How the GymDogs are passing the time and moving forward during early layoff

The sudden halt to the University of Georgia’s sports seasons caused lives to be uprooted and routines to be changed due to the COVID-19 spread that has the country on pause. This story is part of a series surrounding the effects of the cancellation on Georgia gymnastics.

The balance of coaching and family life presents its difficulties. A few more obstacles arise when the offices are shut down and a pandemic shifts the day-to-day work routine into a makeshift in-house workspace. Once children race around with carefree jubilance ... well, that creates some guilt.

Courtney Kupets Carter leads a pack of three young ones — Brooklyn (4 years old), Bentley (2) and Savannah (1) — who aren’t yet of school age. They don’t know why they’re spending much more time at home, or why their mom is constantly under the same roof. There’s a lot of playtime and basic instruction with shapes and letters. Kupets Carter has to find time to work, too, so that’s where a backyard serves as the biggest advantage during a pandemic standstill.

There’s a space carved out to where Georgia’s gymnastics coach can focus on the job. The kids can’t easily access the proverbial offseason laboratory. Her husband, Chris Carter, keeps their children occupied with time on a swing set or learning how to ride bikes outside. Once a list of coaching (and recruiting) tasks are completed, the focus shifts. No work, just moments with family.

“I’ve definitely had to work through it,” Kupets Carter said. “It’s hard for me to be at home working and hear my children playing. When I’m with the team, you don’t have that little voice nagging at you. You aren’t being pulled in two different directions, and that has been a challenge. I don’t want to have that tug-and-pull.”

For Kupets Carter, her assistants and gymnasts, any semblance of normalcy has dissipated. The season ended abruptly due to COVID-19, and there’s no escape for the usual vacation or even the ability for a simple trip around town for errands. After the heartbreak of an unprecedented cancellation, the agitation with isolation sets in. There’s no clear timetable for a return to everyday life, but the sports calendar must move forward.

“Our schedules are a big question mark in our daily lives,” sophomore Rachel Baumann said.

There’s boredom, too. A lot of it. The GymDogs are implementing different strategies to fill the void.

Georgia has treated recent weeks like the offseason. Usually, gymnasts would take through May to rest after the national championships ended. So, the end of March served as acclimation to shifting toward online classes for the semester. There were two weeks without any class instruction, too, so time at home moved even slower.

Baumann has used the downtime for rehab. She underwent an ulnar osteotomy in 2016 to shorten the bone because her ulna was shorter than her radius. She had plates and screws inserted into the affected area, but they began to bother her and limited her participation in the season finale at Alabama. Baumann had the hardware removed in March and has spent time with rehabilitation in hopes of continuing an upswing of confidence that began during her second campaign.

Along with rehab sessions, Baumann has received clearance to run — her favorite form of outdoor exercise. Most of her hours, though, have been consumed by online instruction as a Management Information Systems major. Her professors have added more to her workload, including three additional exams.

“I’ve spent time with my little sister, too, to make up for time lost by being in college,” Baumann said, referring to her sibling who turned 15 on March 31. “I am into all sports, so I’ve been watching ‘All American’ on Netflix.”

Far up the East Coast, Baumann’s college roommate and name-sharer Rachael Lukacs has spent her extended time with family in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Her usual hobbies of choice include beach time and trips to Wawa, but those are on hiatus with 44,416 cases of COVID-19 in her home state as of Tuesday.

Her only ventures away from home have been grocery trips for her grandmother, but other random activities have created a jolt of excitement while under the same roof.

“I’ve been cutting the grass with my dad. I painted some doors in the house,” Lukacs said. “Our family has been playing board games and all of our competitive attitudes come out in that — especially Jenga. We’re also bringing back dominoes.”

Georgia has recommended, but is not allowed to mandate, some ways for gymnasts to be productive within the sport. Those requests can be difficult due to fitness gyms being closed and possibly only a few at-home weights and pieces of equipment being at an athlete’s disposal. Lukacs, however, said it’s useful to “keep our minds from roaming from negative things” while still “realizing our reality.”

Joshua Rucci, the strength-and-conditioning coach for gymnastics and women’s basketball, has compiled a large packet of exercises and methods to remain in shape. Kupets Carter said most of the improvements she wants to see in her gymnasts will be the result of improved flexibility. She hopes those recommendations can eventually evolve into team-wide Zoom calls where Rucci leads a group workout session.

“(The packet) has everything you can possibly think of in terms of workouts — body weight, glutes, upper-body exercises and circuits,” Baumann said. “You’ve got every kind of cardio mixture. It has been very helpful to pick which ones I like based on what I have (at home).”

While the gymnasts hone in on fitness and flexibility, Georgia must move forward with shaping future rosters. The 2020-21 class includes a trio of signees — Nhyla Bryant, Victoria Nguyen and Katie Finnegan. Georgia parts ways with senior Sabrina Vega, and it’s unclear as to whether Rachel Dickson will return for a fifth season after suffering a torn Achilles in January.

The most-concentrated recruiting efforts come with the 2021-22 recruiting class, which Kupets Carter was busy with in March during the time of drastic cancellations. Georgia has four pledges for the class, according to CollegeGymFans.com, which include Sarah Cohen (level 10), Maeve Hahn (elite), Katie Finnegan (level 10) and Riley Milbrandt (level 10).

In a time of standstill, athletes and coaches across gymnastics must initiate change. But balance has become even more of a necessity, too.

“This has been a time that you cannot prepare for,” Kupets Carter said. “It has been very interesting and changed everybody’s dynamic of life.”