You Make Me Wanna
SHOUT! Confessions of an Aussie NCAA fan By Meredith Scheffer
skipped past this channel because of shows
such as “The World Darts Championship” and
“National Spelling Bee,” but this time I saw a
girl performing on uneven bars. She hit her dismount and did a back-breaking salute before
dashing off the mat to hug her cheering teammates. My first reaction, aside from ‘Ooh, some
gym back on the TV at last!’ was, ‘Woah, turn
it down! I’ve never known girls to shout like
that!’
JEFF SIPSEY
I didn’t think I would be able to sit through
much more, but I was hooked. This branch of
gymnastics was truly something to behold.
Admittedly, much of the jargon was foreign to
me. I thought that “Bruin” and “freshman”
were the names of the mascots; that “Crimson
Tide” and “Pac- 10” were corporate sponsors,
and I couldn’t for the life of me work out why
the team coaches all dressed like CEOs. But as
more and more competitions were broadcast (it
took me a while to get the hang of saying
“meet”), I got used to the format, the lineups,
the traditions. The shouting? That would take a
little longer. Coming from a gymnastics background where you were in trouble if you stood
too near somebody’s dismount mat in training, I
couldn’t fathom how competitors didn’t fall with
so much noise and movement going on so
close to them!
By the end of the following year, I was truly
addicted, and couldn’t wait to read Interna-
tional Gymnast’s review of the season. I taped
routines and watched them over and over. Not
just any gymnast could pull off that April
Burkholder choreography, that Nikki Childs
style. But by then I was well into my university
studies here in Melbourne, and found it hard to
concentrate on exams. Instead, I wanted to visit
the various fan forums and read up on the Gym
Dogs’ prospects for consecutive national titles,
or which Schwikert sister was the better Bruin.
It was equally exciting to discover a knot of
Aussie fans who, like me, were following meets
closely despite living halfway across the globe.
Fast forward to 2008, when West Australian
uneven bars queen Olivia Vivian waved to the
crowd at the national championships, as it was
announced she would be competing for Oregon
State after a run for the Beijing Olympics. Her
face showed as much excitement and uncertain-
ty as we fans were feeling for her. Will she
make the grade? Will she be embraced? Will
WE don’t have an official title. We don’t have a meeting room. We don’t even have a secret handshake. But whatever the weather and regardless
of the hour, we’re there. Who are we? We are
the Unofficial Australian Contingent of NCAA
Gymnastics Enthusiasts. Well, that’s our working title, anyway.
American collegiate sports have fan followings all around the world, not least of all in
Australia. I have friends from Perth to Sydney
to Hobart who all know the ins and outs of college baseball, football and basketball. But it
might surprise the most fair-weathered Gator
spectator or Beaver believer that collegiate
gymnastics has a small following Down Under,
too.
For me, it happened entirely by accident in
early 2005, when I was flicking channels one
afternoon and landed upon ESPN. I had usually
she handle the huge stadiums and crowds?
Little had been heard of the previous Aussies
to venture forth into the collegiate world
(Joanna Hughes at Cal State Fullerton,
Stephanie LoPiccolo at Oklahoma), so her
prospects were anyone’s guess. But this is the
digital age, and overseas competition coverage
is just a click away. The U.S. college scene
would become as familiar to me as my homeland’s scene. And that’s saying something, as I
run a successful blog that discusses nothing but
Aussie gymnastics.
We needn’t have worried about Olivia, of
course. She was embraced by the OSU brood
instantly, and it has been a joy to watch her
become a crowd favorite on floor. She has
since been joined by fellow national squad
member Melanie Jones, while Monique Blount
has had an unlucky time since heading to
George Washington. Shona Morgan, meanwhile, is a freshman at Stanford. Believe me
when I say that five years ago, I would not have
imagined myself writing such a paragraph.
She hit her dismount
and did a back-breaking salute before
dashing off the mat
to hug her cheering
teammates.
I am proud to call myself an Aussie NCAA
gymnastics fan, and so are the others in this
small but dedicated group. We love Utes,
Bruins, Beavers, Cardinals, Colonials, Gators,
Tigers, the whole crazy scene. Following college gymnastics is exciting, enthralling, engaging, and above all, fun! We monitor the pre-sea-son and post-season team activities. We text
one another stats and observations, and share
links to videos from meets we’ve missed. When
a friend visited UCLA last year, others asked
her to bring back a hoodie from the team shop.
I asked for anything that had Kristen Maloney’s
signature on it!
I hope to catch a meet in person one day.
Even with all that shouting, it must be an amazing atmosphere to experience live. And I hope
to take my friends along with me.
You’ll be able spot us too. We’ll be the little
speck of green and gold bobbing along in the
Crimson Tide. IG
Scheffer is a graduate of Monash U. in Melbourne and
has spearheaded The Australian Gymnastics Blog since
2008. She has dabbled in artistic gymnastics, aerobics,
rhythmic gymnastics and tortoise-wrangling.
“My Story” is how readers can share their personal gymnastics stories. Email your story (500-
1,000 words), along with high resolution JPEGs,
to ig@intlgymnast.com. Subject line: My Story.
