Behind the Scenes: Winning the Big Ten Championship
3/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Winning the Big Ten Championships
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2009
Michigan women's gymnastics junior Maureen Moody (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) has been a part of three Big Ten Championship teams and has learned a lot about winning. For the 2009 Big Ten Championships, Maureen walks us through the team's preparation for the meet and gives us a behind the scenes peek at what the Wolverines were thinking during their drive to win their 17th Big Ten title in program history.
All season long, Mo gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the U-M gymnastics program as it marches towards Lincoln, Neb., and the NCAA Championships in April.
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This past weekend's Big Ten Championships was possibly the most exciting one I have ever experienced. The thrill of the competition kicked off on Wednesday, our last day of practice in Ann Arbor. Bev asked Lloyd Carr to come into the gym and give us a motivational talk before we set out for Champaign, Illinois, where the meet was hosted. Coach Carr gave us a talk he said he would have given his own players in the same situation. We were reminded how special it is to wear the Block M. Coach Carr said we might be envied or we might be feared by opponents, but one thing was certain -- we would always be respected because of the longstanding tradition of the university as a whole, and our program. Coach Carr also shared with us what he believes to be the true definition of confidence -- knowing the outcome before you begin. I had never thought of confidence in such a bold way before, but I think the team took the definition to heart, and performed with it in mind.
Watch highlights of the Big Ten Championships here!
Friday was practice day at Huff Hall, the competition arena. I think the practice day set the tone for the rest of the weekend. During stretch, each team tried to outdo the others with school pride, hollering spirited cheers above the music. This carried on into the next day, the loudest Big Ten competition I have participated in. The rest of practice went smoothly with each team rotating through all the events in 15-minute segments to get a feel for the equipment and show the other schools a sneak preview of what to expect the following day. Later that night, a conference banquet was held in a suite above the University of Illinois' football field. Keeping tradition with the past two years, we dressed for the banquet in maize and blue to represent our school. The purpose of the banquet is to pick which event each team will start on the proceeding day, and to recognize All-Big Ten honorees. It was a great night for the team because four Michigan gymnasts received All-Big Ten honors, and the random draw for rotations placed us starting on bye one (the bye before vault), the most coveted draw. The night ended with each team having one more opportunity to chant their school spirits by singing their fight songs. I think it is an appropriate way to end the banquet because each athlete leaves with pride, thinking about the university they are competing for the following day.
Saturday was the day of the big competition, the true test of each team. Going into the meet, various online predictions had just about every school winning. The outcome of this competition would be determined by who could step up and hit all four events. We came out of the gates performing at our best, earning season-high team scores on vault and bars. Beam was not our best team showing, but the beam team gracefully handled the pressure of staying on a four-inch apparatus, and kept us in the running. After the third rotation, the University of Illinois went down to the locker rooms on a high from an outstanding floor rotation, so Huneth brought us together to get us pumped up for our floor rotation, the last of the evening. She told us we needed to bring a lot of energy as we went out there to show off our routines. With the help of an extremely loud and supportive Michigan cheering section, that is what our floor lineup did! It didn't matter that the University of Illinois hit record highs on vault and were in hot pursuit of the Big Ten title. We followed Hun's advice and performed floor with heart, giving the team a season high-floor score, which earned us the title of 2009 Big Ten champions!
After the competition, the team and all the families went to Biaggi's for an Italian dinner. As a reward for a job well done, Bev let us order desserts to finish the meal. Feeling fantastic from a good meal and gratifying performance, we jumped on our bus for the return trip home to Ann Arbor.
(Ed. Note -- What Maureen was too humble to mention was that she scored a career-high 9.900 on the uneven bars to finish in a tie for second place among 42 competitors, finishing higher than All-Americans on the event! Way to go, Mo.)
Players Mentioned
