[youtube]https://youtu.be/B04o5TBoDyg[/youtube]
The boys gymnastics season has recently begun, so the NWN sat down and spoke with senior captain Siraj Patel and head coach Adrian Batista. We discussed the team’s goals coming off the win of state last season and what they plan to achieve this year.
NWN: How is the team looking right now?
Patel: Right now it’s a little rough; we’re still putting things together because it’s early in the season, but I think by mid-season we’ll be have some big scores up and hopefully will be working like a well-oiled machine.
NWN: What are some goals you have for you and your teammates this season?
Patel: This year I’m hoping we get top three in conference, also I want us to get at least three people qualify to state individually.
NWN: How do you and the team plan to achieve these goals?
Patel: Making sure that myself and everyone are always working during practice, it’s easy to get distracted in the gym so we just need to make sure we’re concentrated. Personally, even when I’m outside the gym I’m going to try to think about my routines and what I can do to get better.
NWN: How do you think winning state last year affected how the standards are now?
Patel: I feel like everyone wants us to do just as good, if not better, but we graduated almost 15 seniors last year. There’s a lot of pressure on us. It’s going to be pretty difficult, and this year we’re running light on seniors.
NWN: Who do you think stands out and will help contribute to the team’s success the most?
Patel: Including myself, seniors Henry Lee, Collin Menzimer, Luca Coronas, Turner Mullarkey and two juniors Simon Lee and James Nguyen. But really the whole team overall has just been great and everyone contributes a lot.
NWN: How do you think your team is looking so far?
Batista: So far they’re doing better than I expected already. They’re hard workers, they’re motivated and they’re not discouraged because they don’t have that ‘super strong athlete’ like we did last year. They’re leading the way to having a really successful season.
NWN: What are some goals for your team?
Batista: We would definitely like to be one of the top teams at conference. We would also like to have some good invites. Of course, we don’t expect to win them all like last year, but just to sit on the top half. Realistically, for state, we’re hoping to have a handful of guys qualify.
NWN: What would you say are your chances of making state?
Batista: We have a lot of different moving parts on the team this year, versus last year when we had two gymnasts that took up a lot of our score so we could really depend on them. Now we have a lot more individual parts moving but there are some guys that are stepping up, but it also depends on what else is out there in the state.
Patel: This year the team has a new coach added on, a former gymnast, so Batista looks forward to seeing his benefit to the team. Batista is also excited to see the team develop, he’s seen his sophomore crew improve fast and sees that this program is staying strong even though they graduated most of the team from last year.
