Growth of a Captain: Funk Leads Eighth-Ranked Wolverines
2/7/2020 10:19:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics, Features
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Lexi Funk has been voted captain of the University of Michigan women's gymnastics team each of the last two seasons. The lessons learned throughout her time in Ann Arbor are lessons she will carry with her the rest of her life.
Looking back on her freshman season, Funk recalled having a deer-in-the-headlights look about her as she tried to navigate life as a freshman student-athlete.
"I almost wish I could see myself as a freshman compared to how I am now," she said. "That first year is a big adjustment. Going from that confused freshman trying to learn a new lifestyle to leading the team was a big transition."
As a sophomore she looked to make gains in the gym and improve on her freshman season, when she was a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Her improvement led to first team All-Big Ten honors in 2018 and an all-around victory at the Big Five Meet to help the team clinch a Big Ten regular-season championship.
The confidence gained through performance also helped Funk's personality shine through more as a sophomore. Her fun, joking persona left a lasting impression on her teammates.
"She is so encouraged by the little things and always craves the best," said senior classmate Maggie O'Hara. "Her positive attitude towards adversity and her ability to get people pumped up set a good example for our team."
The growth she showed from her freshman to sophomore season as a gymnast, as a teammate in the gym, and as a person led to her teammates voting her team captain as a junior.
"It was really awesome and came as a surprise," Funk said. "I wasn't expecting it. As a sophomore, I was just focused on building on my character and trying to open up more."
Funk served as captain alongside senior Emma McLean for the 2019 season. The two of them led the team through lots of adversity with a slogan "Can't Break Steel" and came out on the other side with a fifth-place finish at nationals.
"Going through what we had to go through was really hard, and being in a leadership role you put more of that on your shoulders," said Funk. "Emma and I decided we were going to put the team on our back and give them the positive voice they needed to hear. We got everyone to think that we could move past anything and nothing would break us down. That is how we came up with 'Can't Break Steel.''"
Funk showed a lot of growth as a sophomore, and that growth continued with her leadership skills as a junior. Funk and McLean were able to instill confidence throughout the team and motivate them to perform their best late in the season.
The success the team had in 2019 showed everyone what Funk was capable of as a leader. At the team banquet following the season in early May, Funk was announced as a captain again for the 2020 season along with fellow rising senior Maddy Osman.
"Being named captain a second time meant I must have done something right the first time and that my teammates trusted me to have that role again," said Funk. "I don't take it with a grain of salt. We showed last year that we are much stronger and more capable than we believe ourselves to be."
Battling through injuries that have hindered her training this season has allowed Funk to expand her leadership skills to include motivation.
"I have taken the role of trying to say something to make someone's day better or give a little correction," said Funk. "I didn't do that as much last year, but I have started to notice more this year when people need that message at the beginning of the day like 'You've got this, let's get after it.'"
A lot of the motivation and positive energy Funk brings to the team has been a product of her personal growth while at Michigan.
"I have learned a lot about myself, about the kind of person I am and the kind of person I want to be," she said. "Being at Michigan I've learned how I want to carry myself in the future."
That person she has become is one the Wolverines rely on to lead the team.
"I've watched her evolve and mature into a strong, independent young woman who has turned into a strong leader and strong personality for our team," said head coach Bev Plocki. "The team and staff have a great deal of respect for her. As a younger student-athlete, she gravitated towards the upperclassmen and leaders of our team. She saw herself wanting to develop into that, and now she is that leader."
Funk has big goals for this year's team and is doing her part to build up her teammates as the season goes along. Meanwhile, she is trying to cherish every day at practice and soak in all the little moments on road trips so that her senior year can "go out with a bang!"
After her gymnastics career comes to an end, she will be studying abroad in Spain and then finishing her degrees in Spanish and communication and media this fall. She wants to land a job in marketing once her schooling is complete.
When she leaves Michigan, the life lessons she has learned will have helped her grow into the person that she wanted to become her freshman year.
Players Mentioned
