University of Minnesota Athletics
Gymnasts Already Working Toward 2011
7/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The Golden Gopher athletes who continue to work day-in and day-out on a voluntary basis in the gymnastics facility are training to push for a stronger finish to next season, after the team climbed as high as No. 6 in the national rankings last season, but managed to only finish fifth at the Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships.
"There's no such thing as an offseason in gymnastics," senior captain Michael Paulus said. "Right now, the guys who are in town are coming in five or six days a week to train and ramp-up for next season."The Golden Gopher gymnasts are training in multiple aspects of their sport, not only continuing to improve in events that they already take part in, but many are also trying to add events to their repertoire. Through hard work - and trial and error - several of the athletes have been able to improve their skills dramatically, especially in new events.
"We always have higher expectations for ourselves than anyone else does," Paulus said. "As a gymnast, you have to be willing to push yourself all the time. A big thing for us is that we didn't perform as well as we would have liked to at the Big Ten meet this year. So that's kind of in the back of everyone's mind and lights a fire for getting ready for next year."
The Golden Gophers know that their competition will not be sitting still either, which also provides another reason to push toward improving as much as possible before the coming season gets under way in January.
"Summer-time is a chance to learn some new skills and get a little stronger," Minnesota head coach Mike Burns said. "We try to tackle those two things. These are all voluntary workouts that are requested by the athletes. In our sport, you can't get fat and lazy or you might as well just quit because you aren't going to make it."
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