North Carolina State University Athletics
Gymnastics Set to Host Michigan State
3/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
March 3, 2006
Raleigh, N.C. - The NC State gymnastics team will be in home action tonight, hosting No. 23 Michigan State at 7:00 p.m. in Reynolds Coliseum. Senior Kylah Bachman took the time to write about the last week and a half of the gymnastics season. The Pack had some rough meets to start the season, but over the last few weeks has gone out and gotten better in every meet. The top results thus far were last weekend, when the Pack was pushed to the limits in having two meets in a span of three days.
Bachman: Starting off with a tough beginning our team was determined to do well last weekend, especially because we would face our biggest rivalry of the season twice in one weekend. Friday night we were determined to meet one of our goals for the season (beat UNC every time we saw them), and they were stepping on to our turf. We had been giving 200 percent in practice, and we were ready for the weekend it would finally clicked. All of us knew that we as a team were talented, but we have yet to really show everyone what we were made of.
Being a senior here at NC State, it is ingrained into our heads that whatever you do, never let Carolina beat you, and as a team we were not about to let Carolina win.
So we started round one: defending out home. I remember stepping into the locker room, and you could feel it already, our team was prepared. We've been through some tough practices in the past week, and we were ready to actually show the team we are in practice, when it actually counted. We gave it our all, still having a few mistakes, but not letting that get us down. When others had an off day, we as a team picked up the others and continued on. It was awesome to build the momentum in front of a home crowd. When the night came to an end, after some amazing routines, we had this awesome feeling that we finally started to show our own capability.
Once again we were just edged out by a top-25 school, but regardless of what the other teams did, we had done our job for that night. Results came in and we had beaten UNC. Little did they know, they thought we had hit the meet, and they came in close behind with one of their weaker performances.
We just needed an incentive, and Carolina gave it to us. They thought they had beaten us on our best day, but little did they know, we as a team still have so much more room to grow. We all reminisced on how beautiful it was last year to beat them at their house, on their senior night, breaking their undefeated home streak. We wanted to repeat that feeling.
To be honest, yes we were all dragging a bit. But our hearts were there. I have never seen a team so ready to do damage. The last week in practice we all learned the meaning of team, and how important our teammates were to us, it was the very thing that made that night clicked. Not only did we defend our house, we now were taking over theirs.
One routine after another, the energy kept on building. We knew with everything we had we finally gave it our all. It was the very thing we needed, the bit of confidence and no one could stop us. We all knew we were ahead in the last rotation, and beam was left. It was awesome to see our team attack it, instead of holding back.
I've had a million awesome memories with this team, but that ride home I think will be one of my most treasured moments on this team. We knew we did our job. We lived up to our potential.
We still have room to grow, but our confidence is back and we are ready to face our next challenge tonight. I am proud to say I was part of a team who has the chance to be great, and regardless of a rough start; we are finally showing everyone who we are.
