Chelsea Garcia is GHS’s sole varsity competitor, but Mustangs’
coach building on JV squad
The Gilroy High gymnastics team has only one member on its
varsity squad
– but it’s still the biggest team in the area. In fact, it’s the
only high school gymnastics program around.
At the head of that program is coach Nicki Anagnoston, who has
been teaching the high-school kids from Gilroy everything from
tumbling and floor exercises to the balance beam and uneven bars
for over a decade now.
Chelsea Garcia is GHS’s sole varsity competitor, but Mustangs’ coach building on JV squad
The Gilroy High gymnastics team has only one member on its varsity squad – but it’s still the biggest team in the area. In fact, it’s the only high school gymnastics program around.
At the head of that program is coach Nicki Anagnoston, who has been teaching the high-school kids from Gilroy everything from tumbling and floor exercises to the balance beam and uneven bars for over a decade now.
While having only one senior athlete that competes at the varsity level wouldn’t seem like anything to brag about, Anagnoston has built the program up enough to where she now has 30 gymnasts participating on the school’s junior varsity team.
Some of those athletes could be called up to compete at the varsity level, but Anagnoston is reluctant to do so since the talent level on the other varsity teams in the powerhouse Santa Clara Valley Athletic League is so high – the SCVAL is the nearest league to Gilroy that fields gymnastic teams. Instead, she would rather see her students build up their routines and skill levels at the lower levels before bringing them up.
In addition to the obvious challenges that the Mustangs face in going up against strong SCVAL schools such as defending Central Coast Section Champion St. Francis each week, Gilroy High also has to travel more than any other squad in the area.
The Mustangs have only a few meets at home each season and must fill out their schedule by traveling as far away as San Francisco to compete. Most of the schools that Gilroy High goes up against are located on the Peninsula.
Many of the teams that Gilroy High faces also have large squads that compete in the sport year-round. Gilroy’s athletes only compete in the sport during the season.
“The real issue is that they are accomplishing an incredible amount doing this part-time,” said Anagnoston, whose junior varsity squad is undefeated this season. “At the varsity level, the girls in the league from the other schools we face train year-round and are on private club teams. Our girls don’t do that here.”
The lack of year-round practice time is the main reason why Gilroy only has one varsity level gymnast.
To make varsity, gymnasts must attain a certain level of skill or be able to do a certain routine or move in one or more gymnastic events.
“There’s a certain standard that is set for each event that has to be met,” said Anagnoston. “Right now, I have two more girls training for varsity that could soon compete at that level.”
For now Chelsea Garcia is the only member on the school’s varsity squad, which means that Gilroy is also forced to forfeit all of its varsity meets.
Garcia’s skills are strong enough skills to compete in both the beam and the floor exercises.
“Her work on the floor tends to be really clean,” said Anagnoston. “She has good execution of skills and good form – solid basics.”
Eventually Anagnoston would like to see her students attain a diverse enough skill level that they can compete in all of the events, which also includes the vault, balance beam and the uneven bars.
This season the JV squad has beat both Cupertino and Tracy High Schools. On Wednesday the Mustangs will travel to Mountain View to face perennial CCS powerhouse St. Francis before making a rare appearance at home against Los Altos High on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Rather than always having to play teams from the north, Anagnoston would like to someday see her team develop rivalries against some of the local high schools.
“I really don’t know anything about Hollister other than that they don’t have a team,” she said. “Maybe they feel that Hollister is too far away from all of the schools that they would have to compete against. Morgan Hill (Live Oak) used to have a team years ago that folded probably because of budget cuts.”
Participants on the Gilroy High team don’t have to pay anything extra to compete as the school district funds the operation.
“Our district and our athletic director (Jack Daley) are real supportive of the idea of offering a wide variety of sports,” Anagnoston said. “Right now my goal is to keep the JV team performing at the level they are so they can win league. At the same time, take the top level JV girls and improve their skills enough so that they can compete at the varsity level next year.”
In order to have a full varsity team, Anagnoston needs enough kids to have five scores in each event since only the top five scores count at meets.
In order to attain those goals, the Mustangs practice five days a week for a total of three hours. Since they have to share the gym with other teams from the high school as well as the students that use the gym during the day for physical education classes, the team’s equipment is never stationary.
“I’d like to be able to keep the equipment setup everyday,” said Anagnoston. “But we have to set it up and break it down every day. Usually, it takes 20 to 30 minutes just to set it up.”
The Mustangs’ season ends on May 19.
