Schreiber’s gymnastics team won a home meet against Carle Place High School on Wed., Jan. 6. Port won with a tallied total score of 129.25 points compared to Carle Place’s 123.1 points. This season, the team won two home meets and shows no signs of slowing down.
Head Coach Talia Morales has been the coach for the Port gymnastics team for two years and has great faith in her team. After winning against Carle Place, she thinks they’re going to do very well this season.
“They’re training harder and they’re very committed and they’re just having fun, which I like,” said Morales.
One of the team captains, Schreiber senior Julia Merani, is very proud of the hard work and dedication of her fellow teammates.
“This year we have a great team, everyone’s a great help on the team and everyone supports each other, which is a key component of gymnastics,” said Merani. “As long as we support each other, we’ll keep on doing well.”
Gymnastics involves so much agility and fitness, the girls of the Port gymnastics team make even the burliest guys appear weak.
A gymnastics meet has several events: bar, beam, floor and vault. For bar, they must swing and somersault across the bars. Beam forces them to maintain their balance as they hop and shimmy across a long, narrow beam raised four feet off the ground. Floor is a minute-and-a-half event in which they perform set tumbles, dance routines and acrobatic twists to prove their strength. They perform to instrumental music, as vocals are not allowed in competition. For vault, the girls must sprint down a gym-length mat, and then leap onto a springboard and flip over the vault. The gymnasts finish their events by landing upright in a standing position. The judges score them out of a perfect 10 or lower.
The girls are working very hard at their sport, training six days a week for two-and-a-half hours a day. They have to set up and disassemble all of the equipment, bars, tables and mat. Imagine if baseball players had to set up the field every single practice? The girls are dedicated to their sport and are on their way to a great season.
