Rachel Gowey's earned three balance beam wins in 2019. She's one of five Gators to claim SEC Weekly honors in 2019, as she claimed the Jan. 22 SEC Specialist of the Week award.
Growth in Confidence Helps Rachel Gowey Boost Gator Scoring
Wednesday, February 20, 2019 | Gymnastics
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Rachel Gowey, a junior All-American, is a reliable Gator performer on bars and beam.
By: Lauren Staff
Two rare things happened last Friday.
One was Florida claimed its first dual meet win at Alabama in 40 years.
The other was that the Gator lineup at No. 9 Alabama was without junior All-American Rachel Gowey.
Prior to last Friday, Gowey appeared every meet – including each bars and beam lineup – of her Gator career. After her string of 33 consecutive meets, Gowey was rested from competition as she looks to return to the lineup later this season.
She's been a staple of the No. 3 Gators beam and bar rotations, events that she had excelled on when she competed for the U.S. National Team and in the 2016 Olympic Trials prior to college.
But while she has always been a talented and experienced gymnast, her coaches thought when she arrived in Gainesville, she was lacking confidence in herself and her skills.
"We knew when she came in as a freshman that her potential was unlimited," Florida coach Jenny Rowland said. "She just had to believe that when she came here."
Now, two years later, she is one of Florida's most reliable competitors, consistently contributing high scores for her team meet in and meet out.
Rachel Gowey earned All-America honors in both bars and beam at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
All but one of her beam scores this season have been a 9.90 or up, and she helped Florida post the highest bar rotation in school history on Jan. 25 versus Kentucky.
She also earned Southeastern Conference Specialist of the Week after winning the balance beam title at No. 5 LSU with a season-best 9.925.
"We've always had that confidence in her, and we've really been working hard to instill that confidence in her," Rowland said. "And now she believes it. She owns it, she owns her gymnastics, and it's really fun to see."
The Urbandale, Iowa, native has also seen that improvement in herself.
"Since freshman year, I feel like I've gained a lot more confidence in myself and in my routines," Gowey said. "My routines haven't changed a whole lot, so I feel like gaining confidence in those routines makes it easier to compete them as the years go on."
Over the last three seasons, she has also grown as a leader.
As a former elite competitor, she knew firsthand how difficult the transition to college and collegiate gymnastics can be, so she has tried to be a role model for her younger teammates, especially the freshman who are experiencing everything for the first time.
"Showing them that college gymnastics is more fun and less stressful is the most important thing," she said. "The upperclassmen's work ethic reflects upon the freshman, too. They see how hard we work, so they want to work just as hard."
