Utah gymnastics: U. using mind games to settle nerves

SALT LAKE CITY — One day, Megan Marsden told her University of Utah balance beam workers that they had to tell her something they did during their routines to make things easier for them to concentrate, something that eased their nerves.

"So I tried counting, and it started working," said senior Jamie Deetscreek. She'd done it before to some extent but never really thought about it until she had to have an answer for Marsden, now the Utes' co-head coach.

"It forced me to try to find something to do instead of just saying, 'Well, I just go fast and try not to think about anything,' because that's hard in a meet situation," Deetscreek said.

"I think it's helped definitely when I'm under stress, whether somebody fell, or I'm nervous or I had a bad warmup. I can get in that frame of mind and count."

It wasn't the total answer because she fell on her flight series at UCLA. For someone who's been one of the most consistent performers ever for the Utes — she went a school-record 64 straight routines without a fall last season until having one at the NCAAs — that was a bit of a surprise.

But another suggestion from Marsden after the UCLA fall seemed to help.

"I said, 'What about trying a certain count (just) for that skill?' " Marsden said, talking about the roundoff-layout.

"And she decided on, 'One, two, t-t-h-h-r-r-e-e-e,' and the three is the layout, and the one-two are the hand placements.

"It was only one time," Marsden said, "but I'll tell you what — it was the best series she's ever done in a meet (on beam)."

Deetscreek scored a 9.90 on beam in Friday's home-opener against Iowa State (a 196.30-195.35 Ute victory), just .05 off her career high as she came back from the fall of a week before, the new cadence helping to slow her down.

It gives her "The rhythm so she doesn't rush it," Marsden said. "She gets in a hurry and messes up the technique, and that makes it harder to stay on the beam."

"Yeah, I did it all last week at practice and at the meet, too, and it seemed to work," said Deetscreek, who seems interested in continuing her counting. "You can't say something is going to work for sure every time, but it seemed to work. (It) makes me calm down a little bit. That skill, I get a little bit more nervous than the others."