Bees Gymnastics has landed strong on top for an impressive 20 years! This season the Bees have had 9 victorious meets so far. They were named the suburban league champions this week and are now moving onto districts at Berea-Midpark this week.
“It was a little rough at the beginning of the season because a lot of our skills were inconsistent, but we have greatly improved both mentally and physically and have been perfecting our routines,” says junior, Avery Butler.
Now after winning suburban league championships, Sophomore Kyla Haverdill says, “I think winning the suburban league conference really boosted a lot of the team’s confidence, which is helping us go into districts this weekend with resilience and determination to keep the streak going.”
A lot of pressure comes with the sport of gymnastics; everything has to be perfect. It takes a lot of time, and the skills are complex as well, especially when you are 20x state champions. But these girls don’t let it get to them, they look forward to continuing the streak.
Junior, Gianna Ravagnani says, “There is a lot of pressure that goes along with being a 20x state champion because we all have a goal of continuing the streak and no one wants to be the team who breaks that streak.”
To avoid so much stress on the girls, they do something called psychobabble, which consists of “Mrs. Schneider( head coach) leading us through a lesson to help us mentally. Usually, we will journal or just talk as a group to brainstorm ways to help with stress,” said Avery Butler.
The next meet for these gymnasts is districts. They have put in so much work this season. During the season, the schedule is 3 practices a week for 4 hours, 1 practice for about 2 hours, and then a competition.
“Practice consists of a 30 minute warm up where we run and stretch to get our bodies ready for practice. Then we do each event, anywhere from a half hour to an hour. We follow with a 30-40 minute conditioning rotation and a stretch down,” says sophomore, Bailey Miller.
For Districts, these are the girls that will hopefully lead us to a win. For Vault: Gianna Ravagnani, Olivia Vasile, Abby Pignetello, Bailey Miller. For Bars: Gianna Ravagnani, Lea Haverdill, Abby Pignetello, Avery Butler, Jeanne Winzen. On the Beam: Abby Pignatello, Avery Butler. Floor: Gianna Ravagnani, Rachel Kirin, Rachel Kelly and All Around, Gianna Ravagnani, Abby Pignatiello
Rachel Kirin may feel a bit of extra pressure as she is relied upon for her exceptionally technical floor pass. Butler says, “She does a 1 ½, into a round-off full, which is a unique and difficult pass that not many other gymnasts do. It increases the difficulty of her floor routine and brings our team a very high floor score, which we rely on.”
So bee sure to keep up with the Bees as the fight for first is on! Good luck to all the gymnasts who will be competing in districts and states.
