The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, March 22, 2019 — 7
A Perfect 10: Natalie Wojcik and the joy of gymnastics
In observance of Women’s
History Month, The Daily’s sports
section is launching its second
annual series aimed at telling the
stories of female athletes, coaches
and teams at the University from
the perspective of the female
sports
writers
on
staff.
We
continue the series with this story
from Shira Zisholtz.
It was 2002. A young, blonde,
wide-eyed three-year-old girl
sat in front of the TV watching
professional athletes in sparkly
leotards defy gravity as they
threw themselves into the air,
flipped,
twisted
and
landed
perfectly on two feet. The girl,
ambitious and intrigued, figured,
“Why shouldn’t I try that?” She
took a cushion off her sofa, took
a breath and threw herself into a
back handspring.
She landed on her head,
assured her mom she was OK,
and shortly thereafter, her mom
enrolled
her
in
gymnastics
classes.
And, as they say, the rest is
history.
Fast forward to Feb. 23,
2019. The Michigan women’s
gymnastics team is competing
at the Big Five Meet to claim
the regular-season title. That
young, blonde, wide-eyed girl is
standing in front of thousands,
donning her own sparkly leotard
of maize and blue. She mentally
reviewed
her
routine
“key
words,” took a breath and took
off.
She ran, propelled herself onto
the vault, pushed off to complete
a Yurchenko 1 ½ — and stuck the
landing.
The crowd went crazy. Her
team ran to her with tears of joy.
The last time the Wolverines
performed to this caliber on
vault was in 2011.
The score flashed.
10.000.
Natalie Wojcik, the freshman
phenomenon, had her first career
perfect 10.
Wojcik has had an incredible
career at Michigan thus far, with
31 career event and all-around
victories, earned Freshman of
the Week honors five times and
Gymnast of the Week eight.
When she was being recruited,
she visited only one school – the
University of Michigan – fell in
love and never looked back. And
it’s safe to say the Wolverines
haven’t looked back, either.
“Natalie is really the whole
package,” said Michigan coach
Bev Plocki. “People always ask
you the question, ‘Have they
lived up to your expectations?
Or, did you expect her to be this
good? And my sense when I get
asked that question is that it’s
kind of a loaded question … but
this is a case, with her, where we
expected her to be outstanding,
and she even exceeded the
outstanding expectations that
we had for her.”
Wojcik
has
proven
her
excellence in her individual
performances.
But
to
her,
competing as a Wolverine means
so much more – it means being
part of a team.
“The team honestly gives me
so much energy and just helps
me feel confident knowing that
I have them behind me,” she
explains. “When it’s a tough day
they cheer you on and when it’s a
good day they cheer you on, too.
So just being able to have each
other’s backs and being there for
each other day in and day out has
been really special.”
Despite her stellar record,
it isn’t always perfect 10s for
Natalie. She falls in practices, she
won’t stick her landings at meets,
she’ll hyperextend her knees
after a challenging floor pass.
She will spend hours in practice
trying to perfect a new routine,
a new skill, and will push herself
until she gets it right.
And yet, with all of the
frustration, challenges and push
to perfection, Wojcik still wants
to do what she does.
In doing so, she follows sound
advice that she would give to
others.
“You have to do it for the pure
joy of the sport, not just what you
are trying to get out of it,” Wojcik
said. “You have to enjoy every
single day and be able to pour
your passion into it. And if you’re
focused on attaining one goal
that’s great, but you also have to
remember to have fun and enjoy
it.”
***
Like
Natalie,
one
of
the
greatest pieces of advice I have
ever gotten is “If you don’t wake
up every day excited that you do
what you do, you’re not doing the
right thing.”
That piece of advice has
stuck with me, lingering in the
back of my mind when someone
inevitably questions what I could
possibly want to do in sports, if
I have a backup plan in case it
doesn’t work out, what studying
“sport
management”
even
means.
Plocki, who is in her 29th
season as head coach for the
Wolverines,
gives
the
same
advice to her athletes.
“Understand that there will be
days that you don’t enjoy it, and
so never base any decision off of
a bad day,” Plocki said. “You have
to enjoy what you’re doing every
day to be able to put the kind of
passion and work ethic into it.
And to somebody like Natalie,
or anybody that’s on our team, I
tell my athletes all the time that
you’re here because you have a
passion to want to do this, and
part of that passion is continuing
to grow and excel.”
This advice, though simple
and
pretty
common-sensical,
has gotten me, an excessively
ambitious and optimistic student
and sports fan, through barrages
of skepticism and doubt. It
has also gotten an extremely
accomplished gymnast through
the days of failure, of injury, of
uncertainty.
As women pursuing careers
in sports, be it as an athlete, a
journalist, a CEO of a franchise,
an analyst, a broadcaster, we
have gone through years of
questions, the metaphorical falls
and hyperextensions.
So, if you are a Natalie Wojcik
— an aspiring athlete — or
someone who is pushing for that
proverbial perfect 10, Plocki has
one last piece of advice for you:
“Go after your dream. If you
want to do something in your
heart, then find a way to go do it.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman Natalie Wojcik posted a perfect ‘10’, the 28th on vault in Michigan program history and the first such accomplishment since the 2011 season.
SHIRA ZISHOLTZ
Daily Sports Writer