"I Believe inWork,
Hard Work":
A look into the Auburn Gymnastics Team
// Brooke Nicholson
Different Homes, Still Family
Though Auburn, Alabama itself is a small, southern town, the university’s gymnastics team is a melting pot of women from across the United States. Athletes’ hometowns range from California to North Carolina.
Seventeen of the 19 girls on the team are from the Southeast. However, only two athletes' hometowns reside in Alabama. Freshman Telah Black is from Helena and Freshman A'Miracal Phillips is from Enterprise. The two girls who came to Auburn from outside of the Southeast are MJ Rott of Stillwater, Minnesota and Sarah Garcia of Temecula, California.
Senior M.J. Rott moved to Auburn from Minnesota to join the university’s gymnastics team. She was faced with several options for higher education and took a tour of the universities in the South Eastern Conference to help make her decision.
Work Hard, Train Hard
Rising Above the Obstacles
Though the team is not at the Olympic level, the athletes put in about 20 hours of practice and conditioning a week. Practice begins at 1 p.m. and finishes with conditioning about 5 p.m.
“We practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday,” Rott said, “Wednesday and Saturday are our allotted conditioning days. We do an hour and a half of conditioning every practice, which is cardio—lots of cardio.”
Most collegiate gymnasts come from club gymnastics, which they participated in during grade school years. According to the Auburn gymnasts, the college level focuses more on quality than quantity.
“One assignment could be eight passes or do five in a row,” Rott said, “Where in club, we would be just doing 10 passes every single day. College practice is just a lot easier on your body.”
Though gymnastics isn’t a contact sport, injuries are very common. The sport is rigorous and places high amounts of stress on the athlete’s body. Gymnasts are especially prone to injury if they don’t land properly.
Sophomore Emma Engler found herself with a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) at the team’s final meet of the 2016 season against the University of Arkansas.
“It was the last event, I was up on beam and it was the very last skill of my routine,” Engler said, “I was getting ready to dismount and I knew my landing might be kind of off.”
2017 and Beyond
Before Coach Jeff Graba took the reins of the Auburn women’s gymnastics team, Jeff Thompson led the team as head coach from 2000 to 2010. With Thompson, the team attended seven consecutive NCAA Regional Championships, ending in 2009.
The early seasons for Thompson were not so victorious. The team finished in a dismal 40th place in 2011 and finished in 42nd place in 2001 and 2002. Though the team teetered around the top 25 teams nationally from 2003 to 2010, the team’s breakthrough came when the program was handed off to Graba.
The Auburn University Plainsman reported in 2015 that Coach Graba was named one of the top 10 gymnastics coaches in the nation. In March 2015, Graba also was named the SEC coach of the year for the second consecutive season and the third time in four years.
At the collegiate level of gymnastics, athletes focus on executing a simpler skill well rather than executing a more difficult skill poorly. Scaglione said she quit practicing her favorite tumbling pass, triple back fulls, because it was too difficult to keep consistent.
“College is more about hitting something every time and it being pretty and getting a really high score,” Scaglione said.
Practicing quality over quantity isn't just to receive high scores in competition. Most female gymnasts peak between the ages of 16 and 20. By the time gymnasts are in college, the skills are harder on their bodies, as well as more difficult to execute.
"We're just trying to be smarter with gymnastics," Scaglione said, "Because we are getting older and it is getting harder to do this stuff."
“All I knew was the SEC was where everything happened,” she said, “Everything is bigger in the SEC.”
Auburn University offered Rott a scholarship during her first visit to the campus. But Rott says she chose Auburn University for two reasons: Because “it was warmer” and ultimately because “it felt like home.”
“It’s where I wanted to take my career,” she said.
Fellow senior on the gymnastics team Lucia Scaglione came to Auburn from Tampa, Florida. When she visited Auburn’s campus, she was captivated by what makes the university so special: the Auburn Family.
“I really liked the campus and the family atmosphere here," Scaglione said.
We’re training quality instead
of quantity.
MJ Rott at Auburn Meet Preview Dec. 4, 2016 // courtesy of Auburn University
Lucia Scaglione (right) // courtesy of Auburn University
America was captivated with Olympic gymnast Simone Biles during the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. But gymnastics is more than an Olympic event every four years. In fact, one of the nation’s best college gymnastics teams is located in Auburn, Alabama at Auburn University.
The Auburn University Women’s gymnastics team finished in eleventh place in the nation during the 2015-2016 competition season. They’re highest ranking during the season was (number).
Before joining collegiate gymnastics, most of athletes on the gymnastics team competed through club gymnastics - an outside team a gymnast can train with prior to college or Olympic training.
Through club, an athlete can then determine which route is best for them: college or professional gymnastics. The athletes who choose college do so because it is easier on their bodies and they get the college experience.
Scaglione doubted there was a spot for her on a college team because she competed in one event - floor. But Auburn Gymnastics Head Coach Jeff Graba and Assistant Coaches Kurt Hettinger and Mary McDaniel assured Scaglione there was a place for her on the team.
"I wasn’t sure if one event could put me on a college team but the coaches here said ‘we have a spot if you want to walk on,'" she said, "I loved it, I wanted to keep doing it.”
During Scaglione's tour, the Auburn coaches showed her the campus, where her classes would be and made her feel like part of the Auburn family from the beginning.
"They really welcomed me and made me feel special," Scaglione said, "I wanted to be a part of this program."
Engler heard a pop the moment she landed.
“I knew something was wrong immediately,” she said, “At first I thought it was my kneecap.”
The team trainer Janet Taylor rushed to Engler’s side, examined her and broke the news: she had torn her ACL.
Though Engler admits she felt frustrated through the injury, it highlighted her passion for the sport.
Lucia Scaglione practicing a floor pass // Brooke Nicholson
It definitely lit a fire under me.
“It definitely lit a fire under me. My coach asked me, ‘Why can’t this injury be a good thing?” Engler said, “It showed me how much I love it and how much I do want to be in lineup. It made me work that much harder to get back.”
Coach Graba said that Engler's passion and drive is ultimately enabled her to get back to the team so quickly.
"She didn't let herself get too far out. She never let herself get out of shape or depressed," Graba said, "Her work ethic is unbelievable."
Engler said that the injury has taught her more than she imagined an injury could, such as overcoming challenges and adversity. But at the end of the day, she's ready for the 2017 competition season.
"I'm definitely ready to get back," Engler said.
According to Trackemtigers.com, Graba has "been steadily building a top-tier SEC program" since taking over the Auburn team almost seven years ago. Graba is excited about the team's progress and what the future holds.
"We want to be a team that people are chasing," Graba said. "It was fun to be an underdog, and it was a little easier to be an underdog for years, but we’ve got to get to the point where we can embrace the leader role."
In 2015, the gymnastics team finished in sixth place nationally – the highest ranking in 15 years and the only ranking in the top 10. The 2017 season kicks off Jan. 6, 2017 at 7 p.m. in the Auburn Arena.
We want to be a
team that people
are chasing.
