“Our athletes are valued, our coaches are friends, and this is the culture that we should be sharing as mentors to these athletes.” – Illinois Gymnastics Head Coach Nadalie Walsh
NCAA women’s gymnastics has officially enter the postseason with conference championships taking place this weekend, providing the launching pad into the NCAA tournament. While the interest in collegiate gymnastics is on the rise and so is the accessibility and coverage, the Big Ten’s coaches made it clear on Friday: their programs have been here and are only going to continue this upward momentum.
“I think the attention to the Big Ten is on the rise,” said Penn State Head Coach, Sarah Shire Brown. “I think the energy surrounding what we’ve been doing for decades is now here.”
“Doing for decades” isn’t an exaggeration – the Big Ten currently has eight teams in the top 25 nationally and nine teams projected to make postseason runs. This isn’t an accomplishment that happened overnight; it’s taken years to build and strengthen these programs that make up the conference.
“It’s fantastic to sit back and watch what you help to grow,” said Iowa Head Coach, Larissa Libby. “Being a part of that growth, but also women’s gymnastics, is pretty amazing right now.”
Libby’s Iowa Hawkeyes are hosting the 2023 Big Ten Women’s Gymnastics Championships with a podium meet inside of the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. Athletes got their first feel for the competition setting on Friday as each team was able to practice inside the venue.
“Just to be able to feel out the arena. I think it’s always nice to see what it’s like and to be able to cheer and hear how your voice is gonna sound in the arena,” said Illinois senior Mia Takekawa. “Is it hard to cheer? Is it louder, or is your voice going to carry? So I think being able to feel it out with our team, we just feel really comfortable and excited about tomorrow.”
While this is the first postseason event and one with a competitive field, you’d be mistaken to not notice the camaraderie and supportiveness among the Big Ten programs.
“I think that we all challenge each other in a special and unique way,” said Michigan State sophomore Gabi Stephen. “It’s really cool that there’s a lot of community within the Big Ten but also a lot of competition, and we’re rising that level for each other.”
“We’re all about all for one, one for all kind of thing. We’re looking out for us because we have raised the bar, each one of us, and we’re going after those other conferences that have been pretty dominant in the past,” said Michigan State Head Coach Mike Rowe. “When you look at some of the rankings right now, you can see it’s elevating and it’s moving in that direction.”
Rankings aren’t the only thing indicating the rise in interest in the sport; attendance records for Big Ten gymnastics are soaring.
“That’s that’s exactly the way it should be. Did we enjoy losing in Jenison Field House? No, we did not enjoy that, but that is great for the conference and it was great for Michigan State,” said Michigan Head Coach Bev Plocki. “I think they had a record attendance at that meet, and every competition that we’ve been a part of, you learn something from it. There’s a takeaway, there’s a teaching moment.”
Moving in the right direction while taking care of each other is a prime example of how the Big Ten and gymnastics community as a whole rallied around MSU after a mass shooting took place on its East Lansing campus earlier this season. Stephen talked about how her and her teammates supported each other and came back stronger at the Big 5 competition following their week break after the tragic event.
“Focusing on us and healing together was something that was really big for us, and then using that and driving it into energy,” Stephen said. “One of the biggest things we said going into Nebraska at Big 5s was just go out there and have fun and that’s what we did. We had the most fun, and we had an amazing turnout with our meet. So bringing that in through postseason and the rest of the meets is just like being together and having fun. So that was helpful for us.”
Bringing that focus and energy will be critically important as these teams compete this weekend and throughout the rest of the postseason as the margin for error is slim.
“It’s not good enough anymore to just hit a routine and get off the event,” Plocki said. “You have to hit every handstand, you have to be in great body lines with pointed toes, you have to stick the dismounts, you have to perform your floor routines.”
The 2023 Big Ten Women’s Gymnastics Championships will start at 12:00 p.m. ET with session one and continue with session two beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 18. You can watch live on the Big Ten Network. See the full women’s conference championships schedule here.
