2008 Woodie Awards
Gymnastics more than meets the eye
Performing events no easy task in front of hostile crowds
By: Daniel Monson
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports
Impossible.
There's no other way to describe what gymnasts do on a daily basis.
How does a human being stay on a four-inch wide surface four-and-a-half feet off the ground?
Or grasp a bar or stick a landing after flinging themselves through the air?
To do it in the friendly confines of practice is one thing.
But try to execute these tasks in front of a raucous crowd with a conference championship on the line - that's the task that lies before the CMU gymastics team Saturday in Kent, Ohio.
The meet presents an endeavour that is equally as difficult as the sport itself.
Kent State has consistently scored in the 194 range this season, and scored a 195.6 on Feb. 8 against George Washington. The Golden Flashes boast one of the top gymnasts not only in the MAC, but the entire Midwest in senior Jill Kowalski.
CMU, meanwhile, has scored 194 only once, March 2 at Northern Illinois. But as I witnessed last March in Ypsilanti, all that matters is the score at one meet that determines everything.
And Saturday, CMU has as good of a chance as any other MAC team to bring home a title. Scores can vary so much on any given day that some teams fall apart while others rise above.
The last two years have seen unexpected home teams take the championship - Eastern Michigan last season and Western Michigan in Kalamazoo in 2006.
It's no wonder home teams perform so well. The location of the equipment and the order in which a team performs on each event can even make a difference. Kent State will have a definite advantage.
But if Central has its best meet of the season and KSU has its worst, Central could steal its first MAC championship since 2004, which it, too, won at home.
As I covered coach Jerry Reighard's Chippewas last season, I couldn't help but be amazed at the utter concentration: the absolute zero margin for error that gymnasts face each week.
One fall, and it could cost your team the meet. One awkward body movement or misstep on any of the four events - the vault, balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise - and the judges deduct miniscule points.
But it all adds up to one of the most exciting and fun-to-watch events on campus.
And Reighard's young team still has a chance to make history in its arch-rival's gym and take home a championship.
sports@cm-life.com
There's no other way to describe what gymnasts do on a daily basis.
How does a human being stay on a four-inch wide surface four-and-a-half feet off the ground?
Or grasp a bar or stick a landing after flinging themselves through the air?
To do it in the friendly confines of practice is one thing.
But try to execute these tasks in front of a raucous crowd with a conference championship on the line - that's the task that lies before the CMU gymastics team Saturday in Kent, Ohio.
The meet presents an endeavour that is equally as difficult as the sport itself.
Kent State has consistently scored in the 194 range this season, and scored a 195.6 on Feb. 8 against George Washington. The Golden Flashes boast one of the top gymnasts not only in the MAC, but the entire Midwest in senior Jill Kowalski.
CMU, meanwhile, has scored 194 only once, March 2 at Northern Illinois. But as I witnessed last March in Ypsilanti, all that matters is the score at one meet that determines everything.
And Saturday, CMU has as good of a chance as any other MAC team to bring home a title. Scores can vary so much on any given day that some teams fall apart while others rise above.
The last two years have seen unexpected home teams take the championship - Eastern Michigan last season and Western Michigan in Kalamazoo in 2006.
It's no wonder home teams perform so well. The location of the equipment and the order in which a team performs on each event can even make a difference. Kent State will have a definite advantage.
But if Central has its best meet of the season and KSU has its worst, Central could steal its first MAC championship since 2004, which it, too, won at home.
As I covered coach Jerry Reighard's Chippewas last season, I couldn't help but be amazed at the utter concentration: the absolute zero margin for error that gymnasts face each week.
One fall, and it could cost your team the meet. One awkward body movement or misstep on any of the four events - the vault, balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise - and the judges deduct miniscule points.
But it all adds up to one of the most exciting and fun-to-watch events on campus.
And Reighard's young team still has a chance to make history in its arch-rival's gym and take home a championship.
sports@cm-life.com
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