GymDogs Q&A: Kupets Carter talks perception of scores, recruiting and the future

Georgia’s vibe of disappointment became palpable after the GymDogs’ loss to Florida.

Senior Rachel Dickson expressed her gratitude toward a packed-out Stegeman Coliseum. All of the individual awards were presented in favor of the rival Gators. Head coach Courtney Kupets Carter and her athletes then appeared for their media obligation. They didn’t have much to say, as each interview was cut short after a couple of minutes.

After a week full of anticipation around welcoming No. 2 Florida to town, the GymDogs (8-6, 2-4 SEC) fell short and lost 197.800-196.500 (its lowest score since Jan. 25). There were two sides to Georgia’s performance.

Good: The GymDogs had four scores of 9.900 or higher. Sabrina Vega posted her per-usual 9.900s on floor and balance beam, Rachael Lukacs stuck her vault and scored a 9.925, while Rachel Baumann maintained consistency on balance beam with a 9.900.

Bad: A lack of depth showed itself once more on uneven bars, and some of those factors (injury to Dickson, departures of Sydney Snead and Alexa Al-Hameed) are out of Georgia’s control. The GymDogs scored a 48.900 on the event with three sub-9.800 scores. At times, Georgia also displayed minor errors on other events that led to various deductions.

“This was not the meet we wanted,” Kupets Carter said. “We have been building and building. This is just one of those off weeks for the team.”

Georgia has two regular-season meets remaining before making the final push toward a spot at the NCAA national championships in Fort Worth, Texas. Kupets Carter expands on numerous topics surrounding the program with her third season drawing closer to a finish.

Note: This Q&A has been edited slightly for clarity and brevity.

Q: With the National Qualifying Score (NQS — averaging the teams top six scores, three of which must be on the road, and dropping the highest) into play, how do you look at overall scores?

Kupets Carter: We use it as an evaluative tool. If you’re looking at scores in general, our goal would be 9.9s or higher on every single routine. As long as you have those routines that need work and push toward that 9.85, that’s a really good score to get and a good baseline to be at. The 9.9s and above become difference-makers for teams.

Q: How does that differ with this team given unique circumstances?

Kupets Carter: It became not about scores at all. We don’t use them to evaluate this team. We look at score sheets and evaluate the athletes themselves. My biggest thing for them is their short-term and long-term goals. Your short-term goals are what you do to get there. If you focus on the bigger goals, they’re going to drown you and there might be a fear of not reaching them.

When we get 197 or higher, that makes for a good competition. We’ve done something right, and we can evaluate where we fell a little short. The bigger goal is to push every athlete to be their best. Are we pushing everything with the team we have and getting to the top-four every single year? That would be more of the goal that I have.

Q: Looking at your class of 2020 signees (Victoria Nguyen, Nhyla Bryant and Katie Finnegan), what stands out about Nguyen? How does her elite background help a program?

Kupets Carter: They’ve been in those big competitions and know how to get the job done. That’s what tends to happen on the college level. It’s the same feeling and the same pressures. If you’ve experienced that more on a national level, like USA Gymnastics, you tend to understand that a bit more and are able to work through those pressures. That adjustment level with competition with 10,000 fans comes a little bit easier. It’s still there, but you have a bit more of an experience coming in.

Q: What type of approach do you take to recruiting at Georgia?

Kupets Carter: It’s different based on the athlete and what we need. Definitely, personality is something we look for. Not everybody has to have it, but if there’s a lot of quiet gymnasts, we definitely want some of those leaders in the group. We look at personality overall and how they handle competition and their teammates.

We also look at their gymnastics. Sometimes you want to see if there’s a nice base and potential. Sometimes you look at the athlete who scores consistently. You can go at it in a couple of different ways. Of course, you want “five-stars” on every single one of those areas for every recruit, but that’s not very feasible. You try to make sure to blend that with a five in each of those categories.

Q: I know in gymnastics, however, recruiting is tough. How does the culture surrounding it make it challenging for you and other college coaches?

Kupets Carter: In gymnastics, recruiting is so young. There’s not really a benefit to the athlete, parent, coaches at the club level or to us as college coaches. So many things change from the time you’re 12 to now. The rules have changed to where you can’t (pursue an athlete so young). You’re recruiting more of the sophomore year athletes. You’re watching and can see a progressive change with those athletes that you’re interested in. That’s an exciting change for the sport, but it’s new. We’re having to work through it, but the goal is for all college coaches to stick to it. It is healthy for our sport, so it’s important to stick together and follow them.