By Brice Biggin
Head Coach
We are in Raleigh, N.C. where we have really been looking forward to this meet with North Carolina State, North Carolina and Rutgers for the chance to improve our mental toughness as a team while we are away from home.
That’s an area we have been a little disappointed in this season. We need to step up and produce a lot better away team scores. This meet tonight at 7 p.m. gives us that opportunity.
For our regional qualifying score we need to have three really good away scores. That goes into our whole qualifying system. And so far we haven’t done as well as we would have liked to away from Kent. For us to qualify, we are going to need to get two more good away scores starting tonight.
What we are looking for is something in the 195-plus area.
We know we have a team that is very talented, physically. The part that our student-athletes need to improve for themselves and each other is their mental toughness. They can’t let things like being away from home, being in a different environment, and performing in front of a different crowd impact the way they go out and perform their routines.
Our lineup for tonight may not change very much, although we have a couple events that are really very close. We’ll look at our warmup and see who is really on. It’s a show-me-what-you’ve got-at-this-minute game plan. The kids who step up at that time are the ones who go in.
We’ve actually done that most of this year. Some of that is good. Some of that is bad. On bars and beam we are trying to put together the best combination we can, and the girls know that when they start warming up they need to warm up and look like they are ready to go.
When we are choosing that lineup in warmups, we are looking for an attitude. And tonight I want to see the team a little angry at themselves because they haven’t competed the way they should. I want to see a little edge. I want to see them put themselves in charge of being successful.
The other importance of tonight’s meet is that we will be one of four teams there. That gives us a bit more of a feel for what will happen when we are competing for a championship. There will be a lot going on. When we go in on beam, we’ll need to focus with so much other stuff going on. This gives us that opportunity.
