Braintree Girls Gymnastics Lacks Age, Not Skill

The Braintree girls gymnastics team finished third in the Bay State Conference last year with a 7-2 record, and with several standout gymnasts returning, the Wamps are confident that they can have a repeat of last year and even surpass their past scores.

“We’ve been training since after Thanksgiving,” coach Deb Duprey, in her 22^nd year, said. “This year is unique in that there are no meets before the holidays. My expectations are always high. It helps to gains confidence as a team. We’re a skilled and talented team.”

The girls compete tonight at 7 p.m. away against Framingham at the Gymnastics Training Center in Holliston.

This year’s team is captained by senior Frankie Donahue and junior Therese Bambery, both of whom are capable of competing in the all-around. Junior Brooke Ellis and sophomore Erin Shea are also able to compete in the all-around, while several other gymnasts can compete in multiple events, such as junior Liz McLean, junior Lauren Machado, sophomore Nicole Connaughton, sophomore Olivia Mansfield, freshman Hannah Campbell and freshman Megan Desmond.

“It’s good to have girls on the team who can do all of the events,” Donahue, the lone senior on the team, said. “We have always someone to step in.”

The luxury of having multiple girls able to step in at various times in various plays could be a very big factor in determining how successful this year’s team is. Gymnastics is a sport that can take a toll on the body at times, and in the early going there have been some injuries.

Sophomore Desiree Baker, who was a strong contributor to the team last year as  a freshman, is out for the season. McLean is battling an ankle injury that is limiting her to mostly doing the bars right now. Shea, who as freshman qualified for States in the balance beam, is overcoming a variety of different ailments that have slowed her down a bit early on in the season, but with the depth of this team there seems to always be other gymnasts who are able to fill a role and will be more than capable of putting up good scores.

“We’re always prepared,” Donahue said. “We’re never discouraged. Everyone’s always on their ‘A’ game. They also know they have to step up.”

Donahue also mentioned that Duprey has always been a coach who has pushed everyone to excel in multiple areas of the sport. She said that there’s a different lineup nearly every meet, which has always given a number of the girls opportunities to compete in different events so that they get better.

Both Duprey and Donahue said that most of the girls have known each other from outside the high school for many years, and that’s something they believe helps the Wamps.

“It’s really important to work well and gel together,” Duprey said. “It’s a very nice group of girls. I think that’s very important and it’ll show in competition.”

The Wamps have a difficult schedule ahead of them in the Bay State Conference, which is always tough in girls gymnastics. Duprey and her senior captain both agree that, if history is any indicator, Wellesley is most likely the top team around. The Raiders and Wamps don’t compete until the final meet of the year on Feb. 7. Donahue also said that Needham should be pretty good based on the amount of improvement she’s seen from their gymnasts.

Still, like in golf, gymnasts essentially play against themselves during a meet. There is no defense trying to stop them from executing their skills. There is a scoring system in place with judges, and Donahue said the team goal is to hit 130 as a team, something they did do a couple times last year.

“We definitely get excited to meet our own goals, but once we meet them we raise our goals,” Donahue, who came in second at States in the vault last year after coming in third the year before, said. “My [individual] goal is always to get one step higher.”

Donahue, as a co-captain and the lone senior on this team, said she’s noticed a lot of improvement from last year. She specifically mentioned how much Ellis has improved on the floor and bars, and that she has the highest difficulty on the team in both of those events.

Braintree competed in their first meet on Tuesday against Weymouth, who they defeated 127.9-120.5. Now they’re looking to build on that.

“For us, it’s one meet at a time,” Duprey said. “They’re all going to be very competitive.”