With the National Competitive Stunts and Tumbling Association Inaugural Meet beginning tomorrow afternoon in Kennesaw, Ga., the Oregon Team Stunts and Gymnastics squad will finally have the long-awaited opportunity to show what it can do. The Emerald caught up with sophomore Michelle Gawlik — a transfer from Oregon State University — earlier in the week.
Oregon Daily Emerald: Have you decided on a major yet?
Michelle Gawlik: I’m applying to the business school next term, so I’m in business, hopefully going more into the sports marketing area, though, with a minor in economics.
ODE: What do you want to do with that after college?
MG: I would love to get an internship at Nike, which would be really cool. But I don’t know. If nothing else I’ve been interning at my parents’ work in the accounting department, so I have experience in both areas, but I’m not really sure yet.
ODE: Why Oregon? What made you decide to come here?
MG: My brother went here actually, he graduated in ’04. I just really like the atmosphere here a lot better. The town is a lot more fun; there’s a lot more to do here. The people are a lot more relaxed and a lot more fun — and then also, of course, my team.
ODE: Were you involved in athletics at all at OSU?
MG: I did an All-Star team, which was up in Portland, so I competed with them called the Styleshock All-Stars.
ODE: What first got you into all of this?
MG: You know it was actually really random. I was at practice one day with my All-Star team, and (Coach Mulkey) had come to recruit at my gym and my coach was like, ‘You should go talk to her.’ I really had no idea anything about the program. I had heard Oregon was going to get a competitive team, but I had no idea really anything about it. So I went and talked to her about it and she just told me to come down for a recruiting session. So, I came down and really liked what I saw.
ODE: Thinking even further back to when you were younger, what or who originally got you into gymnastics?
MG: My parents actually, I’ve been in gymnastics since I was like two. So I started doing that and I was a gymnast for like 11 years, and then got into competing with cheerleading in my high school my junior and senior year.
ODE: Outside of school and practice, what do you do with your limited free time?
MG: I know, right? Sleeping and eating are my two biggest hobbies. Other than that, just hanging out with friends, watching movies, going out, going shopping, doing whatever.
ODE: Do you live with any of the other girls on the team?
MG: I don’t. I live with two girls that I went to high school with and then another girl that we met down here last year.
ODE: You all have been rockin’ out before practice, what kind of music are you into these days?
MG: Anything you can dance to.
ODE: Dancing a big thing for you on the weekends?
MG: Of course! Got to have fun.
ODE: How about the Grammys? Did you watch those the other night?
MG: I did. It was interesting, I don’t know. I feel like all the singers have really gotten into the really weird side with all the robots dancing in the background. It’s kind of weird; I don’t know if I’m into that, but other than that it was good.
ODE: With your first official competition only a few days away, what are you guys looking forward to most?
MG: We’re really excited to do our meet format for the first time and really show everybody what we’re about. We have our big team routine that we all do together, and we’re really excited about that, but we’re really excited to do the different events in the meet format, which is why we really came here to start. We’re all really excited just to get out and show people what we’re all about and show them that even though we’re a first-year team that we’re pretty B.A.
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