Season is so close! For the first time in five years, I’ll be on the fan side of NCAA gymnastics, which is definitely going to be an adjustment. However, I know exactly what these athletes are feeling as the countdown to the season nears single digits.
Welcome back to another day in the life! Months and months of hard work have brought us to this point, and the season is right around the corner. Since August, the main goal has been to make lineups, travel with the team, and finally get out on the competition floor. To actually get to this point though, there is a whole lot to get through to show you should be in these spots to compete.
Building up to the season, beginning around the end of October, teams will have intrasquads to test out different lineups, put people in different spots, and practice potential pressure situations; all to determine what will be the most effective on competition day. These intrasquads start with one event where whoever is training is given the opportunity to go, which could mean six people or 16. From the athletes who show they’re ready, the coaches will build lineups with who they think will set a good tone to be a leadoff, who will keep the scores building in the middle, and who should anchor, usually based on scoring potential but also heavily relying on how well this athlete performs under pressure.
As time goes on, the lineups on each event get a bit more solidified. As these competition-ready lineups begin to form, the intrasquads become more about learning how to work with this specific group of people and perform in whatever situation they’re thrown into.
You might be asking, what situation could you possibly be “thrown” into? Well, in the last five years, I’ve had my fair share of, to say the least, unique situations that tested my mental readiness to compete. We’ve moved the equipment to different parts of the gym, or isolated the beam or bars so it would feel like a competition setting. We’ve done completely silent routines without music or cheering (which is a lot harder than it may sound), and we’ve done distraction routines where we do routines while things like yoga balls are thrown under or in front of us. We’ve even picked scenarios out of a hat to put us into a specific mindset (i.e you’re sixth up, one person has fallen before you, and you need a 9.9 to win the meet).
These are only a handful of examples I experienced in both my time at Temple and at Bridgeport, but this kind of prep is pretty common. Gymnastics is just as much, if not more, mental than physical, especially at this point in a gymnast’s career. We have been doing the skills we’re competing for years, so the only new piece is the mental aspect of competing for a team rather than just yourself. Although it’s extremely difficult to replicate the exact feeling of competition, these intrasquads and unique mental challenges are the best way to prepare for the pressure you’ll feel on meet day.
As the season gets closer, these intrasquads move from being just one event to eventually a full four by the time Halloween comes around. The Halloween intrasquad is the first time it feels real; you wear a competition leotard, your hair and makeup are meet-ready, and all the nerves start to creep in.
This first full intrasquad still has more gymnasts competing than the actual competition lineup of six, and typically everyone who is ready to go will be given the chance. These lineups become more solidified as the Thanksgiving intrasquad nears, testing out the lineups of six and having a couple of exhibitions in the seventh and eighth spots to see the depth of the team. The pressure is already felt just having to do full sets that are judged for the first time, but there is an extra added level of pressure thinking about how these intrasquads determine who will be competing in just a few short weeks.
Even though everyday, especially as the meet season gets closer, is used to determine who will be competing, one of the last, biggest tests is the final intrasquad before going home from the holidays. Over the past few years, these intrasquads have gotten more attention, like LSU’s Gym 101 or Meet the Bruins for UCLA. At Temple, this was our Cherry and White Intrasquad, which operated the same way as a real meet. The team was broken up into two squads and lineups were put up on each event. There was also an extra level of pressure with a bigger audience in the actual arena, rather than the practice gym. With this, the stakes felt much higher.
Over the past five seasons for me, these intrasquads were more nerve-wracking than actual competitions. Once you were in the competition and actually about to go on an event, you still feel nervous energy, but you can take a deep breath knowing you at least made it to that point. During these intrasquads, there is still always something to prove.
Although there are undoubtedly jitters, these intrasquads are still fun! In this last intrasquad, it’s the first time for the year you’ll be competing in the arena, and that atmosphere alone is incredibly exciting. You get to do a march-in for the first time, and you also get a feel for the competition equipment and landings, which is scary at first but is incredibly helpful when it comes time to actually compete. The best thing, though, is getting to experience this with your team. You get to cheer for the girls who are competing and who you have watched work so hard for the past three months; you get cheered for and feel such genuine love and support from people who truly want you to succeed.
That sigh of relief that goes into actually competing for the first time is a testament to how much goes into that point. From day one of preseason, through all the preparation and learning how to compete as a team, when it’s time for the first meet and you have done everything to get into the spots you’ve been dreaming of since you committed, it really is worth it.
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Article by Julianna Roland
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