The men’s and women’s gymnastics teams have entered a new chapter in their program’s history with the opening of the new Fiterman Training Center. The women’s gymnastics team hosted the first-ever home competition against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and finished with a score of 188.875, the second-highest in program history, as well as best home score in program history.
Steve and Susan Fiterman were the major donors in the creation of the Fiterman Training Center. Both individuals graduated from Simpson in the class of 1968, where Steve Fiterman was an economics major, and Susan Fiterman majored in elementary education. Steve Fiterman has also been a member of the board of trustees since 1995.
Senior gymnastics member, Annika Cole, spoke about what the new facility meant to her.
“Walking in the main doors I would say is really cool, especially when people are practicing because you just look around and there’s people doing flips everywhere and you’re like okay this is the real deal,” Cole said. “It’s kind of euphoric in a way, because it’s like wow we really have our own facility.”
The Fiterman Training Center not only amplifies practice and performance, but also saves the gymnasts time and money by having in-ground pits. Women’s head coach Emily Barrett Payne gives major credit to the improvements this new facility provides.
“In order to get the soft landings we had to drive 30 minutes, we’d do that roughly two to three times a week the whole year,” Barrett Payne said. “So not having to do that is great just from a liability standpoint and a time standpoint and safety.”
The Fiterman Training Center also provides much more practice space and allows the gymnasts to practice as a full team, which wasn’t possible in their old spot in Cowles Fieldhouse.
“It’s allowing us to have practices with all 29 of them there which helps build team camaraderie, the energy is better and they’re louder during practice,” Barrett Payne said. “Our meet was very loud, so it’s been good to have that environment in practice too.”
Cole also believes having their own space helps their team bond.
“It’s helped us focus on ourselves, it’s more about building our team culture in that we’re able to play the music as loud as we want,” Cole said. “We’re able to goof off a little bit more and just kind of be as loud as we want and it’s just for ourselves. We don’t have to keep a certain level down because there’s another sport that’s practicing on the courts.”
Barrett Payne said recruiting will take a leap with the new facility.
“From a varsity standpoint, I think we’ll be able to recruit a lot more higher level athletes because they’ll be able to see the space they’ll get to train in and what they’ll be able to accomplish,” Barrett Payne said. “Then my hope is to recruit athletes that, you know maybe they weren’t a super high level gymnast, but they loved the sport and they just want to keep training and having fun with it and knowing they have their own space to do that.”
Women’s gymnastics has its next home meet against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Feb. 15, and the men’s next home meet is on Feb. 21 against the United States Military Academy, West Point.
