On Saturday, UCLA gymnastics starts this season off exactly as it finished 2013 – squaring off against Florida on the mats of Pauley Pavilion.
And, in an exact mirroring of the way both finished the 2013 season, UCLA comes in ranked No. 4 after placing fourth at the NCAA championships, while Florida, coming off its NCAA title, starts the season atop the rankings.
Since this year’s team features more underclassmen than juniors and seniors, sophomore Danusia Francis said gaining experience will be essential to the team’s success and the best way to start the season is by facing off against the defending champions.
“We’re going to pick up momentum as it goes and starting with Florida will show us straight away where we need to improve,” Francis said.
One athlete who has needed to get healthy more than she’s needed to improve over the past few seasons is Olympic silver medalist and redshirt junior Samantha Peszek, who sat the 2013 season out due to an Achilles tendon tear. But after sitting out a year, Peszek said neither she nor her teammates are nervous to start the year — even with their stiff competition.
“Everyone is really excited and just ready,” she said. “In some of the previous seasons, it’s been a nervous or anxious season but everyone is excited and ready this year.”
Excited or nervous, coach Valorie Kondos Field said she expects the team to take a few meets to reach its potential simply due to inexperience and selflessness. From what Kondos Field has seen in practice, she said her athletes are too worried about losing the meet for each other to take the risks that win competitions.
“I think it’s going to take us about a month or so to compete how we want to compete, but they’re really fun, hardworking, selfless athletes. Their only mistakes come from not wanting to let the team down,” she said.