Roseville Gymnastics: These Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Don’t ask the Roseville Area High School gymnastics about their . And don’t bring up their quest to vault back to a state championship after narrowly finishing second to Northfield the last two years.

That quest doesn’t officially exist. And if you bring up the four consecutive state championships the previous four years? 

Meh. These girls just want to have fun.

“It’s (fun) required,” said coach Julie Castellano, who has been with the Roseville gymnastics program since 1995 and makes up one pillar of a coaching triumvirate that also includes Mike Flatten and Mark Curley. The three have helped turn Roseville into a perennial contender during their tenure. They have also established a culture that focuses as much on creating good people and good experiences as it does on creating talented gymnasts.

“There’s a richness and a quality of the ladies we’re developing out there,” said Castellano after a recent meet that also welcomed back enthusiastic alumni from the program. “That’s exciting. We’re making good people and productive citizens in the world and it rubs off on (the current girls).”

That culture of camaraderie has helped the Roseville gymnastic team develop an extended family that transcends simple sport. It eschews traditional competitiveness against other teams and turns it inward.

“A weakness in all of us is the gift of self-acceptance,” said Castellano. “We all struggle with that no matter what we’re doing, whether its gymnastics or schoolwork or out in our social lives. So teaching self-acceptance is something we always deal with, even more so with young teenage girls.

“We try to work really hard on teaching self-acceptance and you can never do a bad job. We just appreciate you going out and doing the best you can that day with what you’ve got.”

And maybe it’s that lack of outward competitive pressure and focus on self-acceptance that resonates and allows the girls on the team to relax and have fun. That and the culture of family that has become a tradition with Roseville gymnastics.

“We spend a lot of time together and we really get to know each other as people,” said junior co-captain Rachel Hain. “We support each other through everything we do in the gym as well as at home. And we love each other.”

But don’t confuse a lack of outwardly competitive attitude for softness. The girls of the Roseville gymnastics team have a lot of fun, but they’re also serious about being the best.

In a team full of individual standouts, it’s the team concept that stands out and what has consistently made them one of the best in recent years.

Castellano says all the girls are equal in each others’ eyes and Flatten emphasized the point by highlighting how they all pitch in to help with moving mats and getting equipment ready for each others’ routines. It may seem like a little thing, but it’s all part of an effort to help make each other better say the coaches.

“Gymnastics is one of those sports where you really can’t take a lot of time off and then come back in and be at your peak,” added sophomore Katie Quigley. “You have to practice consistently, so we spend a lot of time together. We work really hard all the time.”

For Quigley and the rest of the team, competition is internal.

“No matter what you can do, you can always work to improve little things like a toe point or straight legs...things that you can work in with your new skills,” said Quigley.

That hard work and attention to ‘the little things’ has the Roseville gymnastics team on track to contend for another state title featuring a young roster with only one senior among them. But that prize isn’t the ultimate goal.

“It’s definitely a motivator,” said Castellano, “but they just individually and collectively as a group decided we can get better. They’re all young and good friends and they really did dedicate themselves this off-season to improving and getting bigger skills. (A state title) is just one of several things that motivate them, but it’s not something we talk about.”

“That’s one thing we don’t concentrate on is scores and how we’re doing,” said Hain. “We just work our routines and try to make them the best they can be.”

The closeness of the girls combined with the stability of the coaching staff has created a unique recipe that feeds success, seemingly without trying to achieve it. The individual members of the team have a solid support structure to draw from that includes the experience of the coaches as well as the other members of team that. They know that no matter what the scores on any given night, they will be accepted as a success.

“We try not to talk about our past success too much,” said Quigley. “We just hope for the best out of anyone and wherever that takes us, that’s where it takes us. We’re hoping it takes us far.”

But will the Raiders be disappointed if that doesn’t take them all the way to a state title.

“Definitely not,” said Hain and Quigley in unison, almost as if they knew each other very well.