Sophomore Ronald Batista Getting Ready For A Cast. Photo by Sophomore Cristopher Correa.
The Malden High Gymnastics season has come to a close with many members excited to continue improving on their performances next season. However, for many members this was their last year performing on the Malden High team.
One of these members was Senior captain Tyler Risteen. Risteen thought that overall she did “well this season,” but that she “did not progress to the point that [she] would like.” In many regards this season may have been Risteen’s last gymnastics season for Malden High, but this will not be the end of her gymnastics career. Risteen will continue to come back to open gyms and help out at recreational programs as well.
Another member of the team that will not return next season is Senior Kevin Phan. Phan believes that this season was an improvement from his previous years performing for the gymnastics team. Phan personally believed that this season he “made fewer mistakes” and “improved on skills needed to get good scores.” Phan competed on “all events that he could” and overall “focused more on cleaning up my routines to raise my scores.”
Freshman Alyson Kwong had a great first year on the team and really liked “the whole experience in general.” Kwong was rusty when the season came because of a lack of practice. Kwong also described that another difficulty she had this season is the mental blocks that she had prior to the season. She described that “the team gave [her] so much support that [she] was able to manage and get those skills back.”
Kwong had a great first year on the team, but she still feels as though she has room to improve for the next season. She describes that fear is something that she needs to overcome in order to improve on her skills. Kwong explains that “[she is trying] to find another part of [her] that [is not] so fearful to do skills, because [she doesn’t] want [her] fear to hold [her] back from trying to do more.”
This gymnastics season ended on Senior Night. Senior Night is an exhibition where members of the team are allowed to show off their skills to their family and friends. Risteen describes this as an opportunity for everyone on the team to perform since “the team is so big, and [they] can only compete six people per event, so Senior Night gives everyone a chance to show off their skills.” Kwong described the the event as fun because “there [were not] rules in the routines” and that “anyone could do a routine on any event if they wanted to.”
Phan believes that Senior Night was “great as always” and it was a chance for the parents of the kids on the team to see their children perform since the gymnastics team do not have any meets in Malden.
Senior Night was also the final sending off for the seniors on the team. Phan explained that for most of the seniors they want to “enjoy their last time as a part of the team and be someone that the others look up to.” Risteen adds that she wishes that everyone on the team continues to improve and says she is “really going to miss the gymnastics team.”
Phan wants incoming freshman to “participate and join the team regardless of any experience because this is a sport where you could work on many different skills on different events.” He adds that “[he] would tell the freshman and all members to make the most out of the time you spend during the season because it does not last forever.”
