By Madyson Montoya — Managing Editor
Quality is key.
The MPSF conference title is up for grabs again and San Jose State gymnastics is locked in.
The second-place finish in last year’s conference meet was an accomplishment for a new coach, but it shattered the chances of Spartan gymnastics becoming three-time conference champions.
This season there is no excuse, no reason to come up short.
“We want the team culture to be so good that they do it for each other and care about each other,” said head coach Joanne Bowers. “We’ve worked on the team culture so much in the fall.”
The vision is simple. Have high standards not only in gymnastics, but in life. It starts with the culture and the goal is to achieve physical success through mental support.
“Keeping our standards really high with execution, attitudes, effort, just things that are going to make our team better for the future,” said senior Taylor Chan.
This is crucial for this year’s team as they’re really young. Three upperclassmen stepped up to lead the way for the remaining 10 gymnasts, six of whom are freshmen.
It is hard enough to get a freshman used to collegiate training, let alone nearly half the team.
“The practices were really hard,” said freshman Shyan Phillips. “You have to focus on the team and not just yourself.”
Nerves are common in new collegiate gymnasts as competing weekly doesn’t allow them to get many reps in order to preserve their bodies. The freshmen are used to having more time in between meets to get more practice.
Phillips said that she felt prepared, but was surprised by how she felt at her first meet this season.
“It’s a whole different feeling than practice,” Phillips said.
That is why culture is the main focus. The “got your back” team culture that the Spartans have created is not an easy thing to do in such an individualistic sport.
The Spartans are coming off a successful first meet, where they placed third and did not have to count a single fall. Bowers credits this to the supportive culture that the team has created.
“Our goal is to move up in the country and after two weeks we are 37th in the country,” Bowers said.
A main focus of Bowers is to have her athletes succeeding outside of the gym as well. She wants athletes that show out in academics and community service.
They have made a strong presence in servicing the community as well as making it a focus to support other SJSU sports. The team averaged a 3.22 GPA in the fall and Bowers only sees that improving in the future.
“We are coaching the whole person and our team is all about that,” Bowers said.
The fall was tough for the gymnasts, and the skill-building training season has increased the difficulty level for the 2020 season.
With it being Bowers’ second season, the dynamic was not hard to nail. She knew how her returners worked and was pleased with how they led the freshmen. Every day was about coming into work.
“It was intense as all sports are,” Chan said. “Conditioning was hard, weights was hard, but it is definitely paying off.”
The execution is where the team’s focus is now.
“Stuck landings, we need more of those, better execution,” Bowers said. “Details, details, details.”
At the end of the day, Bowers nor her team can control the scores and they know that. That is what has driven the focus to be around execution and team culture.
“We’re trying to stay in our bubble,” Bowers said. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else in the country is doing.”
Spartan gymnastics is not focused on wins and losses, not focused on scores, they are not even focused on winning conference yet. They are taking it day by day, practice by practice.
The season has just started and there is a lot of improvement to be made, but SJSU gymnastics has the right mentality and right vision for 2020.
Follow Madyson on Twitter @MadysonMontoya