Gymnastics in the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the USA is the biggest and most popular competitive circuit for student gymnasts worldwide. Gymnastics Coaching interviews Mike Lorenzen, President of the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women.
Assistant Head Coach of the Stanford Women’s Gymnastics Team which finished third at NCAA Championships 2008.
Last season you drew over a half million spectators to NCAA competitions? What’s the secret of that audience appeal?
I think there are a couple of key reasons. We are a very unique entity within collegiate athletics in terms of what we offer spectators and fans — athletic young women who are stellar feminine role models, among the leaders in women’s athletics in academic performance, competing in the single most popular event at every Summer Olympics — but in a team environment.
David Gonzales/Stanford Athletics – buy this photo
While some folks struggle with the concept of whether a gymnastics meet is truly a sporting event, the leaders within the collegiate gymnastics community have embraced both its performance and competitive aspects and worked to create an outstanding entertainment experience that appeals to some very important demographics–families, women, and children. It has gotten increasingly challenging for fans to understand the sport as the difficulty has increased and the rules have evolved, but someone without any knowledge of gymnastics can still attend a competition and be blown away by the athleticism and artistry that our student-athletes bring to the floor
CBS television coverage of Championships in Athens, Georgia in 2008 was excellent. How important is television and internet video coverage of College gymnastics?
This is one of our strategic imperatives because of the impact on university support of women’s gymnastics. As the pool of resources available within collegiate athletics is increasingly constrained by the mounting costs of competitiveness in revenue sports, it becomes increasingly important for Olympic sports to be able to demonstrate broad-based appeal and interest to fans. I don’t think many people who have attended a women’s meet leave feeling disappointed and I believe the vast majority would agree that we offer one of the best entertainment values in collegiate athletics. The more exposure we gain from coverage both on television and the internet, the larger our potential base of attendance becomes and the more “front of mind” we are in the media. We are a challenging sport to cover for a lot of media folks because of the investment required to understand the rules and the elements of the sport so we’re constantly evaluating ways to make coverage more feasible and competition more comprehensible.
Gym Dogs Win NCAA Championship – buy this photo
Fans love the high scores in the NCAA. Why have you kept the “perfect 10†judging system?
We still work very closely with the Junior Olympic program of USA Gymnastics because that is the program from which the overwhelming majority of our student-athletes come. They have given us every indication that they want to stay away from the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) code of points and it’s new scoring system, which is still confusing to many gymnasts and coaches, let alone fans. We have a commitment to providing the best possible experience for our student-athletes, our universities, and our fans and I don’t see how that would in any way be served by following FIG down their current path. The potential to get a “10.0” is one of the most recognizable facets of our sport and it generates tremendous enthusiasm for our fans and competitors alike. If you attend an elite competition that is being conducted under FIG rules there is very little excitement or anticipation surrounding the scoring because it is so difficult for casual fans to grasp.
original – Kelly M. Lambert – flickr
Your NCAA Coaches annual meetings are held in conjunction with the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic Level 10 Championships. What is the relationship between USAG and the NCAA?
We have been working diligently for the last several years to improve our working relationship with USA Gymnastics in order to take advantage of the potential synergies that exist between our two organizations. Gymnastics clubs who operate under the auspices of USAG represent the vast majority of our prospective student-athletes. We share a judging and fan community as well as technical resources, educational opportunities, and manufacturer relationships. They also very graciously support the USAG Collegiate National Championship, which is a critically important opportunity for some of our lesser-funded Division I and Division II schools. At the same time we represent the most realistic and relevant goal for most club gymnastics, given that only six young women qualify for the Olympics every four years, which is the ultimate aim of the elite track in gymnastics. USAG President Steve Penny attended NCAA Nationals in Georgia this year and I believe it is the first time in history that the USAG President has been to that meet. I think he came away with a very favorable impression of the benefits and potential of gymnastics at the collegiate level and he has expressed great interest in working more closely with us.
What is the “College Bound†invitational?
The College Bound Invitational is the creation of the United States Association of Independent Gymnastics Clubs, or USAIGC. I believe it was seven years ago that Mike Jacki and Paul Spadero offered to create an event that would showcase prospective student-athletes who had an interest in competing in collegiate gymnastics. They worked extremely hard to develop the event and it became a great opportunity for gymnasts to be seen by every college coach in the country at one sitting because we held the event in conjunction with our national convention. Particularly for high school juniors and seniors who did not quality to USAG Junior Olympic Nationals, this evolved into a vital chance for them to still be seen and not fall between the cracks in the recruiting process.
Katie Heenan – original – SARA GUEVARA – Red and Black
How many gymnasts compete in the NCAA? What percentage are on athletic scholarship or some other form of financial assistance?
We currently have 64 Division I, 5 Division II, and 16 Division III programs. I don’t have any statistics available in terms of scholarship or financial aid numbers and it varies from school to school. A fully funded Division I team has 12 full grants-in-aid and I would guess that at least 75% of the Division I programs are fully funded. I believe that two of the Division II schools are fully funded at 6.2 scholarship equivalents and Division III programs do not offer athletically-related scholarships. Having said that, there are many opportunities for gymnasts to compete at all three levels and receive need-based or academically-based aid that is determined at an institutional level.
AP Photo by John Amis – Anna Li – UCLA
How do the girls keep up their academic course load during the busy competitive season?
The academic rigor and challenge varies greatly, depending on individual majors and institutional requirements, but all gymnasts face the same sort of balancing act with which they dealt all through their secondary school academic careers. I don’t know of another sport that requires participants to start at such an early age and I think you’ll find that most gymnasts have started working on that balancing act in elementary school. If they continue on the competitive track through high school they’re often training 20 – 30 hours per week, attending school 6 to 8 hours a day, and participating in other activities. They’re generally very well-prepared for the challenge of being a student-athlete at the university level and at most universities the women’s gymnastics team is one of the top performing teams, in academic terms, on campus. Many schools provide significant academic support to student-athletes in the form of tutors and advisors, but I think most of the credit goes to the individual gymnasts themselves, who are almost uniformly highly motivated, organized, and goal-oriented.
OSU Beavers – Laura-Ann Chong
What are the goals of the NCAA for the 2009 season?
At a simple level to provide the best possible competitive experience for our student-athletes and our two key constituencies — the university communities and our fans. We do that by evaluating the rules that govern training and competition and adjusting them where possible to stay on a path of continuous improvement (the NCAA has ultimate jurisdiction over those rules). In big picture terms, we are working through a strategic planning process and attempting to more clearly define our mission and how we might perform it better. Probably the most critical component of that process is finding ways to create a compelling case for universities not just to keep the programs we have, but to add new programs in order to increase opportunities for young women. Since this is an Olympic year, the US team is well-positioned for a run at a gold medal, and gymnastics normally gets extraordinary ratings and media coverage, I hope that we’ll be able to take advantage of those things in order to further promote women’s collegiate gymnastics.
larger original – GymTide
Thanks Mike. We look forward to another great season in 2009 culminating with Championships April 16-19 in Nebraska.
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Note: The College Bound meet will not be held in 2009.
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