College Gymnastics Season Roars In

It's the most wonderous time of the year again as college teams from all over the country start up their seasons. For some of the national powers it is the pursuit of the rankings and seedings they will need to get to nationals. For others it is an ongoing quest to make the top 36 and head to regionals. For schools in division 2 and division 3, they have their own championships to pursue. Of course beyond even that is the fundamental goal of gymnastics, to hit the routine.

Even thought it is scoring and not wins and losses that determine the rankings there's still a great deal of pride that goes into many of the matchups. Alabama has beaten Auburn an insane number of times straight much to the enjoyment of the tide faithful. UCLA and Utah met up and the Bruins took this win this time. Meanwhile Oklahoma in what is being described as an upset defeated Florida. There's already been plenty for fans to talk about among the top ranked teams.

Though the season is far more complex then who wins the national title. At so many levels across the country there is plenty of other storylines playing out whether it is the renewal of traditional school rivalries, or just the pursuit of the highest scores possible.

Last season at the University of Bridgeport, a school that is not often mentioned in sports circles, the team had been on a rebuilding process. As a Connecticut Post article reported, the program had had some issues prior to the arrival of current Coach Byron Knox, and since they has risen in the USAG Collegiate rankings (which involves a variety of schools with limited scholarships) Last season the team set schools records multiple times and reached scoring levels I had yet to see from them in my years following the teams up here. It was culminated in their sharing the USAG Collegiate National Title with Cornell.

And that's just one example of the various gymnastics related events going on outside of the top 10 teams and there are plenty more. In a time of budgetary issues and an overall belief (rightly or wrongly) that the popularity of gymnastics is fading, despite the ongoing adoration of our olympic gymnasts, some programs have been eliminated and more are feared. This is also a storyline, how teams that may not be national powers keep their support among fans and other involved parties. The more that it is realized that there is a lot going on at these meets, and the more people can be drawn to them the better off the whole sport may be.

Special Commentary: The State of the College Gymnastics

So here we are again, another year passes, another program disappears. For three straight years this has happened. This year MIT cut both of its gymnastics program as part of cuts of many teams including Hockey (one of the big four sports). Cal State Fullerton is in the midst of a USAG sponsored pledge drive to keep the program going, and rumors are flying about the status of the Nebraska mens program. It is clear that the sport will continue to be a first choice to be cut at schools as revenues are challenged amidst a tough economy, though many gymnastics programs were cut during good economic times as well.

USAG has gotten involved in Cal State Fullerton though I’m not sure why they were not apparently involved in battles to save others. If they were I apologize, it didn’t seem apparentat the time, but its possible it escaped notice.

Gymnastics costs a lot of money, it involves equipment, and liability. As more programs get cut the distances to travel will increase and thus costs will increase as well. Though it is a credit to many athletic departments that they keep the sport and promote it.

On the message boards debates are raging over what to do. Gymnastics authorities like Greg Marsden are arguing for changes to the championship format, though this will do little for the numerous programs who never see the inside of the NCAA finals. But other proposals are flying over how to better get the sport marketed and its a complicated matter to say the least.

Gymnastics faces numerous challenges:

1.) The fanbase which becomes rabid during olympic years dissipates in between.
2.) The number 1 expected fans of gymnastics, gymnasts, are often busy at their own meets during collegiate meets.
3.) The economy is putting pressure on colleges and athletics departments to cut where they can.
4.) Title IX, is a well meaning measure and has provided opportunities for women to participate in sport, but some athletic departments have been suspected of utilizing it as an excuse to cut both men’s and women’s sports. This has led to some odd results. The powers that be need to cut this out so that Title IX can remain what its meant to be, a way to provide opportunities.
5.) The sport is easy to watch but hard to follow without announcers, scoreboards, and help understanding what is happening.
6.) Gymnastics is an expensive sport.

But it also offers numerous advantages.

1.) It’s popular, even if people take time off from following it, they love it in Olympic years.
2.) It’s acrobatic, and the popularity of Cirque du Soleil, and action movies indicate people like acrobatic feats.
3.) It’s cheap. It’s still relatively cheap to by a ticket to see a meet, sometimes even free.
4.) It doesn’t involve much time commitment. There aren’t that any meets per season to go, so it can easily be scheduled.

But in the meantime, teams and their histories, and their routines are vanishing. Something needs to change.

Looks like I fell behind in updating.

I'll have to do better with that.

New England/New Jersey College Gym Preview 1/24-1/25

Posted a modest preview of the weekend in College Gymnastics in New England and New Jersey

Click here to read it.

Posted a wrapup of New England/New Jersey College Gymnastics 1/16-1/18

by David F.P.
(Scores from Troester)
Here’s just a quick look at the past weekend in New England/New Jersey College Gymnastics. (literally typed hastily for time reasons) There will be more detailed posts to come in future weeks featuring discussions of routines, and more than just score posts. The first few weeks are tough as I rarely see more than a few teams first hand, and in this case due to weather haven’t seen any except on video. As the weeks go on as well I will also delve into more context regarding the teams faced as well as the teams in the region, but in the first few weeks it’s still a period of seeing how the teams are shaping up.

Click to read wrap-up.

Weather weather weather!

My trip to Brown was called off by a large snow storm, a variety of accidents and an official warning from the State of Rhode Island. However I did watch the meet on line and we'll be able to provide some insights to Brown later in the week.

I am currently waiting for all the scores and info to come out about this past week and then I'll be able to start writing about this past week and look towards next week where hopefully it will not snow again. New England gets snow but this is ridiculous.

More updates to come!

MIT, Yale, UNH, SCSU, Rutgers Mini Reports up and the week ahead.

Using what I have to work with I’ve got mini-reports up from this weekend in New England gymnastics as well as preliminary looks at the routines UNH and Rutgers are doing.

Rutgers at UNH mini meet report

Mini report for MIT, Yale, SCSU meets

UNH routines page (It’s a start, more updates to come.)

Rutgers routines page (Also a work in progress.)

I’ll also be writing up a Bridgeport season preview, as well as previewing this weeks meets, delving into the regional picture more, and updating the floor music lists if possible.