Kupets Carter prepares to lead UGA gymnastics in second season with host of new challenges

Courtney Kupets Carter joked that her third child, who was due at any moment, could have come Saturday after Georgia finished its First Look event at Stegeman Coliseum.

“I haven’t usually sat down (throughout practices),” Kupets Carter said. “But I sat down today during their warm-ups. I told them to own everything they did today.”

A Georgia spokesperson told The Telegraph on Tuesday that Kupets Carter is in the hospital awaiting the arrival of her third child.

Her two other children — a three-year-old girl Brooklyn and a one-year-old boy Bentley — are admired among the gymnasts. Sydney Snead and Marissa Oakley smiled at each other at the first mention of the new arrival.

“It’s going to be any second, literally,” Snead said.

As fans got a sneak peek at the team’s makeup over the weekend, the preseason No. 7 ranked GymDogs presented an intriguing element as they stepped onto the podium for player introductions: Kupets Carter is coaching nine new “babies” of her own.

After losing six seniors to a team that made a national championship appearance, Georgia welcomes nine highly-touted freshmen to its roster. Seven of them were on display Saturday as Sterlyn Austin is recovering from a fractured shin and Megan Roberts suffered a severe high-ankle sprain that will force her to the sidelines for six-to-eight weeks. That’s compared to five returners.

“It has been great working with so many of them, because they are the future of the program for several years now,” said Kupets Carter, who added that this season has a first-year feel with the revamped roster. “It’s not just having six seniors and half of the team leaving, so we are investing in them and wanting them to grow.”

Along with the new faces, there’s also a new look to how Georgia is approaching its season. To the relief of many, there’s more depth. The days of only having five competitors on one event are over and one score will always be dropped if the GymDogs are at full strength.

There is increased difficulty on all events, including a vault routine by junior Rachel Dickson that was used by Kupets Carter in 2008 when Georgia won a national title.

“We’re all pushing each other to be better every day, as opposed to last year when it was about keeping everybody healthy that was in the lineup,” Oakley said. “We can do a little more difficulty, so it’s definitely a good energy we have.”

In turn there’s more of a stress for leadership on the upperclassmen, especially Snead, the lone senior.

Kupets Carter has tried to divvy up some of the responsibility to Georgia’s two juniors (Dickson and Sabrina Vega), but Snead serves as the anchor of the consistently-productive trio.

Therefore, there was a new mentality for the senior and she posed a bold challenge to her teammates.

“We want to place Top 3 in nationals and want that national championship,” Snead said. “What is it going to take to get there? I need to be that best example in-and-out of the gym, so the freshmen can see what it takes in order to get those results at competitions.”

Georgia is aiming high in a season of transition, but those goals wouldn’t be realistic without a parent-like mentality from Kupets Carter. She takes time to mentor her gymnasts away from the sport, awards personal days throughout the season and fosters a family-like bond.

Kupets Carter said she likes to do both — love her children and “kick some butt” in the gym. Once Kupets Carter returns from maternity leave, she’ll get to continue that with 14 more of her own.

“She’s kind of like our mom away from home,” Snead said.