UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The Penn State women's gymnastics team has high goals for the 2020 season, and following a home win against West Virginia last Saturday and the team's first media day session of the season Tuesday, the group is ready to show what they can do.
Third-year head coach Sarah Brown as well as senior Tess McCracken (Plano, Texas) and junior Lauren Bridgens (Darnestown, Maryland) spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon. The Nittany Lions are coming off of a 10-9 mark in the 2019 season, and are currently getting ready for their first Big Ten action of the season, on the road at Nebraska on ESPN2 Thursday night.
Here are a few takeaways from the team's first media session of the year:
Personal Goals
A new season brings along new goals and expectations for each gymnast. Having an equal balance of under and upperclassmen, the diversity in goals and expectations are different for each person.
For Bridgens, her main goal for this season is to hit every routine while performing. Striving to reach this level of perfection is worth the indescribable feeling knowing that hitting her routine will help her team in the long run.
"We've talked about how our team is made up of individual parts, and if we all go into our job to the best of our ability that will help us accomplish our team goals — going to nationals and winning Big Tens," Bridgens said. "So, I try to just focus on each week going in there hitting my routine so that the team can be successful as well as myself."
Team Chemistry
Throughout the years of building a program, a key factor in being successful is team chemistry amongst the gymnasts and coaches, both on and off the mat.
Since Brown's arrival to Penn State, the squad has just gotten closer every year, and it's something the student-athletes have noticed.
"We're just a cohesive force now and I really think that's from Sarah actively putting in the work to make sure that we are teammates, we love each other, and we're friends," McCracken said. "That is how we're accomplishing more successes this year than previous years."
Coach, Friend, Motivator
Brown has been a part of the gymnastics community her entire life prior to her collegiate coaching career. Before competing in college, Brown was a four-time member of the USA National Team (2002-05), and was honored as a Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame inductee in 2015 for her time at the collegiate level. That success has continued in the coaching ranks.
Beyond the successes that Brown has been a part of as a student-athlete and a coach, the impact she has on her squad is unlike any other. Bridgens described Brown as someone who encompasses a bubbly, optimistic personality while also seeking the best in each person.
"I feel like [Brown] will get the job done, but also she is like a friend but also someone that will put me in my place," Bridgens said. "I can't imagine having another head coach because I feel like our whole team is so close with our coaching staff that makes it easier."
The Process of a Routine
Hitting a routine with pressure in front of a crowd is not as easy as it appears. The process behind hitting a routine is a lot of blood, sweat and tears — literally.
Brown says the girls push her to be her best every day because the squad is putting everything they have into their routines in order to achieve a unified goal of getting to Nationals and Big Tens. Seeing what each individual go through to master the skill or routine to then hit the routine with everyone watching is what makes the moment even more special.
"I see each and every one of these girls go through mental and physical battles along the way - whether it's an injury or whether it's something horrible that's going on at home," Brown said. "We've been there for each other, and we've helped each other do life. I think that's what makes it so special to me is when you see them hit that routine, and you see them celebrate and they're so excited."
Ultimate Unity
This year, the team wants to display the talent of the program and the trust the squad has with each other. With a long road ahead to get to their goals, the chemistry between one another is unified into a family.
Finishing the 2019 conference season with a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions want to strive to be even better, but most importantly do it together.
"This year, one of our stairs that we have is unity," McCracken said. "I feel that really says a lot about who we are, we are a unified group. We're not separated by class, or by what events you do, or how long you've been at the school. But we're just a unified group of 14 young women and our coaches and our staff who want success and have what it takes to get there."
That unified group will be on the road this Thursday before its next home meet Saturday, January 25th at 4 p.m. in Rec Hall.
