Julia Greshik is brave.

The gymnastics team is co-op sport with the Senior High School. So far, Cotter only  one Rambler is on the team. Julia Greshik is a sophomore at Cotter and has been participating in gymnastics since she was in pre-school. This year is her first on the Winona team.

The team has not yet won a meet thus far, however they have shown huge improvements since the start of the season. The future is looking good for them.

Greshik says that they have been very close to placing at each of their meets, and the downfall is only by a few tenths of a point.

“That puts a lot of pressure on each girl to shave off a few tenths that get docked because of not pointing your toes, having bent legs, touching your feet to the ground (on bars), taking a step on landings, or falling off beam, etc.”

The team’s overall goal is to make it to the state competition. Everyone on the team practices year round and each member is always encouraging the next. Aside from the goals of working hard and doing well, they also have goals to make memories and new friendships through the sport.

“Gymnastics is different than other sports, because you have to memorize routines, practice flexibility, strength, and then the actual gymnastics skills like jumps and tumbling and a lot more.”

Each individual is scored based on four different event competitions. These girls are then placed individually and the team score is then calculated by adding the scores of the top five placing girls, on each of the four events.

“I love gymnastics because it’s unique and I have such good friendships with my teammates.”

Greshik states that coaches Rob Murray, and Brittney Stein, are great at what they do. The team likes to have fun and work together in everything they do, as well as working hard. There are seven meets this season and the state competition in February.