Thursday, March 21, 1968
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
7
Leading KU performer
Pierson does all-and well
By Robert Burdick Kansan Staff Reporter
KU gymnast Robert Pierson, Lawrence junior, is a jack-of-all-trades.
Pierson competes in the all-around competition at KU gymnastic meets and unlike other team members who may specialize, he has to learn seven different routines in seven different events. This involves learning nearly 77 varied moves well enough to score high in each event.
Pierson considers floor exercise his best routine and is also strong on the parallel bars, the rings and the vaulting horse. He worked mostly in floor exercise, rings and parallel bars in high school and had to learn to work the other equipment, such as the trampoline, the side horse and the high-bar, when he came to KU as a freshman two years ago.
Floor exercise combines tumbling and balancing in a routine performed freely on a mat and is usually the first event in a gymnastics meet.
Floor exercise difficult
"I think floor exercise is the hardest event because you have to make 35 or 40 moves in one routine where on other apparatus you only make about 11," Pierson said.
When the Big Eight eliminated tumbling as a gymnastic event four years ago, it was combined with floor exercise. Pierson had not tumbled in high school and had to learn to tumble in his routines at KU.
"The judges look for tumbling ability as much as they do free exercise, so you have to have it in your routine," he said.
Pierson has scored a 9.35 out of a possible 10 in floor exercise this year, which is the highest score recorded in the Big Eight. This is not, however, the only event in which he has placed in the select nine and over circle.
He has also recorded scores of 9.15 on the rings, 9.40 on the long horse and 9.20 on the parallel bars.
Rings require stamina
"The rings are pure strength," he said. "If you're strong you can work them well, but they take a lot of stamina. The vaulting horse is an apparatus you can learn to work in a week and score well," he said.
In the last home gymnastics meet against Oklahoma, Pierson performed a vault on the long horse which he termed the best he's ever done. Unfortunately, he hit just out of a foul zone and the vault didn't count.
"I never hit a vault like that," he said.
As in any sport, a tremendous amount of psychological preparation is necessary in a gymnastics meet. Because it is easy to be injured on the equipment, gymnasts have to be ready and confident that their routines are going to go right.
"I went to the nationals in Tucson as a senior in high school and was working on the vaulting horse. I ran to the board but missed my takeoff and smacked straight into the horse. Everyone thought I was dead," Pierson said. "It takes a long time to get over the fear of vaulting after something like that, but once you have it mastered you're all right." he added.
Pierson thinks this psychology extends to the team as well as the individual.
KC team named
The Kansas City whatchamp-callits have been officially named the Royals in a vote taken today by the baseball club's board of directors. The name was selected from entries turned in by the public.
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