Batavia's turnaround a real team effort

It was only a few days into 2005 and Batavia girls gymnastics coach Taryn Boyce already realized she was in for an uphill battle.

The Bulldogs were competing in the annual Tri-Cities meet, but they didn't even have close to the amount of talented gymnasts of Geneva or St. Charles Co-op to give either team much of a contest.

Batavia wouldn't come within 10 points of either of its neighboring town rivals on that January evening, but those struggling times of the past have seemingly been forgotten thanks to a steady rise in the program that's culminated in greatness the past two years.

The ascension began in 2005 when the team's high score was just 124.15. In 2006, the program surpassed a score of 130 for the first time in at least three years.

Gymnasts that are still having an impact today came on board in 2007 when current specialists Marisa Dransoff and Kathryn Warner joined the team. Boyce and assistant coach Doug Bucholz had visited area junior high schools prior to the season to let them know that a gymnastics team did exist at the high school level. Batavia also got its first taste of winning in a long time when it won the Oswego Freshman Invite.

But, by far the biggest shot in the arm to Batavia's program came last winter when Becca Thone, Danae Fuqua, Alessandra Bronzino and Rachel Besic all came on board. All four were club gymnasts who for various reasons ultimately decided to give high school gymnastics a try.

"Club kids can always help a team's score but I think something has to be said about getting those kids to stick around," Boyce said. "They were burned out and didn't want to do (gymnastics) anymore. So it hasn't been just coaching them, but keeping them interested and wanting to continue doing it as part of a team."

It's incredibly difficult to imagine that gymnasts as talented as these four would have ever been to a point where they contemplated giving up the sport once and for all, but it's a common situation for many gymnasts. The demand of club gymnastics is a heavy one, and when you combine it with all of the experiences and opportunities a student-athlete is afforded at the high school level, sometimes giving up the sport or giving the team-focused and less stressful and less demanding high school team a shot is the best alternative.

"It was getting to be such a struggle in club that I didn't enjoy it at the end," Besic said. "Here I fell in love with gymnastics again and these past two years have been a blast."

Fuqua said being a part of something for the school and with the spirit of a team has been extremely rewarding.

"These last two years have been amazing," she said. "It's been one of the greater experiences I've had and it's so different than anything I've ever been a part of before."

During the past two seasons, Batavia's won the Tri-Cities meet twice, went undefeated in the Independent Conference and broken the previous school record for points in a meet (141.00 in 2001) on four occasions, including most recently in last Saturday's Independent Conference Meet (142.90).

Batavia has been able to increase its scoring this season because of the addition of difficulties to the routines of its gymnasts, along with the addition of sophomore all-arounder Emma Gear.

Thone, Besic, Fuqua and Gear are the big-time scorers for Batavia since they compete in the all-around. That leaves one spot open in each event, which is shared by Bronzino, who competes in the floor exercise and on beam, and by Warner and Dransoff, who specialize on vault and bars, respectively.

After competing as all-arounders as freshmen, Dransoff and Warner have been extremely unselfish, and taken their new roles in stride.

"If it were not for these great gymnasts I probably wouldn't have stayed on the team," Warner said. "Vault has always been my top event, so I get to keep doing that which is great and they (all-arounders) can take care of everything else."

Selflessness, along with a willingness to grow as a team both inside and outside of the gym, has helped turn a struggling program into one that could seriously be among the eight schools that qualify for the state finals. And, while this could be the best team Batavia fields for a while, the future looks bright with Gear, Fuqua, Dransoff and Warner returning next winter, along with a up-and-coming JV squad and new freshman class.

"It's been pretty exciting to know that we were one of the weakest teams and now are one of the strongest," Bronzino said. "We all get along very well and a lot of us hang out outside of practice and I think that's really brought us together and made us a better team."

When you have four standout gymnasts joining a team, one could expect some feathers to be ruffled during the transition process, especially when you mix in different personalities. If anything, the diverse mix has proven to be a blessing.

"We do have our unique personalities and different attitudes, but together we're like one cheery family," Fuqua said. "We all bring a little something different and it I think it blends in well."

It's also shown in the approach the girls have as they're constantly smiling, cheering each other on, and exchanging celebratory hugs.

"We all want to do our very best and I think we all know that," Bronzino said. "We've never been the type to force someone to come to practice or work extra hard. I think we all know what we have to do to if we want to be at our best."

While qualifying for state is an admirable goal, the Bulldogs know it won't be easy, and they claim that they'll be satisfied regardless if they earn a trip to Palatine, as long as they finish to the best of their own abilities during the postseason.

"As long as we do as well as we can we'll be happy," Besic said. "It's been a lot of fun and I can't believe it's almost over. I think we're all going to be able to look back on all the fun we've had and that we did our best."

Discussing state aspirations certainly wasn't something Boyce was doing five years ago when she was worrying about who would compete for her team as much as how they would execute.

"I remember the first year at conference and just thinking how awesome it was to just been competing," she said. "Now I'm sitting here and I watch our girls go first, second and third on floor (at last Saturday's Independent Conference Meet at Glenbard South) and thinking about how they almost hated the sport and then came back. I'm just so happy for all of them."