Bowling Green State University Athletics
Coach Kerrie's Post Meet Blog
February 18, 2008 | Gymnastics
Feb. 18, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - BG vs. CMU: Coach's notes
There was magic in the air in Eppler Gym on Saturday night. The week of practice went really well and Shannon and I definitely saw a change in the team. As a coach, you live your sport. You want everything for your team and you want them to want it just as badly as you do. I knew the second the team came out for the warm-up, they had a new attitude. There was just no way they were going to let another team come into our gym and win. It was awesome!
Vault really started us off. We had to take Meg Satterlee out of the line-up due to a shoulder injury and we also had Jenna Wirtanen upgrading her vault to a tsuk layout full. Unfortunately, Jenna got a bit too adrenalized and she missed her vault. Everyone else really stepped up though. Ashlee deLeeuw came back in to the line up after healing a foot injury and did an awesome job. Bre and Jacque both hit their big vaults as well to help us finish up.
So, all week we have been having a bit of a competition between bars and beam. These two events have been problem areas for us so Shannon and I felt the athletes really needed to come together and keep the competitive atmosphere going even in practice. While my beam team definitely won the competition during the week in our practice line-ups, I have to hand it to our bar line up for nailing it in the meet. Every single athlete hit their routine. We improved landings as well. It was a huge moment for us. I have to give a big shout out to Megan, Lexi, Katie, Jho, Morgan and Bre!! Awesome job ladies and to coach Shannon- okay, you won this one!
Beam was next! We have been focusing on the mental game plan a great deal for each athlete. Katie started us off well. Abby had a rough time last week and she just nailed her set for a 9.75! Megan followed up and did a good job as well. We made a change to Meg's routine and between that and the shoulder injury, she struggled on her series but came back and hit her side somi, jumps and dismount. It was the same for Bre- off on the series but did a good job with everything else. Now, we were down to Queenie. I really needed her to hit. She has proven she can perform at the end of the line-up and, while she had a wobble on a jump, she did a great job to finish it up for us. Overall, we need to put it together but we did much better than the last couple of meets.
Going into floor, I saw the scores and we were down but I knew we could cover enough ground to win. I brought the team together and asked them if they wanted to win this meet. They of course all yelled, "YES"!!!! So, I said that I needed them to all do their best. They would all have to hit and that is what they did. Morgan and Meg both competed with some bumps and bruises and did a great job- they really made the sacrifice for the team. Jacque finished with an exquisite routine and made it onto our record board with a 9.875. So, another shout out to Jenna, Queenie, Morgan, Meg, Bre and Jax for an awesome job. I was also pleased to have Rachel Gourley in the exhibition spot- she did a nice job as well.
Well, we walked away with a win- undefeated in conference meets and with a 193.35!!! With all that, what I am most proud of was the team's effort. We made a chance as coaches last week and they made a change as a team. It was what we needed. I finally feel that they are seeing their potential and that they want to win.
This has been a year of changes. Trying to change the direction of the team is difficult. I am so thankful for Shannon's help. He did an awesome job this week with bars and also with some new ideas to get our crowd involved. He even had to handle an altercation to protect our team's opportunity to have a fair chance to compete on our last event. I can see how badly he wants us to succeed. The parents of our athletes have also been wonderful. I have never seen Eppler so alive. Everyone was holding up signs and cheering. It was just so much fun to be there! Our alums were back and it was so great to see their faces. What a night and what a win!
As we hit the road this weekend to compete to continue our MAC wins, I really want the team to capture the feeling of success. They must continue to train with a positive outlook and a hunger to continue to get better. I have seen the heart of this team now and I am so excited! A hard working falcon soars. Roll Along!
