CYber CYd with Jay Ronayne

Head coach Jay Ronayne is back for his third edition of CYber CYd for the gymnastics team. Ronayne focuses on today's intrasquad meet and lets you in on his mindset heading into the exhibition. Check in next Thursday when freshman Michelle Browning writes her latest entry for CYber CYd.

CYber CYd with Jay Ronayne

Hello again Cyclone fans. Today begins with a touch of excitement in the air. We will finally be doing a little bit of competitive gymnastics again. At 1:30 p.m. today our regular practice will be interrupted by a chance to get in front of some people and compete some routines. We will have the first of three intrasquad meets in our practice facility.

The gymnasts get to break up the daily grind of practice, classes, studying, more practice, etc., and get themselves into “competition mode.” The coaches get a chance to see who is really looking ready for meets this year and also it serves as a bit of a reality check for everyone. It is the end of October, our first regular-season meet is only 10 weeks away, the Big 12 Championship is only about four and a half months away and the NCAA Championship is only about five months away.

The answer to some very important questions will be hinted at today during today's exhibition. Here are a few that are on my mind:

Will this year's routines be better than last year's?
Will the team have more depth?
How will the freshmen class make contributions to the team?
Are we on pace to reach our competitive goals for this year?
Which routines need to be tweaked to make them more competitive on the national level?
How good can we be this season?

I know there will be no hard and fast answers to any of these questions today. But I will get a glimpse of what to expect for the year. In a sense, this intrasquad meet will be the baseline to measure our progress toward our goals of a Big 12 Championship and a trip to the NCAA Championship.

To me, it is vital that we compete as much as we can. In three weeks we will have our second intrasquad meet and have another in four weeks following that. I believe that it is very important for us to be in a competitive environment often because the results of a competition are the only quantifiable measure of a gymnastics team. Practice is one thing and competition is another. Everyday in practice we prepare ourselves physically and mentally to compete. Each time we compete we prepare ourselves mentally to win, measure how far we have progressed, reassess our strategy and prepare to meet the challenges that stand between us and our goals. For the Cyclone team, competition is extremely important.

Our first intrasquad of the 2008-09 gymnastics season is finally here. There is excitement in the air and I cannot wait to see what the Cyclones have in store for you this year.

Go Cyclones!

Players Mentioned

Michelle Browning

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics