UCLA gymnastics looks to bring home environment to NCAA Raleigh Regional

The Bruins may be traveling nearly 2,500 miles away from Pauley Pavilion to compete this weekend, but they plan to take the home atmosphere with them, according to senior Pauline Tratz.

“Being together in one space and having the energy all together has definitely helped us getting closer,” Tratz said. “Since we’ve already practiced this for the entire week, we just have to do the same thing in the arena tomorrow.”

No. 14 UCLA gymnastics will be competing as the No. 4 seed at the NCAA Raleigh Regional on Thursday with a chance to claim a spot in the 2022 NCAA championships. The Bruins must place in the top two in both the second round Thursday and regional finals Saturday to extend their 2022 campaign.

UCLA will compete against No. 3 Michigan, No. 20 Maryland and North Carolina on Thursday afternoon. Should the Bruins advance to the finals with a top-two finish, they will compete against the other top finisher in their session as well as the top two of No. 6 LSU, No. 11 Missouri, No. 22 Iowa and North Carolina State.

Tratz said although the team’s trip to Raleigh was long, the Bruins made the trip a day early to give the team some time to adjust to the environment.

“Traveling for long days is always a little tiring, especially with a long flight,” Tratz said. “But I think we did a good job in coming here a day early, and we went to a gym (Wednesday) to work out. … I think that’s really contributed to just a nice, light-hearted, fun practice feeling already.”

Away meets have posed a challenge for UCLA this season, as the blue and gold has posted its top four scores at Pauley Pavilion and has yet to eclipse the 197 mark on the road. The Bruins’ average team score of 197.385 at home is more than a full point higher than on the road, where UCLA is averaging a 196.085.

Coach Chris Waller said the Bruins are aware of this discrepancy and hope to recreate the feeling of a home meet in Raleigh.

“We practiced this past week on what it’s going to be like to rely on the Bruin Bubble,” Waller said. “We had really good gymnastics training, but so much of this is about coming out and having the energy from the first second.”

The Bruin Bubble – referring to the importance of relying on teammates and blocking out outside noise – is a concept that has been central to UCLA’s competitive strategy all year, according to Waller.

With the season on the line, sophomore Chae Campbell said relying on the Bruin Bubble will be paramount.

“When we keep our Bruin Bubble strong, we’re able to do amazing things,” Campbell said. “That is going to be important for us going into this week.”

One consistent aspect of home meets for the Bruins is the presence of The Den, UCLA’s student section, which often does the gymnasts’ floor choreography simultaneously in the stands in an act dubbed “Den-ography.”

Waller said UCLA plans to bring The Den to Raleigh by imitating the student section themselves, which junior Kalyany Steele termed “sidelineography.”

“Pretty much every person on the team was contributing and having ideas about how we can improve moving into the regionals, and most of it was frankly the sidelineography,” Waller said. “Most of it was stuff outside of the flips. Because we are at our best when we bring the Pauley performance on the road.”

In addition to the challenges that come with being away from Westwood, UCLA will also bring a relatively inexperienced roster to Raleigh for the NCAA regionals.

As the season has progressed, freshmen contributions have only increased for the blue and gold. On all events but vault at the Pac-12 championships, three of the six Bruins in the lineup were freshmen.

“When you have that many freshmen in the lineup, you have to go over everything – what the warmups look like, what events we start on,” Waller said. “We’ve got to go over every little detail so that they understand how it all works. … There’s a learning curve that has to happen.”

However, Tratz said she is confident that the freshmen, most of whom have competed internationally as elites prior to arriving at UCLA, will be able to withstand the pressure at regionals.

“I’m not worried,” Tratz said. “I think they can teach me.”

Competition will begin for UCLA at 4 p.m. on Thursday and will be televised on ESPN+. Should the Bruins advance, they would take to the competition floor once more Saturday at 2 p.m. for the regional finals.