Around The World

One of the new features on the revamped SoonerSports.com is a behind-the-scenes feature on Oklahoma men's gymnastics assistant coach Guard Young. The feature, Around The World, is a first-hand account of Young's amateur career and the world traveling that coincides with it. Young has been a member of the US National Team the last three years and has traveled to Japan, Hungary and France in that capacity during the last year. In his first entry, Young describes his 2003 US Championships experience, which was held in Milwaukee, Wis. Check back regularly for updates from Young and fellow Sooners Daniel Furney and Brett Covey, who are beginning their international careers.

The Around The World feature can be accessed through the icon on the right hand side of the men's gymnastics page or by clicking on 'Around The World' in the subdirectory on the sport's home page.

Around The World Entry No. 1

Thursday, July 3, 2003

With the Olympic Trials less than one year away, the level of gymnastics has reached another high. The 2003 USA National Championships, held in Milwaukee, Wis., June 19^th and 21^st, was a great success both for the United States and The University of Oklahoma. Not only were 10.0 start values reached by many gymnasts, gaining 1.2 back in skill difficulty, but a higher level of consistency. Routines scoring 9.5 or higher were in abundance throughout the two days of competition.

The whole process of training for the nationals started back in May, when a group of six gymnasts from the Oklahoma team traveled with me to the University of Michigan for the US National Qualifier. Both Daniel Furney and Heath Mueller made the top thirty-six cut to move on to the nationals.

Our Oklahoma contingent: consisting of Mark William, Yuan Xiao, Daniel Furney, Heath Mueller and myself, left Norman Tuesday June 17^th, which was a bit different from past championships because the first day of competition was Wednesday, not Friday. The next day was a hard training practice, which required a light stretch and strength morning workout, followed by a intense skilled afternoon workout. On Thursday, I had one light afternoon practice that had to be done before 3:00 p.m., because the womens championship began that night.

Friday, June 19^th, finally came and after a quick morning stretch I had a long day of waiting before the meet started. I spent most of the day in my hotel room, either watching movies, reading or eating lunch. At 4:50p.m., I met the others in the lobby and walked two blocks to the arena. I spent the next two hours warming up for the first night of competition.

There is a lot to wonder about before the start of the first competition. Whos hurt? Which event other gymnasts are starting on? What are some of the vaults other athletes are doing? Everyone had a lot riding on this competition. I was among an elite few fighting for a spot on the World Championships and Senior Mens National Team. This field included Olympians Paul and Morgan Hamm, Sean Townsend, Steve McCain, and Blain Wilson. NCAA National Champions were also among the top mix, including Ohio States Raj Bhavsar, Penn States Kevin Tan, Minnesotas Clay Strother, Stanfords Marshall Erwin and of course our own NCAA Champion Daniel Furney.

The first day of competition went better than expected. I had successfully done all my events without any major mistakes and I found myself in fourth place. There were other great performances as well, Ohio States Raj Bhavsar sticking a tsukahara double pike and scoring 9.9 on vault. After a quick drug test (yeah right) and something to eat I finally made it back to my room about 1:00 a.m.

With Sundays competition beginning earlier, 2:00 p.m. instead of 7:00, I did not have to wait around as much. I met everyone down in the lobby at 11:50 a.m. for our walk to the arena where I spent another two hours warming up. Before the start of this competition I was trying to tell myself to stay relaxed. It must have worked because I ending up falling off the pommel horse, my first event. I guess I was too relaxed. However, I was able to keep on fighting throughout the rest of the competition, and ended up back in the top ten at seventh place.

Paul Hamm successfully defended his national title by winning the all-around with a combined total of 113.325. Jason Gatson, nicknamed the come back kid after two torn ACLs and four knee surgeries, finished just behind Paul scoring 112.325. He also had the highest score of anyone with a 9.925 on the parallel bars. Two-time Olympian and five-time national champion Blaine Wilson completed the top three with a score of 112.125, just two tenths behind Jason.

After it was all said and done, I was named an alternate to the 2003 World Championships team, Daniel Furney, who finished 16^th, was named to the World University Team, and after an absence from the USA national scene, Heath Mueller found himself breaking into the top 25.

It is very important to the university and our gymnastics program to have a presence at the national level. It shows potential recruits that Oklahoma not only dominates gymnastics at a collegiate level, but at a national and international level as well. With young gymnasts aspiring to one day make it to the Olympics; the 2003 USA National Championships proves that they can be both a Sooner and a potential Olympian.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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