focus is definitely on the Big Dance, the NCAA National Championship. Minnesota's last appearance was in 2002, when the Gophers finished ninth nationally. Only one member of the 2005 squad has had the experience of competing at the national meet, the team's lone senior, Carolyn Yernberg.
"We went to nationals when I was a freshman. It was just the most amazing experience ever," she said. "I can't wait to go back."
Story by Sara Berhow, Athletic Communications contact for women's gymnastics The Golden Gopher women's gymnastics team competed in 13 meets last season, and had one bad meet, one so bad that the gymnasts and coaches would love to forget about it. The trouble lies in that the one bad meet happened to be the final one of the season, the NCAA Regional Championship.
The last competition of the season is the one that is remembered most, and the team's poor performance at the 2004 NCAA Regional meet is what many people are judging the entire season by. Now, I don't want to make it sound like the 2004 season was a bust, because it wasn't. However, it doesn't seem to matter much that the team broke a school record with a score of 197.700 at Arizona State three weeks before the regional meet, or that four gymnasts earned All-Big Ten honors just two weeks earlier. The regional meet is what they remember most clearly, and it isn't a pleasant memory.
"It's kind of frustrating, people think that we had a terrible season because of how we did at regionals," said junior captain Maria Opsahl. "We didn't have a bad season, in fact we had a great season until that meet."
While some teams might be down and out after a bad showing, this isn't the case with the Gopher gymnastics team. In fact, the underachievement at last season's regional championship has provided some great motivation. The returning gymnasts are determined to get better, get stronger, and become good enough that they never have to experience another meet like the 2004 NCAA Regional. Opsahl summarized the team's feeling in a quick and concise manner, "We are never going to let that happen again," she stated.
The four upper-class team members, senior Carolyn Yernberg and juniors Laura Johnson, Opsahl, and Kelly Stout, decided to have a meeting. They realized that to make things better, they had to get back in the gym, and not just any gym, but Peik Gymnasium, where they train during the regular season.
Summer practices are voluntary, but the upperclassmen came to the conclusion that they were each going to stay around campus for the summer and train for the upcoming season. These are women on a mission, and their enthusiasm and work ethic spread to the rest of the team. Not only are the four upper-class gymnasts on campus to train all summer, the entire team is.
"When you go home and train at your club, you're pretty much on your own," explained senior Carolyn Yernberg. "We are each doing our own thing here, but we're still together."
Together is an understatement. In addition to training in the gym together, most of the teammates are sharing an apartment during the summer months. With extra roommates for the summer, living quarters are a little tight. However, when asked about whether or not they are spending a little too much time with each other, they each say that they love the closeness of their team. Some of the women even work together, with several gymnasts working at a summer camp on the university's St. Paul campus. Several others are working as fundraisers at the university's Alumni Association.
Between summer jobs and training in the gym, are the gymnasts really getting a break? Does this really seem like a summer vacation to them?
"Oh yeah, this is a vacation, we can only train for six hours a week," explained Yernberg. "That doesn't seem too hard compared to our practices during the season."
Maria Opsahl agrees. "The summer is a time for us to rest a little and let our bodies heal," she said.
During the summer, practices are much more loosely structured than during the regular season. Since gymnastics is a sport with safety concerns, coaches are allowed to attend voluntary practices to serve as spotters for the athletes. However, the coaches are restricted in their level of involvement at voluntary practices. Coaches are not allowed to plan the practices, meaning that they may not direct the athletes on things such as what skills they practice or how many repetitions they do. So how do the gymnasts know what to spend their time on?
"At the end of last season, we each had a meeting with the coaches, and we talked about what we needed to work on," explained Opsahl. "The coaches are so full of great new ideas, things that we would never think of. Together we decide which skills to work on for the next season and make a plan. When summer practices start, we all know what we need to work on."
As each gymnast makes her way through her collegiate career, she hopes to add elements to her routines to upgrade the difficulty level. Summer is the perfect time to work on new skills, and each gymnast has been working to add to her repertoire. After the new skills are mastered, the coaches will work with the athletes to insert the newly learned elements into their routines.
"I definitely feel like we've made progress this summer," said Yernberg. "Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're only seeing one trick at a time, but I know we're improving."
Yernberg shows how focused she is on gymnastics as she finishes that sentence while watching what her teammates are doing. "Look at what Andy (Andrea Cornelius) just did, she hasn't been able to do that since before her injury. Our freshmen are doing so well, and they are so excited for this season, especially those who were injured last year."
Two members of last year's squad were rehabilitating injuries and weren't able to compete in 2004. The soon-to-be-sophomores, Andrea Cornelius and Ashley Stanton, have yet to see the competition floor during their collegiate careers, but they have just as much enthusiasm and passion in the gym. Both are ready and excited for what lies ahead.
So what is all this hard work for? What does the team hope to achieve in 2005? The team hasn't officially met to make a list of goals for the 2005 season, since the incoming freshmen won't join the squad until the fall semester starts. However, these athletes certainly have some goals in mind. Their main goal is a big one, a trip to the national championship. It won't come easily since only 12 teams will earn the right to compete at the 2005 NCAA Championship, but it is certainly an attainable goal after all the dedicated and continuous work put in by the Golden Gopher gymnasts. All the time spent together over the summer can't hurt either, the team chemistry and support the women give each other is a strength for the squad.
"I'm looking forward to nationals," Opsahl says with a smile. "We really want to get there." Almost as an afterthought, she adds, "Oh yeah, we want to win Big Tens, too."
The focus is definitely on the Big Dance, the NCAA National Championship. Minnesota's last appearance was in 2002, when the Gophers finished ninth nationally. Only one member of the 2005 squad has had the experience of competing at the national meet, the team's lone senior, Carolyn Yernberg.
"We went to nationals when I was a freshman. It was just the most amazing experience ever," she said. "I can't wait to go back."
Story by Sara Berhow, Athletic Communications contact for women's gymnastics
