Young Checks In With Around The World Column

It is the offseason for collegiate gymnastics but members of the Oklahoma men's gymnastics program are busy around the world competing in numerous prestigious meets. Guard Young, an alternate on Team USA's World Championship squad, is in Anaheim, Calif., and took time out of his busy schedule to write an Around The World feature.

While OU's assistant coach in California, senior-to-be Heath Mueller is leaving for South Korea and the World University Games today (Friday) and will be pen a guest Around The World column this weekend.

Hello from beautiful Anaheim, California home to the 2003 Artistic World Gymnastics Championships. With over seventy-nine countries and six hundred athletes, this World Championships will be remembered as one of the largest ever held.

Head coach Mark Williams and I left Oklahoma last Friday, August 8th, to join the rest of the USA contingent in California. There was a feeling of much excitement as we reached our final destination. A summer of hard work was about to pay off. It also felt good not having an eighteen-hour jetlag, like we had in previous years when it was hosted outside the USA.

The next three days of training, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, consisted of hard routine days. We were required to show at least one routine on each event along with one stuck dismount. Training around the athletes from all the other countries of the world was an educational and enlightening experience. There was a lot of good gymnastics to see in the training gym and a lot of different languages being spoken.

On Saturday, August 9th, the team rallied together on the floor exercise to perform one routine. The following day the team did pommel horse routines and parallel bar dismounts as a group. A lot was accomplished and the team was looking very good in its preparation for the competition.

On Monday, August 11th, everyone did routines and half routines on their own. With more teams arriving over the weekend, our workout time was cut short. However, the USA team rose to the occasion and was efficient with the time given. We were so impressive that other teams were videotaping our practice. It felt great!

Tuesday, August 12th, was a well-deserved light day. With only one morning practice, the team was able to go and enjoy the movies. That night we all met to talk about podium training and the line-up.

Podium training is very important. It is the only time you have to train on the equipment before the first competition. Each team had only thirteen minutes per event to practice so everyone had to be very efficient. The plan for podium was a quick one-touch warm-up and a hit routine on each event.

Team USA started on the floor exercise and went around all six events in Olympic order where we finished on the high bar. Things went just as planed. USA looked very professional from the time they marched in to the arena to the time they left.

Throughout the training, vaulting was the most impressive. Brett McClure, Paul and Morgan Hamm all landed 9.9 vaults, while Blaine Wilson executed a beautiful handspring double front. It was fun to watch as the judges took notice as well.

After we all had a chance to talk to the media, we left the arena for dinner. The energy of the team was extremely high. That energy was topped off by the announcement of no team meeting that night.

It is now just a waiting game. The opening ceremonies are Friday night and I will be a representative of the USA delegation. We are all looking forward to Sunday to get things started. We know that this World championship is on our home turf and that Team USA is ready to show the rest of the world how good we are. The team finals will be on Tuesday night of next week.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Young Checks In With Around The World Column

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