By Madyson Montoya — Gymnastics Beat Writer
The gymnastics team has a reputation of putting San Jose State on the map, but they are stepping into a new season with a new coach and a new team.
New head coach Joanne Bowers took the reigns of the program back in August, forcing the team to do things differently. Based off the team’s unity and intense work ethic, it looks like the adjustment period was no struggle.
Bowers is not the only coach the team had to get used to. The entire coaching staff is new to the Spartan program.
It is a new program and even though skills are improving and perfection is demanded, there is still the immense amount of pressure of taking the conference title for the third year in a row.
The gymnasts have been at work every weekday for months and it is clear that the goal is no error.
As far as improvement from last year, this season’s team is competing eight all-around members — four of which are freshmen.
Junior Taylor Chan has the most experience in the all-around division and has been a top performer in her last two years.
To a person that has been keeping up with the Spartan gymnasts, it’s not the talent that is different, it is the mindset.
Coach Bowers came from the University of Washington and her goals are much bigger for SJSU.
This biggest thing this season for the gymnasts is that they will be striving to perform as if they have a post-conference season, which isn’t a guarantee for any team.
The team has put in the work and they have the skills to be great. San Jose State’s season is going to be dependent on how they will perform under pressure.
The two-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference champions kick off their 2019 season Sunday at the NorCal Classic in Sacramento. They’ll compete against Sacramento State, Stanford, Cal and UC Davis at 2 p.m.
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