For once, Illinois head coach Justin Spring was silent.

The Illinois men’s gymnastics team was supposed to have Sunday off. However, the team captains felt that the Illini needed to have a team meeting after a shocking loss to Iowa on Saturday night.

“We figured out that our meet on Saturday was a wake-up call,” senior Yoshi Mori said. “Unfortunately, it was too late. But we changed our mentality.”

Before Monday afternoon’s practice, Spring led the usual team meeting. He normally explains to the Illini what they need to improve on, what he wants to see during practice and any other details for the upcoming meet. This Monday, the team meeting began with silence.

“I said ‘What’s up? How’d the weekend go?’” Spring sarcastically said. “I’m sick of talking and I wanted to hear it from them. And they said, ‘That was embarrassing. We are a better team than that. We know we should be.’ It was good to not have to talk for once and have it come from them.”

Drastic changes were made at the beginning of this week’s training. The style of practice was one of the most important alterations. Though gymnastics is an individual sport, a support system was desperately needed.

“We felt like we were lone soldiers out here,” sophomore Josh Wilson said. “We were kind of on our own late in practice when the specialists are done, but people who do multiple events are still lingering. It’s hard to stay motivated when you are one of the last ones still working.”

Illinois has now been practicing more simulation events as a team. Before each event the men huddle together, talk about the event and end the huddle with a chant. The setup is very similar to how a real meet is conducted. Every Illini circles around the apparatus, watching their teammates perform, cheering him on.

“When you are up there you are listening to everyone,” Wilson said. “Every one has little sounds they make, I bark. We do dumb things but it gets people going. They yell ‘roll tide’ at me because I’m from the South. So just small things that keep them motivated while they are doing their set.”

In addition to support, Mori personally felt he needed another change. Suffering multiple injuries this season, he didn’t change the difficulty of his routines. This weekend was a harsh reality for Mori because as it stands now, he can’t perform the same routines.

“I’ve been struggling with my gymnastics,” he said. “I’m getting a lot more support now because I let it all out in the meeting. I’ve had meetings with my coaches, but never with my guys. My guys are helping me more than anyone.”

After both meetings, the energy in the gym rose. During every team set, screams and cheers could be heard booming in Kenney Gym. High fives were given after every performance, and the support was contagious. Spring is pleased with the improvements this week, but knows there is still a lot of work to be done.

“Every one seems to be in the right direction, but once again it’s just like me beating them over the head with some ideologies that I know need to be taken on,” Spring said. “But just because I said it doesn’t mean it’s going to be taken on. Just because the team had a meeting doesn’t automatically cure our lack of commitment of detail to the gym and our habits outside the gym and our lack of confidence when we compete. That’s a process.

“Things have been better in the gym and hopefully that change and the mental state is what it takes. I have a positive feeling about it.”

Gina can be reached at [email protected] and @muelle30.