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Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 23, 1985
Blue gymnast thinks big
BySTEVE HERZ
They've got little hands and little eyes'
They walk around telling great big lies
Mdon't mnnt no short people Sound here'
-Randy Newman
It's apparent from the words of his hit
tune "Short People" that Randy
Newman has never had the pleasure of
meeting Michigan sophomore Heidi
Cohen, who at 4-10 is a big part of the
gymnastics program.
Tiny tumbler Cohen
emerging as leader
Don't let size be deceiving. Heidi
Cohen is 85 pounds of pure athlete. And
in the sport of gymnastics, 85 pounds,
as Heidi Cohen proves, can go a very
long way.
VERY LITTLE can slow down this
19-year-old "workaholic" as she is
labeled by assistant coach Mike
Milidonis, but last season a broken
ankle sidelined her in late October and
she never fully recovered until this
year. "I competed but it hurt my per-
formance a lot," she recalls.
But this season the Ohio native has
emerged as a juggernaut on a team in
need of a leader. She has progressed so
rapidly over one year that her coach
considers her one of the top two all-
arounders on the squad and one of the
nation's top fifty college gymnasts.
It hasn't always been easy for Heidi
Cohen. Few athletes have an easy road
to the top but her journey has been
especially long and arduous. At the ten-
der age of 12 she left her home in
Cleveland, with olympic glory on her.
mind, to train with former olympic
coaches Margie and Greg Weiss in
Silver Springs, Maryland.
TODAY SHE downplays her chances
of ever competing in the Olympics and
says, "What Olympians do and what I
do are two totally different sports."
Nevertheless, the olympic boycott en-
ded any visions of gold and after three
years of training she returned home.
Living her early teens seven hundred
miles away from home taught Cohen
more than just the art of tumbling. In
addition to the many hours of daily
practice and school work she cooked
and cleaned for herself and quickly
garnered her own independence.
Since her high school had no gym-
nastics team she joined a nearby club to
continue training. Despite not receiving
as much attention as other high school
gymnasts, Cohen made a good enough
impression to be recruited by several
schools. She finally came to Ann Arbor
over Penn State for its vast academic
and extra-curricular opportunities.
The dedication Cohen has for gym-
nastics transcends into her whole life.
She is presiding secretary of West
Quad's Michigan House and as one
hallmate notes, "If Heidi Cohen under-
takes a task you can be sure it will be
done right."
ONE OF the many things she is doing
right is her academics. With a GPA of
3.8, as close to perfect as Mary Lou Ret-
ton's floor exercises, Cohen seems well
on her way to prime time television as a
news anchorwoman, her goal for the
future. Her voice is already gaining
notoriety on the campus A.M. radio
station WJJX. Everyday at noon, after
careful preparation, she beams out the
news.
In an age where gymnasts are barely
finding time to do anything but compete
- former Olympians Retton and Julie
McNamara are among the many who
have shunned school to pursue training
- Heidi Cohen, with all her respon-
sibilities is an anamoly. Her roommate
Danielle Potvin says in amazement, "I
don't know how she does it."
It's all right to think big but as Heidi
Cohen asserts, bigger is not always bet-
ter. And as another singer, Bruce
Springsteen once wrote, 'From small
things, Mama, big things one day
come."
Milidonis
... calls Cohen a "workaholic"
Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Michigan gymnast Heidi Cohen takes off from the vault in recent com-
petition. The Cleveland native also finds time to maintain a 3.8 GPA.
Become a Daily photographer -
Get into concerts for free,
Go backstage and meet the stars,
Stand on the sidelines at U of M
football games,
Impress members of the opposite sex (or
the same sex, if you prefer).
Blue Lines
r;
Coach's comments cutting.. .
... refs are real culprits
By ADAM MARTIN
THERE WAS more to last weekend than two Wolverine non-league losses
at the hands of the fifth-ranked RPI Engineers.
Under the shadow of an arrogant eastern-hockey mindset, the Wolverines
were outskated and outplayed by a superior ECAC club that plays a different,
non-CCHA brand of hockey.
At least, that's what Engineer head coach Mike Addesa would argue.
And Addesa would have no qualms about discussing (in fact, deriding) the
Wolverines physical, aggressive strategy. Indeed he did so when describ-
ing the action after his Engineers had defeated Michigan, 5-1, Saturday
night.
"We came in and flew, so (Michigan head coach Red) Berenson put plan
"B" into effect - DESTROY."
Addesa went on to describe in lurid detail Michigan's evil tactics and game
plan which, in his view, resulted from the influence of Red Berenson.
Without delving into several other juicy, incriminating Addesa quips, it
could be said that the six-year RPI coach demonstrated a classless brand of
nastiness, uncharacteristic of college cbaches, after his club swept the
Wolverines.
Berenson, of course, had his own view of the penalty-ridden contest - a
game poorly officiated from the start.
"There was no control by the officials, so the players started to lose con-
trol," he said.
But Berenson too felt he saw things from the Engineers that honestly
characterized some of their players. Their defensemen were a lower form of
human while the Engineer forwards were five-foot excrement bearers, to
paraphrase. You get the idea.
It should be noted that Berenson said what he did only after getting wind of
Addesa's acidic .remarks. Berenson's main complaint concerned the
referees.
The officiating was so bad, in fact, that in the first period, referee Pierre
Belanger ejected Wolverine defensemen Bill Brauer for "fighting," just to
compensate for sending Kraig Nienhuis to the showers, after the Engineer
left wing committed a flagrant foul.
Several players were involved in the tussle in the corner. Eventually,
however, Brauer appeared detained against the boards by two Engineers
while all Houston Arena watched Nienhuis skate across the ice and smack
Brauer several times.
You need not know how Addesa explained the incident, except that the
valor of Nienhuis was mentioned.
But the problem isn't Nienhuis, Addesa, or even some uncleanly endeavors
by the Wolverines. The problem Saturday was Pierre Belanger's inability to
call a consistent game. And, according to Berenson, it was nothing new. Not
specifically with Belanger, but with many referees Michigan's seen this
season.
Berenson brooded over his players' complete inability to guess or com-
prehend how the game would be called, and the absurdity of how it was
called (or wasn't).
"I don't know why it's allowed to be this way, it looked like a roller-derby,"
Addesa also complained, before embarking on his foolish, foaming-at-the-
mouth display for local reporters.
Michigan captain Ray Dries was annoyed with officials who continually
and artificiallychanged the momentum of the game with ludicrous whistles
- and who consistently failed to blow the whistle when they should have.
Let's get a few things straight: no matter how unfounded or ridiculous Ad-
desa's criticism or how questionable (and illegal) were both team's tactics
both really resulted from horrid refereeing.
The players reacted to each other and it snowballed. Addesa's short-
sightedness quickly multiplied after his biased viewpoint classified the
Wolverine sticks as axes, and his club received a fair dose of controversial
penalties.
Control is the term. Addesa and the players lost it. The referee never had
it.
(Daily Sportswriter Tom Keaney filed a report for this story).
Namath, O.J. among
five voted into Hall
Portfolio review: Sunday, January 27th, 1985
Brina anvthina Dhotoaraohic. 5.00 P.M. at
CANTON, Ohio (AP) - National
Football League Commissioner Pete
Rozelle, quarterbacks Joe Namath and
Roger Staubach, running back O.J.
Simpson and old-timer Frank Gatski
have been named to the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, Pete Elliott, the shrine's
executive director announced yester-
commissioner to be named to the Hall
of Fame.
Namath, 41, the first New York Jets'
player to be selected, is best remem-
bered for his bold victory prediction
and performance when the Jets beat
the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl
III in 1969.