It was just another empty day during my Christmas break and I was scrolling through Twitter on my phone and I saw a tweet from Gymnastike for an internship offer to cover college gymnastics. At first I didn't think much of it. Honestly, the only reason I started following Gymnastike was for updates on the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo where 5 current and former OU guys were competing. I was just worried I would miss something if the live feed didn't work, so I wanted a backup. 

I decided to go for it and apply for the position after I saw how many of the members of both OU's men's and women's team used the website. I wanted to be able to help them get THEMSELVES on it and give coverage to a sport that I knew first hand got nothing close to what it deserved.

As an intern at OU, I got the chance to cover not just one, but 2 of the most successful teams at the university. People know about our little school in Norman mostly for football. But if there are any teams that can best the big football guys for consistency, it's the gymnastics teams.

With the women's team, it was an experience I'll never forget. Here are girls who have worked for 18 plus years to get to the places they are today, and continue to try and work harder than they ever have. I have never seen a group of people with more school spirit. And these girls in no way take their positions for granted. They know that if they slack even a little bit, that someone will step up to challenge them. The OU women's team faced advesity, injuries, and challenges that many teams would never face all at the same time. But these girls handled it with grace, class, and pride and never let any of it change the goals they had set for themselves.

On the men's side of the gym was a little different, but that doesn't mean that this also wasn't an experience to be remembered. At OU, the men's team spent pretty much the whole season at number one. But with these guys, you would almost not know. With Mark Williams as your coach, that is expected and not much less will be accpeted from him. I learned this when I was filming for Workout Wednesday and interviewed him and he said, "We're a little weak on high bar." At the time Workout Wednesday was filmed, OU was the number two high bar team in the nation. So the standards are high. Another great thing about the men, is that some of the guys at OU are Olympic hopefuls. You get the chance to interview these guys, watch them practice and compete and know that come August you might see them on your TV!

The one thing I looked forward to from the second I saw the OU gymnastics schedules was the Men's NCAA Championships. OU was hosting and I knew I would spend 3 straight days in the Lloyd Noble Center and I would not miss one mintue of that action. What I didn't know at that time was that a couple months later I would apply and be offered an internship that gave me the chance to be ON THE FLOOR for this event. NCAA's was my proverbial Super Bowl. The ulitmate event to see live, outside of the Olympics. And it did not let me down. There was suspense, there were upsets, and one of the biggest crowds I've seen for men's gymnastics in my time at OU. I got the chance to watch a team who had faced so much adversity throughout the year hoist a national championship trophy, even if it wasn't my home team. I got to interview all those guys who would be comepting for spots on the Olympic team in June. It was a weekend of media expereince that will help me so much when I go into my career. There is nothing better in the broadcast world than real life experience.

In the end, my internship with Gymnastike was probably the highlight of my junior year at OU. And if the people want more OU videos I hope to be back doing the same thing next season!