-W w 7W 0 v K w w -W 8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 8, 2004 on" 195 y 3Gy. * STILL RINGS BY EDDIE UMPHREY I don't have any superstitions or anything. I say a prayer to myself before I go on any event, but I don't feel any nerves or anything. It's more like a playtime for me to show off. It's my time to show everyone how strong I am - I can get the ladies to turn their heads a little bit, go up there, and show everyone that I'm the strongest guy in the gym. When I salute, it's just 110 percent confidence that this is going to be the best routine in the gym and nobody can beat me on this event. My first skill is called an Azarian roll to a cross. I just think about pulling hard and locking into my lats (back muscles). Then I get into an L-cross position and hold it, and I pull up to a skill called a Maltese. For that, I think about pulling out as fast as I can because you don't see too many people pull out fast, and the faster you pull out the easi- er it looks. The judges really like that. I do another Azarian to a cross and I think about getting my arms straight and holding a little bit longer than the other skills. I give a little head nod to the crowd to show off a little bit. I dismount with a double layout and I just think about swinging as hard as I can and trying to stick it. It always hurts, always - especially the cross. The cross is the most painful skill, and every time I do it I feel like my shoulders are going to come out. It's just a painful skill. I think the pain starts before you get up there because you just know that the whole rou- tine is going to hurt. You know that all the strength, like the cross, is going to kill you. The Maltese is going to hurt, and you have to swing and come through the bot- tom. I am a lot heavier than the other guys - I'm like 180. It's definitely harder for me to pull myself up. So when I come to the bottom it's pretty painful. But it's all worth it once you get down and get that stick. The crowd goes crazy, and that's the biggest reward. I love the audience. I love to get the audience's response. 1 .1 . - . MMRZW * POMMEL HORSE' BY JUSTIN LAURY Everyone knows it's one of the toughest events out there because it requires a lot of bal- ance. When you get nervous, it's really hard. A lot of guys fall under the pressure. One thing I think about, the first thing I think about, is that I can either go out there and be a predator, or I can be the prey. So I go out there and I attack the event. I always tell myself that there is no way I am going to come off this event. I tell myself I'm going to fight to the end. When I salute, I go to the horse, take a deep breath, get focused and think about being calm and relaxed. And when I start my routine, I try to make sure that I'm extended, stretched and I keep good form. All the way through, all I think about is squeezing my legs tight and keeping good form. It's especially tough if you have a lot of pressure on you. One thing I think about is just being calm and relaxed and also being aggressive at the same time. When I get to the scissors, I feel like I'm home free. I am ready to go, my adrenaline is going, and I am close to being done with the routine. I just think about not taking any break and being tight and finish- ing my routine. And when I land, the job's done. Fortunately, I haven't had too many problems with injuries. I had a wrist surgery, so that hurts every once in a while. But when I get going, the: adrenaline takes care of all that. It's like my pain killer. It's really hard on the wrists and the elbows and arms. I don't think it's one of the hardest events training-wise, but it's hard when it comes down to the whole team sitting there and counting on you in the NCAA finals. When it comes down to a situation like that, there's not one event that's tougher to do. When your nerves get going, you throw your weight over too much on one side, right off the horse, and there goes your championship. There are 18 other guys on your team and they are allj counting on you. So it's more mental. Men's Gymnastics f Dummies Explained by six members of the Michigan men's team: With Ian Herbert and Julie Master 0 Daily Sports Writers - Photos by Tony Ding Daily Photo Editor How much do you really know about men's gymnastics? Did you have any idea that it is comn- prised of six events? Or that some gymnasts specialize in one or two events, while others com- pete in the all-around competi- tion? Did you know that Michigan has a national champi- on and three Junior National Champions on its roster? The men's gymnastics team is a group of the strongest and most charismatic athletes on campus, but nobody knows what they do. The Michigan Daily sat down with the best Michigan gymnasts for each of the six events. They explained in detail the intricacies and the most difficult aspects of their events. Read on to find out why these six men are the best at what they do. * PARALLEL BARS. BY GEOFF CORRIGAN Before I go, I try to go over the routine once in my head with my eyes closed and I think about every position and everything that I will be doing. The first thing that I think about is being aggressive, and the first worry that's on my mind is the grip on the bars. So I make sure before I go that I can grip it real well. I put honey on my hands, and I put honey on the bars, then I put chalk on my hands, and then chalk on the bars - then a little bit more honey, a little bit more chalk, and I feel the grip. I just try to get all the doubt that's in my head out. The hardest skill of the whole routine, a Peach Half, is early. I have to worry about every little thing like my feet separating, my arms bending, my lower back being loose, my legs bending, anything like that. The next skill is a stutz. I think about swinging hard, trying to push throt a good ha outside b am not ve pretty bas At the pretty bac and tricep then my t think abo be sure tc bends, I i was a guy a Winter ( landed or just try tc and pushi bringing ground ea because it we lost tl stick on F JUSTIN EDDIE LAURY UMPHREY GEOFF CORRIGAN DREW DIGIORE ANDRE LUKE HERNANDEZ BOTTKE I Page design by JIM WEBER -ZL . . ...... ... ... * FLOOR EXERCISE BY LUKE BOTTKE The whole thing for me is to make sure I take everything one skill at a time. Before I go, I just try and clear my mind4 and go over some last minute corrections. It helps me to think of one or two words rather than a whole bunch of thoughts at once. So I'll think of "feet through" com- ing out of my round-off, or just to "punch hard," "be aggressive," "stay tight" - stuff like that. Usually I can feel right away if I'm going to bed on or off, or how hard it's going to be for me. I salute to the judge and think to do it like I did it in practice. My first two passes are my hardest, so that's the majority of my routine. The second half is kind of a relief once I get through that. I really concentrate on staying tight, my timing, looking for things visually in the air and sticking my land- ings. In the air, I concentrate on the floor and try to keep my head neutral. If my head is out, I can get lost in the air, and that's bad news. On floor, the big thing is five-tenth combinations because we need to get the bonus in our routines in order to start from a high start value. The higher we start from, the higher we score. The hard thing about that' is that we aren't allowed to repeat any skills. So in order to have two sequences of three skills, you have to have more skills. I start at a 9.8, but a 10.0 has been in the works since the beginning of the season. We've been striving for consistency. The big thing is that I have wrist problems. I've had three wrist surgeries. And my legs get sore, but they haven't really given me any major problems. cI G THE VAULT By DREW DIGIORE Before I go on, I try to visualize the vault in my head. I start at the same spot every time, 68 feet from where I hit the board. The front of the board has to be set two feet away from the vault. The first two steps I run are really slow. It sort of calms me down. But I put everything I have into the run because it's like a sprint. I hurdle, and when I hit the board I try to get my feet in front of me and stay tight using my stomach muscles. Coming off the vault, I try to drive my heels down and my chest up to get ready for the twist. When I'm up, I spot for the ground, and then I pull my twist down and drive my heels to the ground. The run is the most important part. Some peo- ple count their steps when they're going, but I try to concentrate on other things like the vault and the board. Even if you are good on the board, you have to be good on the vault. If you're not as good on the board, you can fix it, alter it, or change your body position to make it a good vault. After I get off the vault and start twisting, I can tell how I'm going to land. Sometimes though, I think I'm going to do well so I don't try as hard and it doesn't end up well. I try and picture my 2003 NCAA Championship vault. Since I've done it so many times, it's ingrained in my head. The biggest thing is that I have to get all of the negative thoughts out. It's a lot mental, especially coming back from my ankle injury (which held me out the start of this season). I know how to do it, and I know I can do it well, but I am still tentative. And if I'm tentative it's hard * HIGH BAR BY ANDRE HERNANDEZ I'm kind of superstitious, so before I go I always have my Nike wristbands facing down. I always make sure that I don't have too much chalk, but just the right amount. I like it on my hands, but not on my grips because sometimes I slip when there is too much on the grips. Before every high bar routine I think about legs because one problem that I have is keeping my legs together. Usually I have good extension, but I sometimes break form, so that's what I focus on. I always worry about the two sequences in my routine because they are the hardest ones. My first sequence is a five-tenths sequence. Then after that I swing into the middle to get space to do my second sequence. I worry about getting my hand back on in time so I don't fall off the bar. And I worry about staying tight because staying in control helps me stay on the bar.; Usually after the two sequences, I take a breather and just focus on stay- ing clean for the rest of the routine. I'm pretty tired by then. My hands are always hurting and sometimes they get really hot. And my shoulders get tired.: So when I am doing all the twisting, my shoulders will give out. I've never, really had that many crashes. That's what hurts: crashing. Then I do a, Pirouette and then a Gienger, which is my release. It's a pretty easy release, and I don't worry about it too much. That's when I am usually really tired, and I have to push hard for the dis- mount, which is a double layout, full twist. The dismount is really hard for me because I don't twist that well. But I try to stay open, keep my legs togeth- er, and stay down for the dismount.