University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Gymnasts Host Summer Camp
6/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team is currently holding its fifth annual boy's summer camp at Cooke Hall.
The camp, which runs from June 20-24 and June 24-28, brings in boy gymnasts ages eight to 18 years-old from the local Twin Cities and surrounding areas, and allows them to receive training from with Golden Gophers head coach Mike Burns, along with assistant coach Konstantin Kolesnikov and several of the Minnesota student gymnasts.
"Over the last few years the camp has given our program great recruiting exposure," Burns said. "It allows the kids to come in here and see if Minnesota is the place they want to be, and it gives us a chance to see if these are the kids we want to recruit. It's always good to have a good relationship with the local kids, and as the years of this camp go on, it's allowing us to watch these kids grow up year after year."
While the camp has already proved successful in bringing in new recruits, such as incoming freshman Matt Frey, it also gives a new focus to the current Golden Gopher athletes, as they use their experience to become coaches themselves.
The Minnesota gymnasts are using their coaching opportunity to not only help the camp gymnasts learn, but also as a mental refresher of their own techniques. Being hands-on with the coaching also helps the Golden Gophers get physically prepared as they continue to get ready for next season.
