Gymnastics season looks positive overall
Junior Heather Wiehe practices for the season by working on her up rises on the uneven bars in the gymnastics gym. Coach Dusty Dennis prepares with gymnasts for the upcoming season.
November 1, 2019
The past few years, the gymnastics team has had victorious seasons. Many attributes contribute to how the girls will perform during their competition days. They have been doing a lot to prepare themselves for this upcoming season.
The official season started with tryouts held in the gymnastics gym Nov.11. Anyone from grades 7- 12 was able to attend. Many gymnasts have attended off season practices that were also held in the gymnastics gym, which started in the early month of Sept.
“I have been going to two practices a week here at school for two and a half hours,” junior captain Norah Bates explained.
The season so far consists of at least six home meets, which is beneficial to them, but may also be detrimental to how the girls will perform at away meets.
“We are used to competing here at home, so we will do good at home meets since all the equipment is familiar to us. But we are not used to competing away so that will be tough,” Bates said.
“Home meets will definitely have a positive impact on our season,” junior Heather Wiehe added.
Gymnastics is just about having fun. Everyone wants to do well but its more of that everyone is there for each other
— Norah Bates
Coach Dusty Dennis explained how gymnastics involves a lot of mental pressure. The feedback given by the coach Dusty Dennis, coach Joan Ledson and coach Skyler Hult have a impact on the gymnast’s success. The girls would not be where they are today without their coach’s everlasting support.
Wiehe explained the coaches give the girls positive feedback on their skills whether it is during warm ups or the actual competition.
“They are always supportive and help you try to figure out what you could of done better or what you did good on,” Dennis added. “If you mess up you are done for and the confidence we give them will be a big help to how they perform.”
Although six of last year’s senior varsity start ups are no longer part of the team, the girls are not letting that affect how they will perform on competition days.
Senior captain Emily Gray explained, “We lost a lot of varsity girls last year so now we are working on building everyone else up to make our team as best as we can have have it. We have been doing team bonding to make sure everyone feels close on the team.”
Not only do the coaches have a impact on how well the team will do, but so does the relationship each individual has with their teammates.
“The biggest thing would be making sure that our team is super close and that we all get along otherwise it’s not going to be enjoyable to even go to practice,” Gray explained.
“No matter how you do they are always there for you no matter what,” Bates added.
Regardless of how well the girls end up performing, at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the girls extraordinary friendship.
“Gymnastics is just about having fun. Everyone wants to do well but its more of that everyone is there for each other,” Bates said.
Annabel • Dec 18, 2019 at 4:52 pm
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