The uneven bars in gymnastics has been one of the toughest apparatuses for LSU gymnasts to perform well on — there are only two perfect scores in the event in school history.But sometimes, it’s all mental.”The hardest thing is mentally understanding the event,” said LSU junior Summer Hubbard. “It’s a very tedious event. Beam is just you get up and do the same skills you would do on the floor. Bars is a little more intricate. You can’t be scared. It’s hard for a lot of girls to overcome fear, but once you overcome that, you can do it.”LSU assistant coach Philip Ogletree, the team’s bar coach, is there to help the gymnasts with their routines and deal with the mental hump.”Phil is really encouraging,” Hubbard said. “He’s really patient, and he’s always eager to help.”Eleven of the top 13 team bar scores in school history have come since Ogletree’s arrival in 2001, including a school record 49.650 in 2002. Ogletree also coached Sharene Mamby to a 10.0 in 2001 – only the second perfect score on the apparatus in school history, the fewest of the four events.Ten Tigers have been named All-Americans on bars under Ogletree, including three in 2005.”He does a good job of methodically planning what he wants to accomplish each day,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “He’s very meticulous about the drills and the core strength work that goes along with it.”LSU is currently ranked No. 13 in the nation with a team average of 48.908 on the bars, which is a tenth of a point higher than where they stood last week. Three Tigers are in the top 100 in the nation in bars season average: Senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney is ranked No. 6 with a 9.875, sophomore Staci Schwitkis is No. 63 with a 9.771 average and junior Susan Jackson is No. 91 with a 9.746 average.The Tigers had five gymnasts with season highs on the apparatus last season. Ogletree said he was “absolutely pleased” with the team’s season-high 49.425 against Florida.”We’ve been working on trying to make our lowest score be at least a 9.8,” Ogletree said. “We did more quality routines in practice [last week], and it showed. We threw out Summer’s routine and all the other scores were 9.8 or above, so if we can do that and be consistent then we will be able to compete against anyone.” Ogletree, who was a gymnast for the University of Georgia from 1980-82, said he didn’t start his gymnastics career until he was a teenager. He said his late start in gymnastics helps him with his coaching.”It made me know that the kids I coached, I would have to really work on the basics with them because I could see how important it was because I didn’t have that good of basics training,” Ogletree said.Ogletree was named NCAA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2004. He said the toughest part of his job is often the most rewarding.”The hardest part is going into competition and hoping they do as well in competition as they do in practice,” he said. “That can be the most frustrating and the most rewarding. You forget the victories a lot quicker than you forget the pain of not doing as well. My biggest thing is I don’t want to look back and have anyone regret.”
—
Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]