THE DAILY IOWAN
DAILYIOWAN.COM
NEWS 7A
THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014
gymnastics
Continued from FRONT
rise. This year’s freshman class has the highest GPA of any class that he has coached. In the gym, Reive’s contributions to the team are also patently clear: Last year Iowa finished fifth in the NCAA finals, its biggest success in more than 10 years. Becoming a successful team takes a lot of factors, including the Athletics Department, coaches, and athletes. But perhaps one immeasurable item is fans — and Reive points to a sport in which the energy and excitement surrounding the team is a part of its success: wrestling. “We have a great model here with wrestling,” he said. “It’s fantastic, and everybody wants to be there. We need that support.”
… Enter Mike Burns, College Gymnastics Association president and head coach at Minnesota. He said the association’s goal is to have an organization of coaches in the NCAA that can provide rules and regulations to benefit the sport and make it more popular. He is spearheading the fight against Temple dropping the sport. The Temple program only gets four scholarships of the NCAA-allotted 6.3, he said, forcing the other 15 athletes to pay full tuition. “… the university is making money on that program, so when you look at it that way, it’s kind of crazy to cut it,” he said. The feud at Temple is ongoing, but the program has been salvaged — sort of. A club program demotes the sport to a more recreational activity. While the team can still compete against other schools, the time commitment posed on athletes is significantly less. Two big conferences should feel safe. The power and prestige in college men’s gymnastics lie in the Big Ten and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference — a lesser-known conference that houses non-revenue sports played by schools that used to compete in the Big 12 and Pac 12. A Big Ten or Mountain Pacific school has won every NCAA championship since 1987. But those involved in trying to keep the sport alive are most worried
Minnesota-Twin Cities Springfield US Military Academy
Michigan Iowa
Stanford
Ohio
Nebraska
California-Berkeley US Air Force Academy
Penn State
Illinois-Chicago
Illinois
Temple
US Naval Academy William and Mary
Oklahoma
There are currently 17 men’s programs in 14 states across the country. Next season Temple will demote the sport from a varsity program to club status. about one important el- funding for the sport, “Everything comes ement: The Olympic lev- medical attention when down to money. It’s a el and sustaining men’s needed, and elite train- business, no doubt.” gymnastics at elite lev- ing as well as a quali- Reive said. “We try to els so the number of ty education that club keep integrity with the athletes heading toward programs cannot typi- student-athlete conthe Olympic pipeline re- cally afford. cept, and at Iowa, we do mains the same. a great job of that, but USA Gymnastics, overall, we’re talking de… based in Indianapolis, cades’ worth of change governs most of the sport Problems lie in that here. It’s all going to in the United States, and college athletics is a busi- come down to whether it sees the vanishing ness. Around the coun- they can financially supnumber of men’s gym- try, men’s gymnastics port it. No sport outside nastics programs as a does not generate reve- of the big two, football threat to that pipeline. It nue, so its budget usu- and basketball, generate wants to make the con- ally requires coaches to revenue.” cern more public. raise funds so that they “[The gymnastics or- can improve equipment … ganization] is very aware and, more importantly, that collegiate gymnas- promote themselves to The solution, then, then only 136 gymnasts tics is a big part of the the general public. seems simple. Sports would make it to the USA men’s program,” At Iowa, the budget need more participants next level out of 12,961. Burns said. “A lot of the is tight. But if needed, to generate more reve- In other words — a starnational-team guys come money is available for nue and fans. But there’s tling 1 percent of young out of the college pro- equipment or travel ex- typically not enough rev- male gymnasts today gram. It’s their vested penses. Reive points out enue or a large number have a chance of competinterest to be sure that there is no extravagant of fans to bring in more ing in college. we have longevity, be- spending anywhere. The current men’s participants. cause if the NCAA pro“Our operating bud“USA Gymnastics re- national team consists gram goes the way of the get, as far as I know leases its figures at the of seven gymnasts dinosaurs, then I think from the rest of the end of every calendar who are affiliated with the face of the U.S. men’s country, is pretty good,” year, and participation NCAA programs — the program might change.” Reive said. “They is up across the boards, remaining six are out The number of those give me the resourc- and enrollment in pri- of college. The problem training at these elite es I need. There is no vate clubs programs is becomes one of a bottlel e v e l s neck: All remains these gym‘It’s their vested interest to be sure that we have longevity, because if the small. The nasts train NCAA program goes the way of the dinosaurs, then I think the face of U.S. men’s for years gymnasto have the U.S. men’s program might change.’ tics team no place numbers to end up — Mike Burns, president of the College Gymnastics Association 13. The after their Olympic training cen- over-spending, and it is up,” Reive said. “Every schooling. ter in Colorado Springs, all fiscally responsible. four years at the OlymThere’s simply no Colo., works year round If I ask for money, then pics, we are one of the place to go. with approximately six I do it if I absolute- premier-watched sports. gymnasts who have left ly need it. It’s usually From a functional … college — the others typ- student welfare based standpoint, everything ically further their train- for the kids.” is great. The problem Officials in the know ing in their institutions. Holding meets in Carv- in our country is where point to one solution for The U.S. team looks to er-Hawkeye Arena comes does it go.” solving the problem: explaces such as Iowa for ath- at a cost, but the univerMost college programs panding the number of letes, leading to perhaps an sity needs fewer conces- will only recruit approx- fans. Athletics departobvious point: If universi- sions and security work- imately six to eight ath- ments won’t drop a popties cut these programs, ers for men’s gymnastics letes from high school. ular sport. Olympic efforts would be than, say, men’s basket- If all 17 schools were “The more people that further damaged. ball games. Overhead ex- to host a maximum re- understand the sport Universities provide penses are proportional. cruiting class of eight, and know about the
Iowa gymnast Mark Springett watches Brandon Field perform on the parallel bars at the Black and Gold meet in Carver-Hawkeye on Dec. 8, 2013. (The Daily Iowan/Margaret Kispert)
The number of women compared to men involved in USA Gymnastics. sport will create more of a general liking,” Iowa assistant coach Ben Ketelsen said. The College Gymnastics Association aims to make the sport more fan-friendly. Some suggest the answer lies in returning to a scoring system that makes it is easier for fans to grasp. Since 2006, the scoring system the NCAA employs is from the International Gymnastics Federation, which dumped the easy-tofollow concept of 10 as a perfect score. The scores are now made by adding up the overall difficulty of the routine and the execution of those moves. Generally, these scores end up around 13 to 16. “We are using the [international] scoring,” Burns said. “We have been using that for about eight years or so now. There’s kind of a push out there to return to a 10.0. I am not sure if that is necessarily the right answer, but it is an option to help with making things more understanding.” Improvements in technology can also help promote the sport. For example, during the Hawkeyes’ March meet against Minnesota, a gymnast attached cameras to his chest so fans could follow on Twitter and YouTube. “We strapped a camera on one of the [gymnasts] during practice — we recorded it and streamed a bit,” Reive said. “We are trying to figure out how to reach a little broader audience.” The core of the program — the athletes — are excited to have a coach who is on the top of the game: Ketelsen, an alum himself, can attest to that. “When I first came, people did not know very much about Iowa gymnastics, and it’s been a long time since we’ve had a strong program here,” he said. “Just in the last four years since JD has been here, we’ve been able to flip things around and get our presence known on campus. I think it’s been a complete 180.”