MGoBlogs: Men's Gymnastics, Vol. II, No. 6
1/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2009
Senior Kent Caldwell (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin) keeps the men's gymnastics team player blogs rolling as he takes some time to discuss last week's meet at Penn State (Jan. 24), as well as the Maize and Blue's first home meet of the season against Iowa this Friday (Jan. 30) at Cliff Keen Arena at 7 p.m. Caldwell competes on floor exercise, vault and high bar and has performed these events at the NCAA Team Championship, as well as many other competitions throughout the season. He was the bronze medalist on floor at the 2007 Big Ten Championship, and he was also the first gymnast in the world to complete with a quadruple twisting backflip.
This past weekend, the guys faced the tough challenge of taking on Penn State on the road. While we faltered a little bit on floor, there were many highlights. Adam Hamers hit an awesome set on pommel horse in the first meet of his college career, and he won the event with a score of 14.600, which is a very, very good score on a difficult event like pommel horse. The atmosphere at State College is a challenging one, and despite the stumbles earlier in the meet, our team made great strides on the final two events, gaining all of the momentum and confidence to set us up for a great comeback. We had great hits from Mel Santander, Ryan McCarthy, and Thomas Kelley on high bar, and Chris Cameron continued to be a solid base of support on all of the events. In the end, though, the scores didn't add up in our favor and the Nittany Lions edged us out by a mere six-tenths of a point.
Losses are always tough, and losses that arise after a seemingly great comeback can sometimes hit a team even harder. Of course, it is how we handle this loss in practice that determines our true strength as a team. From what I have seen, there has been no sense of frustration or failure, only motivation and a will to push each other to reach the level that we all know we are capable of. Wins can give teams confidence, but so can losses with the right mindset. Back at the Sports Coliseum here in Ann Arbor, everyone has been focusing especially on vault to raise the difficulty on that event, and routines are starting to gain that polished and perfected look that championship teams have.
Our first home meet is this Friday against Iowa, and everyone is ready for a home competition. The atmosphere is always great, and we are steadying ourselves to show the Big Ten Conference and the entire NCAA that we are a force to be reckoned with. After that, several of the guys are off to the annual Winter Cup challenge, a meet on the elite circuit where national team spots are decided.
Also, Tuesday, February 3rd is the annual Mock Rock variety show put on by student-athletes to raise money for the children's hospital here in Ann Arbor. You can show your support for the event and men's gymnastics team by picking up a ticket at the athletic ticket office for $10, or you can also donate here: www.umich.edu/~saac/MOCK_ROCK/Donate.html.
Players Mentioned
