By Jess Westendorf
There is no question gymnastics is a sport that strives for perfection.
Each gymnast starts with a perfect score, and throughout her routine, points are deducted. This season, Iowa women’s gymnastics head coach Larissa Libby and the GymHawks are promoting their “I am” campaign to prove they are more than the scores they receive.
The “I am” campaign was introduced about a year ago, but it really has taken off this fall. The whole purpose of the campaign is to show that each woman is more than just a gymnast. One main spark for Libby was seeing gymnasts have to sit out medically and deal with the loss of their sport.
“It came out of the idea that a lot of these kids that could not separate themselves or understand their personality from their sport, and so when they would lose their sport, they would lose everything,” said Libby. “They felt lost.”
Libby knows the struggles and pressure that can hang over a gymnast from her experience as a gymnast, assistant coach, and now a head coach. She understands that it is important to help her Haawkeyes develop themselves outside of the gym and in the real world so that when their time as a gymnast is done, they are not lost.
In gymnastics, the gymnasts are taught to be creative with their routines but only to a certain point. They are still expected to “stick” their landings and make 9.9 out of 10 points. Character is not focused on, Libby said.
“I remember when I was a kid, and I would interview, it was always ‘I am a gymnast,’ ” she said. “It wasn’t ‘My name is,’ it was ‘I am a gymnast.’ You start so young you don’t differentiate your character from what you do. The character side is never developed; it is just something that is not a part of the sport.”
Most of the women start when they are young — most before they learn to walk — so by the time they make it to college, they have spent over half of their life in the gym. They make their friends in the gym, and most have had to give up prom or homecoming events to go practice.
Their whole lifestyle has been planned around gymnastics.
So when Libby received the head coach position, she wanted to hire staff who also shared the desire to build their women up as more than just gymnasts. It was important to her that her gymnasts knew that they were more than the gymnastics they produce.
“We got bracelets for the team, which in this society becomes more apparent, everything is already set, expectation-wise,” Libby said. “So it was important for me to hire staff who believe in this philosophy. This is it for them, they have four years, and we take it very seriously to guide them through the good and bad, to make sure they can function.”
Each woman was given a bracelet that says “I am enough” as part of the campaign. Many of them never take it off, and some even practice or compete in their bracelets.
Each woman keeps the bracelet close to her to remind her that she is good enough to do any and everything. Senior Angel Metcalf in particular keeps her bracelet on her water bottle.
“I have my bracelet on my water bottle; it is the water bottle I take to everywhere with me,” said Metcalf. “I take the bracelet to the gym, to class, and to study with me. Even if it is on my water bottle, it is always somewhere near me.”
The main goal of the campaign was to empower the women as individuals and as team to be true to themselves. They hope to open the campaign up to the community so that others can feel empowered and secure with who they are.
“The quote ‘I am enough’ has affected me most,” said senior Mollie Drenth. “It has really helped me believe that I am enough and our team is enough to be at the top level in competition. Mostly, it has helped build up my confidence all around.”
