Coach Zane Negrych instills a strong work ethic in talented
young gymnasts in South Valley
Morgan Hill isn’t exactly known as a hot bed for men’s
gymnastics, but that Zane Negrych is planning to change that.
Three years ago the former elite gymnast from San Jose State was
hired to develop the men’s program for the Morgan Hill Gymnastics
Club. At the time, the club didn’t have a single level 10 or elite
level gymnast in the building.
Coach Zane Negrych instills a strong work ethic in talented young gymnasts in South Valley
Morgan Hill isn’t exactly known as a hot bed for men’s gymnastics, but that Zane Negrych is planning to change that.
Three years ago the former elite gymnast from San Jose State was hired to develop the men’s program for the Morgan Hill Gymnastics Club. At the time, the club didn’t have a single level 10 or elite level gymnast in the building.
Today the school is home to one elite gymnast and two level 10 gymnasts with many more up-and-coming youngsters on their way to perfecting their skills – with the ultimate goal of making the U.S. National team and even the U.S. Olympic team.
“There are places where you can do recreational activities all over,” Negrych said. “There are few places where you can go if you want the opportunity to make the Olympic team. Here we allow you to go for that. That’s what I’m interested in.”
In just the past month the program, which offers classes for both 7- to 10-year-old boys and 11-years-old to adult, has had a great deal of success and is considered one of the top tier programs for junior male gymnasts in the state.
In the Surf City Classic, which was held last month in Santa Cruz, the younger boys’ team had three gymnasts finish in first place all-around. They were: Bryan Miner, age 8, who captured the title in Level 4; Caleb Weisenburger, 8, won the all-around competition for Level 5 and Wesley Guild captured the same title for 9-year olds.
The same weekend the older squad competed in the Hi-Tech Invitational in Sacramento. In that competition 12-year-old William Clement captured the all-around event in Level 7 while 17-year-old Sergey Goder won the all-around title for Level 10.
Today the older team, which includes gymnasts ranging from Level 7 to 10, is in Las Vegas competing in the Black Jack Invitational – one of the biggest events of the year with teams representing all parts of the country.
On Feb. 18 the younger team will be competing in the Gold Country Classic in San Francisco.
Miner, Weisenburger and Guild anchor that team.
“Bryan is a very clean gymnast with very good form. Caleb is very strong and talented,” said Sam Quick, the only elite gymnast in the club who also coaches the younger squad. “Wesley is very strong, too, and has clean lines. He works very hard.”
On the older squad, Goder is the “hardest worker” that he knows and Clement ads consistency to the roster, Quick said.
Everyone in the club knows what Negrych expects of them.
“Anywhere that I’ve coached I’ve been successful,” said Negrych. “My guys work harder than anybody else. Success is inevitable. It takes a while to get to the top echelon of the age groups but they do. Our guys our hungry and they train hard.”
Quick is one of those guys that trains hard.
In addition to coaching and trying to perfect his skills, the 20-year-old gymnast, who is originally from England, is training to make his country’s Olympic team. In addition to practicing year-round Quick competes as often as he can.
“I compete about four times a year, depending on whether or not I’m injured,” he said.
Not long ago Quick injured his back after the wrap-around leather grip that he was wearing while working out on the rings broke and sent him to the canvass.
“I’m healed up pretty good now,” he said. “I’m going to start training hard again soon.”
Despite the minor setback, Quick has what it takes to get to the top, according to his coach, who should know.
In the mid 1980s Negrych was a medalist at the U.S. National Championships in the all-around competition. In the 17 years that Negrych has been coaching the sport, he’s produced seven national champions and sent a total of 11 to the U.S. National team.
“I guess you could say that I’m one of the top five or six U.S. Junior National Gymnastics Association coaches in the country. I do it because I simply coach for the joy of coaching. I’m an attorney during the day but I love to work with kids and see the dedication that they have.”
Negrych’s winning philosophy is simple: hard work and more hard work.
“These kids train up to 50 weeks a year, five days a week for four hours a day,” he said. “In the summer they go six hours a day. When I first came here I was used to working in programs that developed national and international gymnasts. And my goal is to make Morgan Hill a hot bed for the sport.”
Inside Morgan Hill Gymnastics, Negrych’s students work on perfecting their skills with the dream of being one of just six athletes to make the Olympic team one day. He points out that gymnastics is good for all athletes.
“I played football and basketball and there is nothing better for an athlete in any sport than developmental gymnastics,” Negrych said. “Whatever sport you go into a gymnastics background will give you a more significant chance of excelling in that sport.”
Students that enroll in the program learn floor exercises, pommel horse, rings, vaulting, parallel bars and the high bar.
For more information on the Morgan Hill Gymnastics Club, call 408-778-2882.
