Hawk Talk Monthly — January | Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2018-19
By ASHLYNN BAUER
hawkeyesports.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s gymnastics team is starting the 2019 season Jan. 4 at No. 14 Auburn.
With a new season comes new gymnasts, new goals, and new routines, but one constant within the GymHawks is their ability to stand out.
Although this has always been something Iowa women’s gymnastics has prided itself on, this year ‘Stand Out’ is their anthem of the season.
“In its direct term, it means exactly what it sounds like. How do you separate yourself?” Iowa women’s gymnastics head coach Larissa Libby stated. “We always say to our team, ‘If everybody does gymnastics at the same level, you expect the top 36 to all be very good and similar. How do you separate yourself from the pack?'”
Something Libby has implemented in her program for years is building young women into great people.
“When they get here, they don’t really know what they offer,” Libby stated. “They don’t know what makes them great, and they don’t know who they are outside of gymnastics.”
Every year, new GymHawks come to campus and they do the same thing in their first team-bonding experience.
“There is a lot of work that goes into that, we figure out who they are as people and what makes them stand out,” Libby said. “Then we figure out how to implement that in their role on the team and community.”
Not only does their role affect them, but it affects their team, coaches, and people in the community.
Libby says her 2019 team is a coach’s dream.
“They are genuinely great kids. They love what they do, they are passionate about what they do. They genuinely believe in each other,” Libby said. “That’s what makes them different, they put maximum effort into what they do in gymnastics and in life.”
As far as winning, Libby has been around sports long enough to know that one can’t control the winning part because gymnastics is a judged sport.
“We control the attitude and the effort of what goes behind it, but we are a judged sport and we don’t control the winning part,” Libby stated.
“We have to define some things a little differently. The fact that we have made that the focus and a part of the culture is separating your identity away from gymnastics. That’s what makes them stand out.”
The GymHawks compete in their first home meet inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 11 versus Southeast Missouri State at 6:30 p.m. (CT).
“Regardless if they win or lose, our goal is that they find something valuable in what they’ve done,” Libby stated.
“We have to define some things a little differently. The fact that we have made that the focus and a part of the culture is separating your identity away from gymnastics. That’s what makes them stand out.”
The GymHawks compete in their first home meet inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 11 versus Southeast Missouri State at 6:30 p.m. (CT).
“Regardless if they win or lose, our goal is that they find something valuable in what they’ve done,” Libby stated.
Season tickets are available at hawkeyesports.com/tickets, by calling 1-800-IA-HAWKS, or at the University of Iowa Athletics Tickets Office at the north entrance of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
