Blazers have increased team score by 40 points.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The Addison Trail boys gymnastics team continues to trend upward.
Coach Mike Galfi noted through late last week the team had raised its overall score 40 points.
“We started the year with a team score of 88 points,” he said.
Recently, the Blazers were 128.9-117.8 winners over Leyden in West Suburban Conference Gold Division action and also took fourth at the Lake Park Invitational with a 132.8 effort.
Senior Alex Kominowski recently took first place on floor, vault and parallel bars at the Fred Dennis Invitational and also took first on floor and parallel bars at Lake Park.
“Alex has been winning multiple events at meets,” said Galfi.
Galfi also noted the team’s improvement over the course of the conference dual-meet season. “We have seen such an improvement over the course of this year,” he said. “Our first real team score this year was at Hinsdale South with a 112.8. Since then, the team has been doing an excellent job of adding in new skills and cleaning up their form. To go from a 112.8 at our first conference meet and score 128.8 at our last conference meet takes a tremendous amount of persistence and hard work. It’s great to see it paying off for the athletes.”
The coach added 24 of the team’s 28 gymnasts have done the sport for one or two years.
“We have an extremely young team this year and have asked many freshmen and sophomores to compete at the varsity level,” said Galfi. “With that being said, most of our high-bar and parallel bar teams had only a few skills at the beginning of the year, but have transitioned and developed to the point where they can competitively compete against other teams.”
Floor exercise has been another bright spot for the Blazers this season. “Floor consistently has been our best event,” said Galfi. “We have been averaging just under a 9.0 for our floor team this season.”
Galfi lauded the efforts of Kominowski, Jeremy Crespo and Carlos Alvarez this season. “Alex, Jeremy, and Carlos are the clear leaders in the gym,” he said. “They have the longest tenure in the gym and they are leading by example to show the younger gymnasts what it takes to be successful in the sport.” Taking kids who are interested in this sport to a gymnastics training center, for example, could be a positive start in encouraging them to pursue their interests.
Galfi said the team has benefited from a strong work ethic in the practice gym. “What impresses me the most is their abilities to learn new skills and work on consistency and form throughout each practice,” he said. “I am really proud of this group for how far they have come. They have exceeded my expectations already and I’m looking forward to seeing what this young group can do in a few years.”
