Gymnastics: Time is now for Portage to excel

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Teammates high five Portage's Danielle Solis after her performance on the vault during a meet against Crown Point at Crown Point High School Monday evening. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 25, 2012 8:21AM

Portage coach Karen Barcelli called this season, “The beginning of what we’ve been waiting for.”

That’s because this current group of Portage gymnasts is one that Barcelli has had her eye on from its earliest days in gymnastics.

Of the nine girls on Portage’s squad, Barcelli said she’d coached eight of them before they joined the high school program. As the gymnasts grew up, their coach watched them develop with a cautious optimism that they could compete together in high school.

“As the girls got older, some of them moved to different districts, so I didn’t want to put any merit into that because I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” Barcelli said.

The gymnasts also were unsure about their future in competition.

“We never really thought that we would all see each other again,” said senior Ali Johnson. “We were all together during elementary school doing gymnastics, but then a lot of us broke apart in middle school and went our separate ways. But then we all got back together back in high school and it’s been a nice reunion.”

That reunion started in a big way. At the LaPorte Pairs, the Indians placed three of their duos in the top five, earning the top overall team honor.

Soon after that win, the team decided it was cause for a celebration: in the form of a team sleepover.

“That idea was all of us,” said Johnson. “We just had a huge win and we decided, ‘let’s celebrate.’ It didn’t matter what else was going on, that night was about us and it was nice for all of us to celebrate a victory together.”

Small, spontaneous events like that are common among this group of girls, with which team chemistry is never an issue.

“There’s no team drama; no fights,” said junior Lyndsey Cunningham. “We all understand each other. I know that other teams spend time together outside of practice, but for us, it’s just hanging out. It’s not like we’re getting together as a team, we’re getting together as friends.”

It also helps the girls reach their full potential during practice, where Barcelli and her staff aren’t the only coaches on the team. Each gymnast is able to coach every teammate.

“It makes it easier for us to correct mistakes,” said senior Madeline Solis. “We know that our teammates are doing that because they want to see us perform better.”

“We also know the mental capabilities of our teammates,” Cunningham added. “We know what it takes to calm down our teammates our how to get them in the right mindset.”

The team’s camaraderie and chemistry have translated into success, as the squad followed up its victory in the LaPorte Pairs with victories in three straight dual meets against DAC opponents: Lake Central, Michigan City and LaPorte.

Future meets against more DAC teams, including Valparaiso and Chesterton, still loom on the schedule for Portage, giving the Indians plenty of opportunities to test their skills against some of the best squads in the state.

As for the future of Portage gymnastics beyond this season, Barcelli again awaits it with cautious optimism.

“There are a lot of talented gymnasts in Portage that are in elementary and middle school,” she said. “But I try not to think about that too much, because you don’t want to end up being disappointed.”