Piece together a few tumbling passes, throw in some fan-pleasing dance moves in between the acrobatic stuff and include a nod or two in the judges’ direction and there, you have a collegiate gymnastics floor routine, right?
Not quite, actually, not even close.
The task of forming a winning floor routine is much more complicated.
“You have to have good skill selection and good artistry,” Utah gymnastics coach Tom Farden said. “That is the hard part, getting the artistry. The Xs and Os of the technical aspect are easy because they are easy to define.”
The Utes hope their floor routines have a fresh look this year thanks to the coaching staff. New this year is the husband and wife team of Garrett Griffeth and Courtney McCool Griffeth. Carly Dockendorf was promoted to assistant coach.
The Utes used a professional choreographer last year, BJ Das, who is working with UCLA this year, but Farden believes Dockendorf and McCool Griffeth have given the Utes’ floor routines the pizzaz they need.
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McCool Griffeth certainly knows her way around the floor, having won the 2008 NCAA floor title while competing for Georgia.
“She is extremely talented and and has worked hard preparing this team,” Farden said. “With Courtney and Carly, we have the combination we need. You have to be analytical enough to be able to finish passes in the right space on the floor, but you have to be creative enough too to make sure the wrist flick at the end is strong enough too. It takes a lot of musicality and creativity.”
Finding a good floor coach is harder than it seems because of the staff limitations. Choreography is important, but not important enough to take precedent over usually more pressing needs, such as a coach who can spot tumbling or is good in the technicalities, so often the choreography is short-changed.
But Farden said the Utes have a good 2-for-1 deal in their married assistants, since McCool Griffeth is serving as a volunteer coach.
“It’s a luxury for us,” he said. “When I was putting my staff together I knew it was going to be important to find someone who can handle the choreography on a daily basis, someone who wants to make sure they have a masterpiece at the end.”
Of course, all the choreography in the world can’t save a team lacking of tumbling talent. So far, Farden likes what the lineup is giving him in that respect. The Utes rank sixth nationally with a 49.283 average. UCLA leads the country with a 49.525 average.
He is particularly happy with senior Kim Tessen, who wasn’t even a starter on the event last year but is one of the last to perform this year.
“It has really connected for her,” he said of Tessen’s floor. “Now she is scoring 9.9s regularly.”
The Utes are still green, but Farden thinks the team is on the right trajectory to get big scores on the event, with the necessary flair too.
“Choreography is a lost art,” he said. “I equate it to excellent spotters. I’m never going to undermine its importance.”