The Arizona Wildcats’ last four gymnastics seasons were a little unsteady. For starters, there were three head coaches — Bill Ryden, Tabitha Yim and, now, John Court.
Things have settled down for the GymCats. Court was elevated from interim head coach to the full-time gig in March, giving him time to recruit with an eye on the future. The Wildcats open their 2019 season Sunday in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Central Michigan, Illinois and Bridgeport will all participate in the quad meet, which starts at 11 a.m.
“I’m excited,” Court said. “I think, for them, they’re ready to see another team. Cabin fever sets in. We have the longest preseason of any sport, I think, in NCAA.”
This year’s Wildcats will have a few new names — none bigger than assistant coach Taylor Spears. The 2014 NCAA individual champion on balance beam was hired away from North Carolina during the offseason.
Prior to UNC, Spears worked as a volunteer coach at her alma mater, Oklahoma, where she helped lead the Sooners to back-to-back NCAA gymnastics championships.
Spears said she was somewhat familiar with Arizona through her former club teammates who were coached by Court. When she saw the job was posted, she was more than ready to vie for the position.
“I knew that I liked the state of Arizona and it was somewhere that I’d like to live,” Spears said. “It was all very appealing to me. And being in the Pac-12 is really awesome, too.”
John Court, head coach of the University of Arizona gymnastics team, yells out to a team member during a practice in the Richard Jefferson gymnasium on Jan. 4, 2019.
While she’s already seen improvements, Spears said the long-term goal is to get to a national title. To get there, Arizona will first need to accomplish smaller goals and overcome obstacles. The first? Qualifying as a team for NCAA regionals.
“I think, me personally, what I bring to the table is just experience doing the sport at a really high level and being coached by some amazing coaches,” Spears said. “And just learning from them, I’m able to teach what I’ve learned and little details here and there.”
The GymCats return 11 gymnasts and add four freshmen: Alivia Kendrick, Asia Rose DuVernay, Kennedi Davis and MacKinzie Kane.
The group will be led by seniors Haylie Hendrickson, who has focused more on bars and beam but who made her floor debut against Oregon State last season; and Danielle Spencer, a bars specialist.
Court said both seniors, and quite a few of his other athletes, will be adding another apparatus or two to their repertoire. Before last season’s solo floor performance, Hendrickson hadn’t performed on floor in five years.
She will be competing on floor at the quad meet in Michigan.
“It’s nice to see seniors, 22, 21 years old, learning new skills, picking up new events and trying to maximize their athletic potential,” Court said.
Court said there will be plenty of new faces throughout the meets this season. Of the 24 routines performed during a meet, 12 are going to be new.
Half of the lineup will be made up of gymnasts who didn’t compete on the specific apparatus the previous season or will include one of the freshmen.
Junior Maddi Leydin will take over the No. 1 all around spot for the GymCats.
“There will be some four-headed monsters,” Court said. “There will be a lot of people that specialize as well. It’s a new year. It’s new faces. It’s a new program. It’s developing a program. It’s building a championship program — and that’s what the goal is.”
