Degteva leads by example
As practice continues and the other gymnasts talk and laugh lightly of the trivialities of the day, there is one who stands alone quietly.
She does not beg for attention but focuses on what she must do next and garners respect and praise from teammates and her coach.
She realizes leading by example can sometimes say more than leading with words.
Such is the life for LSU gymnast Marina Degteva.
Degteva, born in Lvov, a small city in the Ukraine, hails from a long line of gymnasts and has been surrounded by gymnastics all her life.
Spending her first 10 years in Lvov, she was coached by her parents Pavel and Svetlana, who were also gymnasts.
After her tenure in the Ukraine, the family decided to move to Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where Marina was a member of the Canadian National Championship Team in 1993, 1996 and 1997.
Then came the time for Degteva to choose from one of the colleges that were recruiting her after high school. Knowing head coach D-D Breaux through her mom, she decided to make her first visit to a major college and fell in love with the campus; as it turned out, that campus was LSU’s.
“LSU was my first recruiting trip. I knew D-D from before and I liked everything about LSU. So I cancelled all my other trips and committed right then,” Degteva said.
A commitment LSU would savor as Degteva has proven to be a pillar of success on the LSU team.
Her breakout year at LSU came in 2001 when Degteva posted nine scores of 9.90 or better while picking up five individual titles and earned Academic All-American honors as well as Southeastern Conference Honor Roll.
“She’s like an anchor on the team,” Breaux said. “She’s always focused and she approaches school and gymnastics with the same focus. She’s a good team person and she leads by example.”
A leader is something Degteva has grown accustomed to as she was selected by her teammates to serve as co-captain for the second straight year despite her non-vocal approach.
“I’m pretty antisocial at practice because I’m concentrating so hard on my next event. Most of the time I don’t know what’s going on in the gym because I’m focusing on my events.”
Degteva’s focus and consistency has been apparent this season as she is averaging 9.861 on the vault, 9.621 on the bars and 9.863 on the floor exercise.
Her most impressive performance thus far this season came against then-No.1 ranked Utah in which Degteva posted a season-best score of 9.925 on the vault and shared the floor title with a score of 9.875. The performance garnered Degteva SEC Athlete of the Week.
Though having personal success, Degteva’s main focus is the team getting to the Nationals.
Though focusing on the season right now, Degteva realizes she is on the home stretch for her gymnastics career.
“It’s strange for 20 years I’ve been doing this and in two months, it’s over,” she said.
Regardless of the inevitable end, Degteva has high hopes of what’s to come and hopefully fond memories.
“I wanna graduate without injury and feel good about what I’ve done these four years. I would like our team to get to nationals. I would like to get that ring,” said Degteva.
Patrick Foy