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Lincoln- The Nebraska women's gymnastics team held its second intrasquad meet of the year at the Devaney Center on Sunday in preparation for the 2011 season. The Huskers were able to perform in front of a crowd for the last time before opening the season in less than a month.
"I'll be honest with you; we're at a point in the semester where they needed something different, this came at a good time," Head Coach Dan Kendig said. "But at the same time it made me a little nervous today, because tomorrow starts finals. You don't know where they are all mentally. But overall, the whole day, there were some great, great things that happened and they handled it very well."
NU performed routines on every event, competing in Olympic order. The team gained valuable experience performing at the Devaney Center, where they will hold all regular season meets this year. Kendig was encouraged by what he saw today and looks forward to the improvements the girls can make before taking a few days off for Christmas break.
"I know there are a couple of them who wish they could have done something better, hopefully they all feel that way because no one got a (score of) 10 today," Kendig said. "The bottom line is I'm pleased with where we are and what we've done. Now they have to use this finals week to come in and tweak a couple of things, go home and enjoy the Christmas and come back ready to go and make what we did today something to build on and get ready for our first meet. I really think some great things happened."
Kendig also used the intrasquad meet as a way to shed light on an initiative he is taking part in called Decembeard, an awareness campaign for sex trafficking around the world. He will grow the beard until he raises $1000 for Tiny Hands International and their efforts to stop it.
"It's something that's horrible and I felt called to do something, not because I wanted to grow a beard, but I am happy to be a part of it," Kendig said. "We have a lot of people in the department who are really involved in this and every little bit helps."
The Huskers will open the season at Florida on Jan. 7. Nebraska's home opener is Saturday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. against Utah at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. NU will look to capture it's 20th conference title and make its 28th consecutive postseason appearance at the NCAA Championships in April.