ByGeorge! Online

Feb. 5, 2002

Leaving a Legacy

GW Gymnastics Team Aims to Win Fifth-Consecutive Conference Title

By Greg Licamele

They’re thinking about their legacy.

In the weeks before the first competition, GW’s gymnasts envisioned the end of the season. Head Coach Margie Cunningham and her squad of 12 women held a mock end-of-the-year banquet. All of the gymnasts stood at the podium and talked about pride, legacy, and winning, allowing the emotion to wash over them.

“Everyone, innately, has this need to leave something behind, which is your legacy,” says Cunningham, who enters her 16th year as coach, leading the last four teams to Atlantic 10 championships, the most successful run in GW gymnastics history. Cunningham challenged her athletes at the banquet to think about their goals for this season and how they want to leave GW. Many of the gymnasts talked about one of the few goals that has eluded Cunningham’s squads: qualifying for the NCAA national championships.

“It’s been the goal,” Cunningham says. “We finished 17th nationally last year — the highest end of the year finish we’ve ever had. The greatest feeling was that we knew everyone on the team could do more, so the athletes didn’t feel like that’s all we have in us. We regrouped very quickly and began training over the summer. We have four seniors who want it as much as the freshmen.’

The Colonials landed on the right foot for the road to nationals by winning the 2002 GW Invitational three weeks ago. In what seems like a tradition now, the Colonials were sparked by a perennial star, senior Devin McCalla.She won the all-around competition at the invitational for the second consecutive year, posting a score of 38.900 and winning the beam and floor exercises. For her results, she was named A-10 Performer of the Week. McCalla, who is already a member of her high school’s athletic hall of fame, finished last season as the 15th-ranked gymnast in the country. She was crowned A-10 champion on the beam and the floor, and was named Performer of the Week, a conference-record, five times last year.

“She’s a star,” Cunningham simply states. “She just doesn’t do something ‘sort of.’ She puts her heart all out there. In turn, she’s a tremendous leader. She’s not afraid of failure, but she doesn’t want to fail.”

Joining McCalla as team leaders are classmates Jessica Mantak, Kelley Banks, and Jamie McNally. Of these four, Cunningham knows they want to leave a legacy of success, which requires leadership.

“We have these four that no matter what day it is, we’ll have leadership,” she says. “There are very few holes with that group.”

But for Cunningham and her student athletes, GW gymnastics does not just revolve around the stars or the seniors. It’s a team, highlighted by seven “C’s” the gymnasts decided would build a championship squad: common goal, commitment, complementary roles, clear communication, constructive conflict, cohesion, and confidence. Though they are all equally important, Cunningham says complementary roles for all the gymnasts will help chart the character of the team.

“We have people on the team that obviously play a huge role,” Cunninghman says. “People call me about them — tell me about Devin, tell me about Jessica. That is a heavy load. But what does that make up? 60 percent? We need 100 percent for us as a team to go where we want to go.”

Cunningham is known for her extensive team building and communication exercises. Of the 19 hours spent practicing each week, the team devotes three hours to talking, writing, thinking, and building team chemistry. Cunningham’s thick, white binder bursts with a rainbow of colored paper on which mission statements, athlete reflections, and communications exercises are inscribed. There’s a 60-word mission statement on purple paper. Six team goals shine off red paper. One exercise Cunningham conducted this year highlighted the complementary roles she and her team expect.

“We all sat on the mat and I said, ‘OK, you’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean. We’ve got a big hole in this ship. Start bailing water,’ ” Cunningham says. “ ‘Everybody has a different sized bucket. If that person with the little bucket says this is hopeless, I’m not going to bail, then in the long run, we are not getting to shore unless we all bail.’ ”

This support philosophy that Cunningham instills in her team is what she has experienced in her 15 years as coach. Though she competes at such a high level, she does not have all of the resources other schools take for granted, such as 12 scholarships. GW offers 10 awards.

“The fact is that this is what we’ve got and we work with what we have,” Cunningham says. “I still don’t feel like there’s a ceiling at GW. I feel like GW is an institution that appreciates excellence. Being at GW has allowed me to truly develop student-athletes because that’s what they are about. It’s not just about athletics.”

For the gymnasts, especially the quartet of seniors, Cunningham says they want to win and meet their goals, but building leadership and academic skills are crucial to success in life. Excelling in the classroom, as well as individuals, is just as important as performing well on the vault or the beam.

In more ways than one, these women are thinking about their legacy.

 

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