Defining Competitive Excellence

Authored by the William & Mary Men’s Gymnastics Team, and published on their behalf.

Over the last few years, William & Mary’s athletic department has shifted its strategy to focus on high revenue sports, to the detriment of niche ‘Olympic’ sports. This evolution misinterprets the ‘pursuit of competitive excellence’ that the 2015 Report from the Committee on Competitive Excellence described as a vision to “ultimately contribute to a stronger William & Mary.” We define competitive excellence as a model by which athletics contributes to the success of William & Mary and the growth of student-athletes, incorporating components beyond athletic victories. In our daily lives, and in this document, we demonstrate how Men’s Gymnastics embodies that definition.

We are 17 young men from varying backgrounds, with diverse academic pursuits and interests. We are 17 athletes who work our sport together, 20 hours a week. We are committed to WM and we are committed to preserving our sport. We are Men’s Gymnastics.

We believe competitive excellence is more than a buzzword on reports, or a good pitch for prospective students. We believe that it should not stop after practice, nor be defined solely on wins or comparable funding. It is a daily choice that creates a holistic experience, integral to a high-quality liberal arts education, that molds athletes into better people during their time at W&M. In doing so, competitive excellence ties together the most important elements of our institution to better align the student-athlete experience with our school’s lofty values. In our yearly meeting, we say, “If you leave as a senior the same person you were as a freshman, it was a wasted four years.” Competitive excellence, and its inherent self-improving mechanism, define a lifestyle for every member of this team. Moreover, graduates of this program continue to live competitive excellence for the rest of their lives, always remembering the role their alma mater played in their success.

From the 2015 Report of the Committee on Competitive Excellence, outlining department priorities:

The Committee on Competitive Excellence recommends that William & Mary pursue a bold vision of excellence capable of galvanizing our entire university community, enhancing our institutional brand, and ultimately contributing to a stronger William & Mary.

We argue that Athletics should “ultimately contribute to a stronger William & Mary,” and that the following five core values outline measurable means of living competitive excellence. Furthermore, we make the case for Men’s Gymnastics as a pillar of competitive excellence. Given this, we assert that Men’s Gymnastics is an invaluable asset to the athletic department, the university in general, and the greater community, in Williamsburg and beyond.

Academic Scholarship

Why Academic Scholarship?

It is the position of the Men’s Gymnastics team that academic scholarship is integral to Competitive Excellence in varsity athletics at William & Mary. This was outlined in no uncertain terms by the 2015 report on the matter, and we posit that any attempt to reduce the import of academic scholarship to competitive excellence is gravely erroneous. By the broadest definition of competitive excellence (provided above), it is undeniable that scholarship among student-athletes “contributes to a stronger William & Mary.” The institution of varsity athletics draws impressive young scholars to the university every year — this much is clear in the consistent academic achievement of our athletes. Any aspect of the collegiate experience that entices ever more driven and capable students to the nation’s alma mater is one to be admired, and athletics can play this role by maintaining academics as a standard of competitive excellence.

Furthermore, every bit of the student experience is intertwined. Thus, the role of athletics to the student-athlete cannot be taken separately from academic scholarship. Nor do we believe they should be — the dedication and drive required to compete on the collegiate level translate directly to the classroom, a claim for which we can provide first-hand evidence. If the William & Mary athletic department is to uphold the values of the university in all of its endeavors, academic scholarship must be inherent to its identity, and thus highlighted as a form of competitive excellence.

What is Academic Scholarship?

There are two significant components to academic scholarship: Rigor, and integrity. It is fundamental that student-athletes at William & Mary pursue a rigorous education; as members of the student body, this is part and parcel of enrollment at such an academically prestigious university. Student-athletes must be held to the same academic standards as any other student in terms of both course load and performance. They must also be held accountable for their academic integrity; the honor code, one of William & Mary’s most significant points of pride, must be upheld in all academic endeavors by student-athletes. Furthermore, these values — rigor and integrity — can be perfectly reflected in college athletics. Thus, academic scholarship, both in terms of rigor and integrity, is inherent to Competitive Excellence in William & Mary Varsity Athletics.

How does Men’s Gymnastics Embody Academic Scholarship?

Having established that academic scholarship is a key component of competitive excellence:

We believe that a 9-time National Academic Championship winning team — the most of any college since the award’s inception in 1991 — is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team that has been in the top three in the nation academically 19 out of 29 years is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team with 86 1st Team Academic All-Americans and 54 2nd Team Academic All-Americans is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team that achieved a 3.572 GPA for the 2019–2020 academic year is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team that consistently sends more than half of its members to the Provost awards is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team upon which three of five graduates in 2019 were bestowed the highest honors of their major as well as Phi Beta Kappa initiation is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team that graduated a student in 2019 who received the Thomas Jefferson Prize in Natural Philosophy — the highest academic achievement granted by William & Mary- is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team that consistently outperforms both the athletic department average and the total undergraduate average GPA is an example of competitive excellence.

We believe that a team that enshrines rigor in its mission and consistently encourages members to pursue the courses they are most passionate about and to challenge themselves in those pursuits is an example of competitive excellence. That in the current roster, seven of fourteen declared/graduated majors are STEM (math, computer science, and physics) and all four 2020 graduates were in STEM (applied statistics, neuroscience, and physics) is evidence to this. We would like to note that our team members that choose non-STEM majors do not do so to skate by — every tribe gymnast rigorously pursues their academic passions.

Why It Matters

Now that we have defined academic scholarship’s role in competitive excellence and detailed our embodiment of it, we must answer the following two questions: What does the athletic department stand to gain from including academic scholarship in its definition of competitive excellence? And, more specifically, how does Men’s Gymnastics contribute to an athletics department that wishes to identify as competitively excellent? Any institution within the university that draws greater scholarship — and the young men and women who embody it — is an asset to the university. In order to qualify as one of those institutions, the athletic department must be contributing positively to the scholarly culture of William & Mary. While the significance of this contribution is outlined above (and we maintain that this is the most important motivation to include academic scholarship in the definition of competitive excellence), we also believe that scholarship brings real benefits to the athletic department. We would like to highlight a few of those benefits.

First of all, a team that focuses so much energy on academic success will have more successful and resourceful alumni. This has been evidenced by our alumni, who have been incredibly generous in their donation of these resources back to the team. In fact, our continued presence at the university can be largely attributed to their ability to support us; a financial prowess that was made possible predominantly developed as a result of the rigorous academic scholarship they maintained in their time here. Secondly, expressing a more open interest in the development of student-athlete scholarship at William & Mary would be a powerful first step in repairing the broken relationship between the athletic department and the greater William & Mary community. The faculty of the Arts & Sciences have expressed a lack of trust in the current athletic department, and while strides have already been made to win that trust back, highlighting the significance of academic scholarship as a core value of the athletic department would be incredibly beneficial.

Finally, academic scholarship by student-athletes is just as likely to achieve national recognition for our athletic department, particularly for sports without large-scale media coverage (i.e. all of them, at the level that we are able to perform athletically). Dave Brown, a Tribe Men’s Gymnastics alum and astronaut on the Columbia shuttle is a testament to this, and similar examples can be found in law firms, operating rooms and tech board rooms throughout the country. Embracing this potential, instead of ignoring it, could effectively merge the long-standing tradition of competitive excellence at William & Mary with its more recent objective of national recognition.

It is undeniable that Men’s Gymnastics represents a massively positive contribution; this is manifested in both quantifiable accolades and anecdotal evidence. Perhaps just as importantly, we contribute invaluably to the athletic department’s image amongst academic circles at the university (simply mention the name ‘Jacopo Gliozzi’ in the physics department and you will recognize this). To say that we embody the axiom of academic scholarship within competitive excellence is an understatement — and a virtue the loss of which will not be fully realized until we are no longer supported by the department.

Diversity and inclusion

Why Diversity and inclusion?

We recognize in the initial open letter in which seven sports were eliminated (from September 3rd, 2020) that diversity was cited as a key component in the decision to rebalance the athletic department. We would like to expand on this topic as it pertains to competitive excellence. The importance of diversity and inclusion to both the athletic department and the school as a whole is fairly obvious; yet it merits reiteration, particularly as an axiom of competitive excellence. Diversity in all forms fosters a holistic learning environment by introducing a vast range of perspectives, forcing students, faculty, and all members of the William & Mary community to broaden their own. Students — along with people in general — exposed to diverse cohorts such as our student-athlete population invariably become more well-rounded and open-minded. And the constant fight for an ever more inclusive culture imbues a sense of belonging that is undeniably crucial for young people. However, inclusion is not an inherent principle of diversity, and there is plenty of evidence that our own university often fails to maintain an inclusive culture, despite our diverse student population. Thus, it must be made explicit in the definition of competitive excellence that meeting diversity quotas is not sufficient. If we are to truly consider ourselves competitively excellent, we must take concrete strides towards maintaining and, where necessary, improving the culture of diversity and inclusion of Tribe Athletics.

What is Diversity and inclusion?

Although diversity statistics are often used as a metric of inclusion, it is important not to conflate the two. As imperative as diversity is, it unto itself does not ensure an inclusive team culture, especially within the institution of college athletics. Inclusion should assume diversity, and as such a diverse student-athlete body is only the bare minimum. Unfortunately, any evidence for an inclusive culture — and even some evidence of diversity, such as LGBTQ+ representation — is anecdotal, so it can be difficult to determine whether a team meets the standard of competitive excellence in this way. Nevertheless, this does not reduce the importance of diversity and inclusion as an axiom. In fact, this challenge can be used to the advantage of the Department and the student-athlete population, as the only way to ensure competitive excellence in this vein is to exceed expectations.

How does Men’s Gymnastic Embody Diversity and inclusion?

Tribe Men’s Gymnastics values diversity highly. Current Captain Collin Lillie and event captain Christian Marsh both serve on the Diversity & Inclusion committee for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. On paper, Men’s Gymnastics may not appear to be the most diverse team on campus, but we assure you we come from all walks of life. Let’s begin with ethnic diversity. On a team of 17, 9 of us are either people of color or first-generation Americans, often both. Furthermore, this trend has seen an increase in recent years. Aside from ethnic racial diversity, Tribe Gymnastics is a longstanding ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Many of our teammates past and present identify with the community, and we provide a safe space for these athletes to express themselves as they explore their own identities. Our team is made up of people from different countries, ethnicities, races, sexual orientations, religions, and cultures. Tribe Gymnastics remains committed to fostering a team environment that welcomes and embraces diversity and constantly pushes for inclusion.

In terms of diversity within the athletic department, Men’s Gymnastics is entirely unique. There are not many men’s gymnastics teams left in the NCAA, and this rarity brings value to the athletic department. Athletes from all over the country want to come to William & Mary just because we have Men’s Gymnastics. None of our competitors can boast the diversity in sports we have at this university. That is a badge to be worn with honor, not an inefficiency to be minimized.

Why It Matters

The merits of diversity and inclusion go far beyond the students themselves. A more diverse alumni cohort, that had a college experience characterized by an intense sense of belonging, is far more likely to contribute to the continued success of their team. Just as Men’s Gymnastics embodies diversity and inclusion, while they’re competing for the tribe, so does its members once they graduate. They will attest to remaining remarkably close throughout their lives, and we recognize this when so many of them come back to see each other every Homecoming. The less qualitative motivation for diversity and inclusion as an axiom of competitive excellence is thus its contribution to a self-sustaining team and department.

On the other hand, this is likely not the most important motivation. The real driver is the contribution of fresh perspectives and creative problem solving we offer the department. The student-athlete population already represents a vast range of backgrounds, experiences, and academic disciplines. This much is clear even in the microcosm of Men’s Gymnastics. This vast repertoire of innovative and motivated thinkers is at the disposal of the department and should be used to improve diversity and inclusion. And with diversity and inclusion as an explicit axiom of our identity of competitive excellence, this resource can further grow.

The utmost importance this team places on diversity is not only for fostering personal growth within the student body, but also for the creative solutions and ideas they bring; which in turn enrich the athletic department and university as a whole. This is what diversity and inclusion means to us. And the axiom of diversity and inclusion in this sense is imperative to a department committed to competitive excellence.

Extracurricular Involvement

Why Extracurricular Involvement?

The nomenclature itself suggests that athletic and academic success represents the minimum requirements of any student-athlete. Furthermore, the consequences of a high expectation for diversity and inclusion are too significant to ignore. Any reasonable definition of competitive excellence, as the proposed identity of varsity athletics at William & Mary, would include these three axioms. However, what does it say of an athletic department that defines itself by its ability to maintain the bare minimum? Hence, we propose that extracurricular involvement, a fairly universal metric for supererogatory participation in the undergraduate experience, be included as a third axiom of competitive excellence. Students that become involved in college-affiliated organizations are more well-rounded, nearly without fail. Furthermore, the organizations our athletes become involved in are enriched by the participation of student-athletes. As has been laid out extensively above, our student-athlete population represents a plethora of perspectives and experiences. Thus, we believe it is imperative that the athletic department reserve a spot for extracurricular involvement as it develops a more distinctive identity in competitive excellence.

How Does Men’s Gymnastics Embody Extracurricular Involvement?

Overextending ourselves is the theme of this team. It is no small feat to excel at such a high level in rigorous academics and elite-caliber athletics — much less to do so on top of so much rigorous involvement in so many additional opportunities at the university. The Men’s Gymnastics team has a strong presence in many other spheres on campus. Our influence has far reaching effects in departmental research, clubs, the office of first year experience, and many more. Those engaged and well connected with the school know Men’s Gymnastics not by our status as athletes, but through our commitment and drive in pursuit of passions that exist beyond the confines of the classroom or the gym.

Before relaying our participation beyond athletics, we would like to mention our recent extracurricular involvement within the athletic department itself. Over my four years we produced two very successful SAAC presidents, upheld a standing commitment to assist field hockey during their home games, and volunteered for the Courtside Club at basketball games. Finally, as mentioned above, both of our current SAAC representatives are members of the diversity and inclusion committee. In general, we are adamant about supporting the department, even beyond the benefits we bring through our exceptional representation of competitive excellence.

There are also constant opportunities at William & Mary for extracurricular involvement pertaining to academics; and as has been shown, our team is composed of individuals who religiously pursue academic passions. Not only do we select notoriously difficult majors, but within these fields we seek extra opportunities. Research is a prominent outlet to channel academic passions into concrete value to the school, and many of our recently graduated students have participated in it. Two notable examples are Jacopo Gliozzi ’19 and Nate Winneg ’20. Jacopo received constant recognition for his achievements in condensed matter theory research. He was accepted to research opportunities every summer, both here and at institutions such as UCLA and UIUC where he was celebrated as their most impressive candidate and carried out research at a graduate level.

Nate similarly helped the university pursue excellence by pioneering its foray into engineering. He helped develop the framework for additive manufacturing with applied high voltage. This system is currently being expanded within the Makerspace and has a client in Airwolf 3D printers. Nate was part of the team that did the base engineering on this project to get it off the ground, and was a co-founder of the robotics club that has continued the project. Moreover, he was involved with a joint project in the kinesiology department to develop accurate sensors to monitor seniors at an assisted living center in Williamsburg; this project also saw participation from Jack Hasenkopf ‘19.

These two examples are incredibly representative of each class of William & Mary Men’s Gymnastics graduates; so many of us contribute extensively to academia outside of the classroom during our 4 years here. Current examples include, but are not limited to, Cutter Fugett ’21, Spencer Schrandt ’21, and Andrew Lyubovsky ’22. Cutter is involved with three research projects on campus in engineering, experimental nuclear physics and AMO physics. Notably, these involve membership with a nuclear and AMO quantum tracer collaboration with Jefferson Laboratory that just received funding from the DoE to develop a new instrument for more accurate particle detection in particle accelerators. Spencer has been inextricably involved with pioneering research in the Math department on symplectic Lie groups. And Andrew has pursued research in Computer Science (aiding in tracking and predicting football injuries) for his Monroe Scholarship since his freshman year.

Beyond research relevant to academic success, involvement across campus abounds. Members of this team participate in orientation as OA’s and OAD’s, have joined a wide variety of other organizations such as Syndicate, Robotics Club, The Stairwells, Rocket, and The Monitor journal, and have been inducted into ODK and Phi Beta Kappa. We have had team members work as President’s Aides, Graduate Assistants, in the Office of University Advancement, and as members of International Student Advisory Board. Furthermore, the school has acknowledged members of this team for their outstanding involvement in the university. In the past four years, men’s gymnasts have earned five Cypher Awards, formerly the Ewell Award; as did our head coach, Mike Powell (2004). This award is given out to a select few graduating seniors acknowledging those who are “unceasing in their efforts to make a meaningful difference while at W&M and are stewards of our university’s core values”. The university says, “Recipients of this award represent the very best of W&M students”. Being a steward of the university’s core values is a positive feedback loop for our team, and each successive class is committed to upholding these tenets of the university.

Strong ties with the greater university culture are embedded within the framework of our team. And through our entrenchment in the community, we shine a positive light on negative stereotypes attributed to student-athletes. We help to remedy the image of athletics as a conduit for seclusion, because we are more than just students and athletes. We are leaders on campus and we push ourselves to step out of our comfort zones to try new things and take advantage of the extensive opportunities the school has to offer.

Why It Matters

With a team built around engagement, we are able to take our experiences as student-athletes and apply them to our interactions with the various communities on campus. Because we are eagerly seeking out opportunities to further our education, we are constantly shaping the campus around us as it shapes us. Thus, we are positioned to better understand the culture of the school and the niche athletics occupies within this space. This allows us to contribute more effectively to the university than anyone else, and as such these contributions should be encouraged as extensively as possible.

Furthermore, as with the previous two axioms, extracurricular involvement produces more successful and resourceful alumni. This is in and of itself an asset that cannot be left unstated — every positive experience the university can provide a student-athlete has the potential to increase their likelihood to donate and the amount they pledge when they do. Additionally, alumni who were engaged in the university beyond athletics and academics are more likely to contribute to the continuation of those activities. While this does not necessarily benefit the athletic department directly, it does perfectly align with the mission of strengthening the entire William & Mary community.

Finally, and also in line with the motivations for the aforementioned axioms, the most significant merit of extracurricular involvement is enjoyed by the student-athletes themselves. The personal growth associated with a broad range of involvement as an undergraduate student is enormous. And an athletic department that functions for the betterment of its student-athletes must capture their best interests when defining its core identity. Hence, we believe that extracurricular involvement plays a vital role in competitive excellence as it pertains to varsity athletics at William & Mary.

Community Engagement

Why Community Engagement?

The 2015 Competitive Excellence Report states the following on student-athletes’ role in the community: “William & Mary pursues a bold vision of excellence capable of galvanizing our entire university community.” While the premise is largely correct, we believe the scope is too narrow. The William & Mary community extends far beyond campus, and athletics should seek positive engagement with both the broader Williamsburg area and our campus family. This is crucial to the success of the tangential departmental mission of national recognition, as support starts in the immediate community — not on a national scale. Only once a team cements its place in the local will it be able to expand its recognition. Furthermore, and quite obviously, the community itself benefits immeasurably by student-athlete-led endeavors. Finally, and by far most importantly, there is the value received by the student-athletes themselves. The personal growth achieved by contributing positively to one’s community simply cannot be overstated, and has a lifelong impact. Hence, we firmly believe that community engagement merits a place as a fourth axiom of competitive excellence.

How does Men’s Gymnastics Embody Community Engagement?

Men’s Gymnastics strives to build a strong reputation for William & Mary through our own engagement in these respective communities. This has created an image of Men’s Gymnastics at the university that people admire, and has made William & Mary a place young children want to attend and a place parents want to send their children. William and Mary Men’s Gymnastics has been and continues to be ingrained in the Williamsburg community. One example of this is our sponsorship of twelve annual food drives for the local food bank, FISH. These foods drives have only grown in size over the years, and this program has gathered roughly 30,000 lbs of canned goods to keep people in this community from going hungry. In the most recent food drive, so much food was collected that FISH had trouble organizing it efficiently. In an entirely voluntary commitment, every member of the team at the time showed up to the food bank after hours to help properly organize their inventory. What would have taken days for the small volunteer staff took only hours with our combined help. And the team does not do these things for the stories on tribeathletics.com or to have our picture taken, but because we want to see this community that we love so much thrive.

The food drive is not our only significant annual project. We also organize the largest male run NEDA walk in the entire country and have raised approximately $30,000 for the organization. This speaks volumes to how important mental health is for our team, as we help raise awareness and address the stigma surrounding it. We have also begun partnering with organizations on campus such as HEAL to bring the conversation closer to home, and support William & Mary in the tough dialogue about mental health. Through these efforts, we hope to better our community on both a college-wide and nation-wide scale.

Lastly, we continue to support the longevity of our sport by coaching at Williamsburg Gymnastics, our off-campus facility, and by judging regional competitions for kids of all ages. Every member of this team loves this sport and has given it everything they have. In turn, gymnastics has granted us the opportunity of a lifetime: To be on this team, and reap all of the aforementioned benefits. This is our way of giving back to the community that gave us so much. We see it as fostering the next generation of gymnasts, many of whom aspire to go to William & Mary themselves — in fact, one of our current freshmen had been judged at competitions by our team members since he began competing. We become role models for these young athletes, developing close relationships with them through mentorship, and watching their talent and skills develop over four years. We have a close-knit bond with this community, and we will continue to bolster it, hopefully with your ongoing support.

Why It Matters

It is clear that William & Mary Men’s Gymnastics is highly engaged in the community. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that community service and involvement benefit the participant as much as the community — this must not be glossed over as we consider how charitability can impact the athletic department. Still, the question remains: What value does the athletic department see from including this community engagement as an axiom of competitive excellence? Although there is endless abstract value of community engagement, we would like to highlight two significant and very real benefits that merit attention in the consideration of this question.

The first benefit is that any engaged community is far more likely to be supportive of the engaging program in the future. This is evident to our team, as a large portion of the crowds we draw know us through our various efforts in Williamsburg (in particular, we enjoy consistent support from the other volunteers at FISH and Williamsburg Gymnastics cancels practice on our meet days so that their students can watch us). While it is true that sports with well-attended competitions may not notice this support by its quantity, most sports do not see enough attendance for this addition to be insignificant. Furthermore, just because a sport draws large crowds does not mean the attendance of the beneficiaries of their community engagement goes unnoticed. There is inherent value in the pride one feels upon noticing that a kid you coached is there to watch you compete, as it means you have played an important role in their life.

The second benefit is the concrete value to be had from alumni who have been taught the importance of community service and charitability. Beyond the obvious that such personal growth is inherently virtuous, the tangible consequence is that alumni who have learnt this lesson are far more likely to understand the value of giving back to their team. Again, our team is evidence to this, with the highest yearly donor retention rate of any in the department, by far. This also extends beyond the athletic department. Together with the other axioms of competitive excellence, it follows that an alum with a firm belief in the importance of community engagement would contribute to other programs at the university as well.

Ultimately, it does not take much to make a convincing case for community engagement as an axiom of competitive excellence. What we hope to have conveyed is that Men’s Gymnastics, as long as it is sufficiently supported by the university, is an extraordinary embodiment of the axiom. And varsity or not, we will continue to practice competitive excellence through community engagement above and beyond expectations.

Athletic Performance

What is Athletic Performance

The last component in defining competitive excellence, and maybe the least controversial one, is athletic performance. Although this may be obvious, we should first discuss why athletic performance in general is important to universities around the nation. We believe that when teams perform at the top of their sport, their achievements accrue national attention for the school, increase the likelihood that people will donate in support, allow for easier recruiting of students, coaches, and other school faculty, and of course, having a strong athletic presence contributes immensely to school pride. Would you agree that athletic performance is a critical component of competitive excellence?

How does Men’s Gymnastics Embody Athletic Performance

Let’s now look into how our team specifically exemplifies athletic performance here at William & Mary. We have heard comments that our team ranking of 13th out of 15 teams does not seem to show that we are competitive at the highest level of our sport. This misconception is due to a lack of understanding of the context in which our team competes. First, it is important to note that we are competing against nationally renowned schools with very successful athletic programs, such as Oklahoma and Penn State, whose teams receive far more funding. Unfortunately, William & Mary is not in the position to provide similar funding right now — nor has it ever been — so we receive no scholarships from the school to help with recruiting. Furthermore, if we consider the teams that we most frequently compete against head to head — Navy and Army — we see that none of their athletes pay for tuition, and they do not have a roster limit since they are exempt from title IX. This gives them, among many other benefits, much more pull than us when it comes to recruitment.

Despite these advantages that other teams have over us, we have proven time and time again that we are a serious competitor amongst all NCAA men’s gymnastics teams. We have won our conference 7 times, with our most recent championship being only 3 years ago. Our team has produced 446 individual all-conference athletes and 54 conference event champions. Additionally, consider our results from the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships, known to us as USAGs. This championship is special in that only teams with no school-funded scholarships may compete. Since these teams have similar funding opportunities, this meet is a better indicator for how we measure against our competitors than NCAAs. There are a total of 14 schools who have representation at this competition, including both club and collegiate programs. Our team has been titled National Team Champions 13 times and have produced 45 National Individual Event Champions. In total, our team members have earned the title USAG All-American 255 times with 50 of them received from as recently as 2014.

Finally, let’s look at our NCAA record. As a team, we have made 7 championship appearances since 2000 and have earned a total of 11 NCAA All-American titles, 5 of which were received within the last decade. Just last NCAAs, we had a record number of qualifiers for finals with 3 gymnasts. And although we did not qualify to NCAAs as a team, we did tie our record number of individual qualifiers: 11 in total with 2 alternates, almost our entire competing lineup. Furthermore, our team has produced 9 Nissen-Emery finalists, the gymnastics equivalency of the Heisman Trophy in football, with our most recent nomination in 2018. We are one of the only teams here at William & Mary to have an NCAA national champion; and we haven’t just had one, but two champions: Scott McCall on rings (1996) and Ramon Jackson on parallel bars (2004).

So what? We have had a number of athletically successful individuals while not ranking high as a team, so these individuals must just be exceptions, right? On the contrary, it actually helps to prove the opposite. Our NCAA and USAG individual reward recipients are not just happy accidents, rather their successes are representative of the fact that despite our lack of resources to recruit USA’s future olympians, we remain competitive nationally and we, as a team, consistently produce decorated athletes. On top of our team’s ability to produce remarkable athletes, it is also crucial to make clear that our individual accomplishments are very much team accomplishments. We train together, study together, and live together. We coach, tutor, and guide each other in every aspect of our lives, so successes enjoyed by any one of us are enjoyed by — and, to some extent, be credited to — all of us.

Our National Recognition

Even though we may not be the number one ranked team in the NCAA, the national attention that our team brings to William & Mary should not be overlooked. Since men’s gymnastics is so small at the NCAA level, we do in fact bring a substantial amount of national attention to William & Mary because anyone who knows about men’s gymnastics, knows William & Mary. Take all of us here for example; we are all from around the country and most of us had not heard about William & Mary until we found out that they had men’s gymnastics, and although that wasn’t the only deciding factor in us choosing this school, it was without a doubt the primary element that brought this school into the conversation.

What makes Gymnastics Unique?

Similar arguments could be made for many of the sports being cut, so why specifically is gymnastics irreplaceable for universities and what makes our sport so unique? Gymnastics, as a sport, inherently embodies and nurtures the same values that our school prides itself on instilling within all William & Mary athletes. As most are aware, our sport is extremely difficult and very technically challenging. This means that we cannot practice with a brute force mentality to become more successful, rather we have to be disciplined in our training and cooperate with our teammates and coaches to actually progress. With this discipline comes resilience and complex problem-solving abilities that aid us in being more valuable members of society in all aspects of our lives, not just in the gym.

Gymnastics also cultivates a unique sense of sportsmanship. When competing, our success is not dependent on the other team; we perform to the best of our abilities, and us doing well does not mean that our opponent does worse. Hence, our sport has always fostered an environment of respect for everyone competing and continues to inspire a sense of appreciation for healthy competition that helps in motivating our own continued development as athletes and individuals.

Since gymnastics has such an intense focus on aesthetics and artistry, there are no shortcuts in becoming successful at the highest level. From the very beginning of our athletic careers, we have experienced time and time again that simply making a skill or getting through a routine is not nearly enough to flourish in our sport. Gymnastics demands perfection, so we’ve learned that cutting corners will not help us in achieving our goals. This tenacity has shaped our character and has been ingrained in our core values, ultimately bettering ourselves through every step of our lives.

Lastly, it is crucial to recognize both the team AND individual components that gymnastics embodies. We compete our routines individually, contributing to a collective team score. Our sport trains us to succeed as individuals in order to help our overall team’s success. This point of view is paralleled in almost any career that one can pursue after graduation. The mutual relationship between the gymnast’s goals and the team’s goals inspires the development of a rare understanding that our individual victories are team victories, and vice versa. Gymnastics is unlike any other sport and if William & Mary loses us, the university is being deprived of a unique, irreplaceable community of athletes.

The Role of Athletic Performance at William & Mary

The final question we need to ask is how does, or should, athletic performance function for William & Mary specifically? William & Mary produces some of the brightest minds and most well-rounded individuals in the nation, so why should the athletic experience stray from this mission? Athletic performance needs to be a supplementary experience to the overall enhancement of our student-athletes as instrumental members of their communities. Performing successfully as an athlete should not only include our wins and athletic accolades, but also focus on our growth as athletes and the invaluable life skills we gain from our sports. If William & Mary focused more on celebrating our athletes as extraordinary students and boasting the developmental advantages of William & Mary’s athletic experience, our university could attract a plethora of student-athletes from around the nation who want to be a part of our program; all without compromising the high esteem that we expect from ALL William & Mary students.

Conclusion

This is how we define competitive excellence. Through academic scholarship, we stand for what this university’s administration prides itself on the most: Being one of the most academically strong institutions in the country. With rigor and integrity, we aim to achieve the highest degree of success in the classroom while upholding the values of William and Mary.

We live diversity and inclusion by creating a sense of belonging to all experiences and identities. No matter the color of your skin, your sexual orientation, background or anything else, if you are a part of our team you’re family. You have sixteen brothers. People you can lean on, turn to and always look to for a helping hand the moment you step on campus.

We are involved in the school in many ways beyond gymnastics, extending our circle through campus involvement. We are well-known in roles other than athletics by our fellow students and faculty. Through extracurricular involvement, we embody the spirit and soul of William and Mary, leaving infinitely more well-rounded and mature than we arrived.

Our support and engagement in the community creates a strong sense of identity and reputation for William and Mary. With it comes adolescent gymnasts who admire the school and hope to one day compete here like the coaches they looked up to. We are fortunate young men and look for every opportunity to give back to a community that has provided us with so much.

Finally, we are successful athletes: NCAA and USAG All-Americans, Conference champions, and NCAA finalists. Not a good season here or there, but a history of national competitiveness. While competing against Olympic level athletes, we still produce accolades.

What we present here is more than a collection of accomplishments. We have tried to establish a pattern, a display of the consistency and dedication this team has to upholding the values of this prestigious institution. The evidence is abundant and demonstrates an undeniable trend of competitive excellence dating back to long before the university began its use of the term. This team is more than the sum of its parts; our athletes enrich each other, the local community, the university, and the program. And this is not a result of the athletic department’s report in 2015. Rather, it is because of the upstanding individuals this sport, coaches, and program consistently attract and produce.