The first home competition for Ball State University's gymnastics team in the Nadalie Walsh era is tonight as they play host to Illinois State University in Irving Gym at 6 p.m.
Walsh, who was hired during the summer to replace Lisa Simonton, said she spent the last few months trying to change the mentality of a program that has not had a winning record since 2002.
To help in that task Walsh has introduced some unique drills, one of which the team performed toward the end of Thursday's practice. Walsh had the team split into two teams with half of each team on either side of the mat. She then gave them a fake egg on a spoon and had the two teams race from side to side handing the egg and spoon off to teammates when they reached the other side of the mat.
After running the drill with a fake egg Walsh then brought out the real eggs and made the team do the drill again. She said the drill's purpose was to teach the team to not be nervous, to feel the same whether it's a real or fake egg.
"I gave them a fake egg and they walked across and they were like 'oh, no big deal, no big deal,'" Walsh said. "Then I gave them a real one and some of them felt their heart rates go faster, some of them got nervous, and that's what I want them to not do. I want to give them exercises that have nothing to do with gymnastics so that they can give themselves their own little exercises like 'wow, I got nervous about an egg!'"
Sophomore Megan Howard said the team members have changed their mentality toward each other and the expectations they have since Walsh was hired.
"This year we have confidence in each other, we know we are going to hit [the routine] and if someone misses then it's a surprise," Howard said. "Last year it was like 'Oh God, make the bar routine,'" she said.
Walsh said the team was confident going into the season opener against Western Michigan University last week but the confidence it has this week is different.
"Last meet they had a false sense of confidence," Walsh said. "Now that they went to a meet and saw that they are just as good as the other team but just didn't perform to their best, they have been challenging themselves to make sure they get every tenth [of a point] they can."
One potential handicap the Cardinals will be performing with tonight is the loss of sophomore Bibiana Rodriguez, the team's top bar performer. Rodriguez hurt her finger while practicing her uneven bar routine Thursday and was sent to the hospital for X-rays. Walsh said the X-rays were negative but Rodriguez is still questionable for tonight.
"She's too valuable to have her play hurt and hurt it worse ... we'll have to see if she can grip the bar with her hurt hand," Walsh said.
Even with Rodriguez's injury sophomore Ashley Jacob said she expects a victory against Illinois State.
"We're going in with confidence; we know we have it in the bag," Jacob said.
If the Cardinals win Walsh, a Wisconsin native, said it would be a good start to what could be a great weekend.
"Definitely we want to win and then watch the [Green Bay] Packers go win too," Walsh said.
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