For the past three years, we’ve heard plenty of things over the announcements about how the ‘Trostangs’ perform in meets for girls gymnastics, and we’ve seen the leotards sporting South’s blue and North’s purple. As for the DGS varsity boys gymnastics team, we hear nearly nothing. As for the DGS varsity boys gymnastics team, they bleed entirely blue.

The girls gymnastics teams became one after DGN’s coaches retired, and they’ve been mixed ever since. With enough coaching staff, the boys team have been able to remain separate.

“With the boys, currently we have enough coaches and enough numbers,” head gymnastics coach William Norris said. “The benefit of having the [boys] teams separate is that it allows more kids to participate, and they can participate more for their school.”

Norris believes that having a smaller team from only DGS creates a better environment for the boys to grow in, as a lot of the team is made up of first-year gymnasts who want to learn.

Senior Daniel Dedescu said when the schools become mixed, issues from both schools rise and get in the way of the gymnasts being able to focus on themselves and practicing.

“It would be a lot messier because there could easily be a lot of misunderstandings on our team, and it happened [my] sophomore year because we kind of had to
team up with DGN

to train together,” Dedescu said. “It’s hard to communicate and take turns. It takes a long time to practice your skills when there are other people there.”
Senior Alex Thomas appreciates having only DGS athletes on the team because everyone then has more time and space to accomplish their personal goals in practices.

“It’s a really good thing that we’re separate and rivals [with DGN] because when we’re separate, there’s more attention on ourselves. We all can have our own stations, the coaches give us more attention, it’s less noisy and there’s more team connection when there’s no other [schools] in our gym,” Thomas said. 

Besides competing, Thomas joined the boys gymnastics team with his friends to improve his physical fitness and likes having the opportunity to train with only the people he is close with. 

“A lot of my teammates’ motivations to join gymnastics are to build muscle [and] body control. [Gymnastics] also makes us have more confidence in ourselves, and it’s a really unique sport too,” Thomas said.

As a first-year gymnast, senior Henry Nguyen has been able to enjoy spending time with his friends in an environment where he feels comfortable to learn in.
 
“Seeing as we didn’t have to [mix with DGN], practice has been a lot more enjoyable and fun. There’s more attention being put into each person which we wouldn’t get if we were combined with North,” Nguyen said.

A lot of the varsity team is made up of seniors who picked up gymnastics as a chance to learn new skills and have fun with their friends.

“This is my first year so I’m nearly clueless on how gymnastics works, but it’s been an amazing time so far, and I think more people should join,” Nguyen said.

The team’s next meet is April 7 against HSHS at 6 p.m. at Hinsdale South.