Men's gymnastics holds rally in Diag to drum up support

Gymnasts promote team with half-hour athletic display

The Diag - a place for preachers, studying, people-watching and relaxation. But yesterday, the Diag was converted into a gym for the Michigan men's gymnastics team.

Yesterday at 2:30 p.m., in the middle of the Diag, the Wolverines performed pommel horse routines, handstands and other mat exercises in an attempt to heighten awareness of the sport.

"This was a chance to put the guys in front of a crowd," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "Since gymnastics is a winter sport, we need to do things outside now before it gets too cold."

And a crowd did form. Students stopped on their way to or from class to watch the routines.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily Junior Tim Dehr showed off his pommel horse technique in the Diag yesterday. The Michigan men's gymnastics team had a half-hour workout session to try to build up support for the upcoming season.

"The Diag is the perfect place to do this because there are so many people around," assistant coach Mike Burns said. "It also gives people something else to look at besides grass."

The gymnasts really put on a show. All the gymnasts were given the chance to perform, and they all gathered around the apparati and took their turns to impress the crowd.

Besides normal pommel horse routines, the crowd got to witness U.S. National Team member Justin Toman attempt to try to pick up a team schedule card in his teeth while doing a headstand - definitely more interesting than watching grass grow.

But after a while, the gymnasts got tired of the handstands and removed the handstand bars and used just the mats and the pommel horse.

"We brought out the pommel horse, because we have a very strong pommel horse team," junior gymnast Ethan Johnson said. "Everyone on the team swings pommel horse."

Along with being picked up by Toman's teeth, copies of the schedule were also passed out to the crowd by the gymnasts and coaches, who also talked to the students about the upcoming season.

Even though things like this might have taken place in the past, this was the first time the Wolverines put on this kind of exhibition under Golder's reign.

"Golder and I had been thinking about this since this summer," Burns said. "We thought that this would be a perfect weekend to do it because of homecoming, and it turned out to be a terrific day."

With the sun shining and no clouds in the sky, the Wolverines could not have picked a better day for the demonstration.

But the coaches were definitely concerned for the gymnasts' safety as they performed their routines on the cement in the Diag.

"We placed mats around everything to keep it safe," Golder said. "You just can't take any chances, especially since the season hasn't even started yet."

But this exhibition did not take the place of the team's practice. The Wolverines are already getting prepared for the upcoming season. After the exhibition, the team headed back to Cliff Keen Arena to practice on the other equipment that wasn't present on the Diag.

The Wolverines will begin their season Dec. 4 with another exhibition, the Maize and Blue intrasquad. The team will be broken up into two squads to compete against each other. This will give Michigan yet another chance to draw spectators to their sport.

The first competition for the Wolverines will take place in Chicago at the Windy City Invitational on Jan. 16.

"We are one of the lower-covered sports, and these exhibitions are trying to get awareness for our sport," junior gymnast Adam Hattersley said. "We are a really good team this season, who have a good chance at the Big Ten title and even the NCAA championship."

10-20-98