Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard is out of ideas when it comes to remedying his team's lackluster performance on the uneven bars.
After last weekend's second-place finish at North Carolina State, Shephard said his team lacked the mental toughness needed to push through its letdowns on bars and balance beam.
Yesterday afternoon at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio, the Nittany Lions made little progress in a 194.250-193.650 loss to Ohio State.
The Lions began the meet on bars, registering an abysmal 47.650 and giving the Buckeyes more than a full point advantage after one rotation.
"I challenged the team to come up with a solution because I'm at a loss at a coaching standpoint," Shephard said. "They need to step it up."
Shephard said he hadn't gotten any feedback yet, but sophomore Alex Brockway said the team will officially sit down and talk today at practice.
However, she said it did address the bar struggles after last weekend's meet and said the consensus solution was to start believing it is better than all the other teams it is facing.
It appeared part of that message sank in, as the Lions avoided a sluggish start similar to last week. The Lions rebounded by performing well on beam and floor to nearly pull even with the Buckeyes.
"[Ohio State] was on beam and fell all over the place and opened the door for us to come back," Shepard said. " ... We went into floor and did fairly well and caught up with them."
The Lions' respectable floor routine was highlighted by sophomore Brandi Personett's 9.925, and in most meets, the team's 48.975 would be the winning score. But the Buckeyes registered a 49.375, including a 9.900 by Rebecca Best and a 9.950 by Maalika Moore-Thomas.
While Personett has been the gymnast grabbing headlines for the Lions, Brockway might be considered Shephard's most consistent performer. She recorded the highest all-around score for the Lions with a 38.950, just missing the title by 0.05 points.
"Alex is demonstrating a lot of leadership and has good leadership qualities," Shephard said. "She's challenging our teammates to be the very best they can be. I'm seeing positive growth from her."
Brockway is known as the craziest person on the team who provides the gymnasts with comic relief. Therefore, it can be seen as somewhat of a surprise that she decided to be at the helm of a revamped attitude adjustment.
Brockway said she knows each gymnast well enough that she is able to lend a hand and offer advice on their weaknesses.
"A lot of the time being serious and not being outgoing enough doesn't always do good things," Brockway said. "I think it's bringing a new atmosphere to not always be serious and being a loose cannon sometimes and then trying to get everyone on track."
And that's where all of Shephard's focus lies right now -- getting everyone on track.
"We're not reaching our potential for whatever reason," Shephard said. "We need to reach our potential, it's what Penn State expects."
