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| Justin Spring, who competed with the U.S. Olympic bronze-medal-winning team in Beijing, is associate head coach of the Illinois men's gymnastics team. |
2008 Olympian and current Illinois Associate Head Men's Gymnastics Coach Justin Spring took questions from fans on Tuesday, Aug. 18. See what he had to say about his decision to coach, this year's team and the possibility of coming back for the 2012 Olympics, among other topics.
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| Moderator: Ok, we're here at Kenney Gym with Justin and we've got a lot of good questions already. Justin will answer the first question here in a couple minutes but in the meantime please keep sending them in! We'll get to as many as we can today. |
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| John (Urbana): I saw your proposal at the Superstars Tour! Congrats! When is the wedding??? |
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Justin Spring: Tori and I are getting married in May 2010 in Champaign. We're still working on a lot of the minor details, but all the major stuff like the venue and DJ are all locked up. I can't wait for it! |
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| Anthony (Chicago): Hey Justin, congrats on the bronze medal at the Olympics! Where do you keep it? |
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Justin Spring: I have a room at my house here in Champaign that's filled with all my awards and accomplishments throughout the years and it sits among all of that. No special place for it, really, it's just on display in my house. |
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| David (Dallas): Any regrets on retiring from competition? Visa's definitely weren't the same without you competing out there! |
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Justin Spring: No regrets. I'm fortunate to be in a position that is in a lot of ways more rare than making an Olympic team. There are so few men's gymnastics programs left that I'm honored to be in charge of one of the best...the one that I grew to love as a student-athlete!
I do miss competing at times and there were a few times in Dallas where it was weird worrying about responsibilities as a coach rather than worring about myself as an athlete. But I have to tell you I definitely don't miss training for competition and I love coaching at Illinois! |
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| Ann (Springfield): Hey Justin! Just wondered if you still keep in touch with your Olympic teammates and how often you guys get to see each other with your busy schedules? |
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Justin Spring: This Olympic team got along better than any Olympic team in the past because of the roller coaster ride we had to go through. From the loss of two teammates and the fact that we were all Olympic rookies really brought us together. We keep in touch very frequently and it was great to catch up with them at Visa's. They'll all be at the wedding to celebrate this May. |
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| Adam (Chicago): What does Ivan bring to the team? I think the two of you could give your two best guys on the team a run for their money! |
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Justin Spring: Ivan is a technical master at the sport of gymnastics. His years of experience as an athlete and a coach bring order and structure to our training and strength program throughout the year. I think the fact that Ivan and I are both freshly out of competition gives us some credibility and helps us relate to our team when discussing training plans and routine preparations. Ivan and I can still hold our own in the gym but our job now demands that we make our guys better than we ever were! |
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| Marcus (Chicago): Justin, I heard that David Sender is going to Vet school down there. Any chance he'll be hanging around the gym this fall? |
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Justin Spring: Actually David and I will both be going back to school in a week. I'm starting my master's in sports management and David is starting Vet school. We've spoke about him possibly coming into the gym to train if he has time or maybe even helping out with our team. Right now it's still all up in the air as to how much he'll be around. |
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| Savoy: How do you think this year's Illini team will look? Do you have any big freshmen coming in? |
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Justin Spring: The team should be solid and I think we'll we in the mix for another Big Ten Championship. Almost everyone was around training this summer so our returning guys should all be improved next year. Our freshmen from last year tapped into some of their talent and improved significantly over the summer and with veterans like Paul, Daniel, Luke and Roger returning I think we can be even better. As of now we do have one freshman, Malcolm Brown, coming in and I think he can step-in and replace the loss of Chris Lung on pommel horse right away. |
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| Ben - illinois: What is your best memory as an Illini? |
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Justin Spring: This might surprise a lot of people, but I think when we made team finals my freshman year in 2003 for the first time in a while was a very memorable moment. As a freshman I didn't really understand the intensity of our seniors but as I grew up I learned to not take qualifying for granted. Since then we've become one of the most consistent programs in the nation, winning two Big Ten titles and qualifying to NCAA team finals every year since then. |
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| Tim (Urbana): Hey Justin, it's been fun following your career! Now that you're a coach, do you think Paul Ruggeri is going to break all of your Illinois records? |
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Justin Spring: Yes, and I'm not happy about it! Just kidding...I couldn't be more proud of Paul and what he's done in his first two years. I look forward to coaching him and watching him easily break all my records as an NCAA gymnast. |
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| Casey (Savoy): Hey Justin! We're glad you're still at Illinois! How has it been working with Bob Starkell? He's done a great job with the women's team to bring them to the same level as the men have always been! |
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Justin Spring: Bob has been an incredible mentor. It's been great having him around to bounce ideas off of when making important decisions for the first time. His experience and leadership with the women's team shows how well he knows how to run a program. |
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| Steph (Iowa): What was it like going on tour in the fall? Are you friends with Shawn and Nastia? |
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Justin Spring: The tour was a once-in-a-lifetime experience just like the Olympics was. Both the women's and men's Olympic teams used the tour to celebrate our accomplishments in Beijing and it was great to see the thousands of fans that came out so support us every night. After the tour we call ourselves more of a family rather than just teammates. |
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| Lorton, Va: Having just finished coaching at the VISA championships in Dallas how do you feel about your role as a coach versus an athlete yourself, love mom |
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Justin Spring: Hey mom! You know the feeling is bittersweet. I loved competing but I couldn't have asked for a better situation here at Illinois and I can't wait for our season to start! |
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| Norman, OK: What do you say to all of those critics out there that say you are too young and inexperienced to be the head coach of such a prestigious University? |
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Justin Spring: With the experience that both Ivan and I have training and competing at the highest level so recently I think it truly keeps us in touch with how to train today's elite gymnasts. With Bob Starkell overseeing a lot of the administrative things for this first year I think my transition to head coach has been smooth and will continue to be. |
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| Moderator: Justin's taking a short break to order some Jimmy John's, but he'll be back to finish off the last couple questions in a couple minutes. |
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| Tina (Champaign): Now with Daniel as an alternate on the US World team and also having Paul and Luke participate in the Visa Championships, how do you plan to enhance and promote your team to achieve higher goals in the sport of gymnastics. It was WONDERFUL to see such a strong representation of the Univ. of Illinois Mens program at Dallas. |
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Justin Spring: Our goal is to be the best NCAA team that we can, but another thing on our agenda is consistently putting guys onto the national team. Training guys to that elite level will only help our team and will show recruits that if they have the desire to compete for the national team or even in the Olympics they can accomplish that here at Illinois. |
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| Alexis (Virginia): It sounds like you love coaching, but is there any chance you make a comeback before 2012??? |
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Justin Spring: I'm really enjoying my first year coaching the Illini, but I'll never rule anything out. With Sender out here as a possible training partner, it could make training and returning to competition a little more enticing. With that said, I haven't really touched any equipment in eight months and am focused solely on my coaching career at this point. |
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Justin Spring: I've got to get going, but thanks for all the great questions! I hope to see you all out at Huff Hall this season! |
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| Moderator: Be sure to join us for our next Lunchtime Chat on Thursday, Aug. 20, with Illini tight end Michael Hoomanawanui. Send in questions for "Uh Oh" HERE |
| Moderator: Check out recaps of all this summer's Lunchtime Chats HERE |
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