Palatine’s Przystal aims high

It should be no surprise that the favorite event for the captain of the Palatine boys gymnastics team is the high bar.

After all, Damian Przystal wants a professional career that’s high in the sky.

“I’d like to be an airplane pilot,” said Przystal, one of the major reasons the Pirates are the favorite to capture Friday’s Mid-Suburban League gym meet at Elk Grove High School.

Przystal, who scored a personal-high 51.95 all-around score at last week’s Hawk Invite at Hoffman Estates, first plans to study at Harper College, then Lewis University in Romeoville.

“Ever since I was little when my mom took me to the airport I’ve been fascinated with airplanes,” Przystal said. “I’ve always wanted to know how they worked and I wanted to be in the air. I’ll study aircraft mechanics first.”

But for now, future area gymnasts could do well by studying the techniques of Przystal, one of the top all-arounders in the area.

“There have been a lot of good gymnasts that Damian has been teammates with here,” said Palatine coach Scott Hagel. “Damian has been able to see one after another and he has kind of taken their best traits and that has helped make him the gymnast he is and that is why he is our captain.”

Hagel could see signs of a fearless Przystal when he was a sophomore.

“He’s one of those guys who when he falls, he says ‘I’ve got to get right back up and try again,’ ” Hagel said. “When Damian was a sophomore I saw him make one of the scariest falls in the gym, and then I saw a great save by Andre Gatorano (former Palatine MSL all-around champ).

“Andre was a big kid and he was able to catch Damian when he missed the bar and came falling.”

But that didn’t faze Przystal. He went right back up.

“Damian just said ‘I know I can do better,’ ” Hagel said.

With no one spotting him, he went right back up and sure enough while doing a full pirouette, fell to the ground again.

This time, no one caught him.

“I hit the wooden floor pretty hard but I was OK,” he said.

And he has been more than OK for the Pirates’ program the last few years. Hagel appreciates Przystal’s leadership qualities.

“The one thing that impresses me is that he is so willing to face fear and push himself for the sake of the team,” the coach said. “And it can be hard for a teenager to tell his teammate something he should be doing but Damian definitely is one to step out and isn’t afraid to tell someone they should be working harder.”

Przystal knows all about hard work. He started the sport when he was 9.

“I saw my sister (Claudia) doing it and I wanted to do all the cool tricks — the front flips, back flips, — so I joined the park district club she was at,” he said. “She (a freshman next year) is going to be way better than me. I’m excited to see her in high school.”

Przystal credits his high school coaches for his success.

“Mr. Hagel has been a great coach. He taught me everything and Mr. (John) Schrammel (former Palatine assistant in the program) helped me so much with being confident,” he said. “I do not think I would be where I am right now without those two people.”

Tonight, he will be at the conference meet at Elk Grove High School.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I just want to go all out.”