A captain is, by definition, a person who is at the head of or in authority over others. A chief. Leader.
But in gymnastics, it is not the captain’s job to have authority over the team or to tell them what to do; that’s the coach’s job. In a sport as tough as gymnastics, it’s the captain’s job to lead by example and to motivate her team so they can reach their full potential.
The University of Michigan women’s gymnastics team has three captains: junior Katie Zurales, and sophomores Shelby Gies and Teresa Arthur. They were picked by their teammates for their leadership qualities, as the team will not have any seniors this season.
“It’s fun to be able to lead the team and to pick everyone up and to get everyone excited,” said Zurales, who won all around with a score of 39.300.
Shelby Gies, who competed on both bars and beam, said “I love my teammates and the fact that they voted for me is just a huge honor and I’m glad that they can respect me like that.”
On January 13, the Wolverines hosted the first home meet against Ohio State rivals. U of M posted a final score of 195.500 to beat the Buckeye’s score of 195.175. The first two rotations for the Wolverines went smoothly, posting 49.300 and 49.025 on vault and bars respectively.
On each event, six girls in the lineup are scored by the judges, and five of those individual scores are added together for the final scores. That means that for every event, each team can drop their lowest score. On beam, however, the Wolverines had two falls and had to count one of them. The Buckeyes took this opportunity to take the lead going into the third rotation.
U of M junior Brittnee Martinez, who won bars with a 9.850, believes that the errors on beam were due to first meet jitters. “We’re a beam team and we know it, so we just have to get confidence and I think we’ll rock it,” she said.
Natalie Beilstein came in with a clutch performance of 9.925 on floor, which was the highest scoring routine of the night.
“We’re a young team, but our chemistry is really strong,” Beilstein said. The team goal this year is to make it to the Super Six like they did last year. The Super Six is the NCAA national championships, featuring the top six teams in the country.
Joanna Sampson tied for second on bars, which is her favorite event to compete. “I really want us to make it back to the Super Six, and hopefully place in the top three this year, as well as continuing our tradition of winning Big Ten [championships].”
Freshmen Annette Miele and Sachi Sugiyama performed and delivered under the pressure of having a young team. Martinez said, “The freshman are great. They’re such a great addition to the team and I can’t wait to see what else they have to offer this year.”
Despite a shaky beam rotation, the team feels confident going into the season. Martinez added, “You’ll see us at Super Six.”
