IT'S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON and the most intense gym in the country could be the Ford Center when the Stanford men's gymnastics team competes for spots for the weekend's competition.
With as many as nine competing for five scoring positions in each event, All-Americans battle each other and anyone else to make the lineup.
As Stanford's season draws to its high-stakes conclusion, with showdowns against four-time defending national champion Oklahoma at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and NCAA championship meets, every hand placement, balance check, and stuck landing are noted by coach Thom Glielmi and his assistants.
Out of this pressure-cooker comes a team that sharpens its skills when there are consequences, which helps explain how senior Grant Breckenridge has emerged with a methodical consistency across all six events and peerless elegance.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
"His gymnastics is probably the most perfect in the NCAA right now," said Akash Modi, a national teamer and former Stanford star.
"Grant has a beautiful line to his gymnastics," teammate David Jessen said. "When I think of Grant, I think of perfection and ideal form in performing his skills."
While growing up in Libertyville, Illinois, the heartland of American men's gymnastics, Breckenridge pledged to put his trust into technique in an effort to take on the competitors he faced meet after meet. Today, Breckenridge is among five of eight finalists for the Nissen Emery award -- signifying the nation's outstanding senior -- from the Midwest's formidable Region 5 where Breckenridge competed in his youth.
"One day, I just decided that I wanted to be clean, because people kept beating me," Breckenridge said. "That basically stayed with me the whole time. I'm known as a clean gymnast, versus someone who has a really high difficulty but low execution score. That's what's gotten me to this level, being able to execute everything I do relatively cleanly."
Photo by Hector Garcia-Molina/Stanford Athletics.
That quest can be painstaking. What he surrenders in strength and spectacle, he gains in precision. But precision is developed ounce by ounce, detail by detail, not surprising considering that Breckenridge is a mechanic. He loves to work with his hands and treats his gymnastics the same blue-collar way.
In middle school, Breckenridge picked up a car magazine and became enthralled with fast cars. His high school was among the few in Illinois with an auto shop. Breckenridge took classes for two years, learning basic auto repair and thrilled in dissecting an engine.
"Instead of sitting in a classroom learning calculus, I got to spend 50 minutes welding," he said with delight.
Half of his double major is mechanical engineering, and Breckenridge envisions a future designing sports cars. The other major, ancient history, developed through a required class on ancient Greeks, taught by archeologist Ian Morris. That led to more classes, and eventually Breckenridge developed a passion for history of the Near East – think Assyria and Babylon.
After graduation, Breckenridge is determined to remain at Stanford to train for the 2020 Olympics. A member of the national team in 2017, Breckenridge intends to regain his spot. The first step would be to finish among the top six in all-around at NCAA's or win an individual event, such as his specialty, the high bar.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
Breckenridge knows bypassing the funding of the Olympic Training Center to remain at Stanford and continue training under Glielmi's staff, and alongside ex-teammates Modi and Robert Neff, will make things difficult financially. Though national team membership ensures a $1,200 monthly stipend.
In 1968, a gymnast unable to afford housing, built and lived in a treehouse near The Dish. With a key to the gate and with lumber donated from the father of a teammate, he designed a sturdy structure hidden partway up the ridge. Inside the camouflaged exterior was a comfortable interior, with a carpeted floor and even China dishes. He climbed a rope ladder that was drawn up at night. He showered at the gym.
Breckenridge knows it won't come to that: "If I make the national team, I can probably survive. If I don't, it will be a lot tougher."
To make the Olympic team, he'll need to upgrade his routines, add strength, and still make it seem effortless. But first, there's Oklahoma and the national championships. Those who have been around the program, like Breckenridge, Modi, and Jessen, feel this is Stanford's best chance at a title, perhaps since its last championship, in 2011.
"We train with the intention of winning," Breckenridge said. "We don't train to be second place."
Indeed, Breckenridge is not afraid of challenges. He's proved it on Wednesdays.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.