Gymdogs’ underclassmen prep for first postseason run
Last week, in a moment of devastating déjà vu, the Gymdogs watched part of their postseason disappear due to COVID-19 for the second time in a little over one year.
Announcements were made, texts were sent, and the message was clear: Georgia gymnastics would not be competing at the SEC championship meet for the second year in a row.
For many reasons, this was disheartening news for the Gymdogs. Practice was canceled for the next few days and gymnasts were forced to stay home and communicate through Zoom and group text when they should have been together competing for a conference title in Huntsville, Alabama.
But for the underclassmen, this was just another way COVID-19 impacted their young collegiate careers. The sophomore and freshmen Gymdogs have never experienced a SEC championship meet, much less any amount of a postseason after the initial wave of the pandemic dashed their hopes for one in 2020.
The underclassmen account for almost half of the Gymdogs’ squad. Even though they’ve never experienced it, to them, a postseason is just another sequence of meets they have to perform well in.
Prior to the cancellation of the conference championship, sophomore Haley de Jong saw the postseason as another opportunity to showcase how far the Gymdogs have come in the gym.
“It’s going to be new for me, but I think just with the amount of practice we’ve had this year and the amount of meets, I’ve gotten like I feel like if I just go in with the same mindset I’ve been going into every other meet, that will help me be successful,” she said. “And then as far as our team, I think it’s kind of similar, like just going into the meet the same way and not necessarily focusing on what the meet is and more focusing in on our gymnastics and what we’re capable of doing.”
After the cancellation, senior Marissa Oakley says the mindset is the same, but one with renewed vigor. The upcoming regional tournament will mark her third postseason run as a Gymdog. The last time Stegeman Coliseum hosted the meet was in 2019. Then-sophomore Oakley scored a perfect 10 on bars to help the Bulldogs secure their highest overall score in over a decade.
Oakley holds the same attitude as de Jong about the postseason in that the competitions are approached the same way as regular season meets, but has a more experienced understanding on how the atmosphere can be different and affect the gymnasts.
“The format of the SEC [championship] is very similar to regionals where you have the four teams instead of two, and it’s kind of almost just like a little bit of a different feel, just knowing that it’s postseason, there’s naturally going to be a little bit more energy, a little bit more excitement,” she said. “And so I think just knowing that, we do have now a lot of people on the team who hadn’t experienced a meet like that going into regionals.”
In the three-day-long event, Georgia will compete in the first session of the second round on April 2, hoping to oust No. 8 seed Minnesota, No. 9 seed Denver and Oregon State for a spot in the Regional Final the next day. Topranked Florida, No. 16 Illinois and Central Michigan will also be vying for a shot at the Regional Final and ultimately, to be one of the two teams that advance to the NCAA Championships hosted in Fort Worth, Texas.
Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets Carter is excited for the younger Gymdogs to finally get their postseason run, even if they don’t know what they’re entering into.
“They don’t know what to expect and it has been so different for them. But what I see through that, though, is them connected to their team… and wanting it for the team, doing everything in our practice gym for the team,” she said. “And so that’s going to come out in the best way possible, I think they’re gonna love it, to be honest with you. And I think they’re going to thrive when that energy kind of spikes to its peak at regionals.”
Kupets Carter saw the upperclassmen try to hype the underclassmen up about competing in such a vibrant environment before the conference championship, but since the Gymdogs returned to practice, the attitude has been all about preparing for Regionals. Having experienced multiple successful postseasons herself, including earning four national championship titles, she’s bought into the influence of upperclassmen.
“You can see them thinking about it and wanting to make sure that even if they haven’t experienced it, we want to make sure they know what to expect moving forward,” she said. “Our juniors specifically, just hearing them because they only had one experience they’re like, ‘We just want to make sure we share any and all experiences that we’ve had to help our team.’”