A five-time All-American athlete, Margie Foster-Cunningham led her Penn State gymnastics team to a national championship in 1980. Three decades later, she is GW’s longest-tenured coach with 25 years at the helm of the gymnastics team and a host of accolades to her name, including being named Atlantic 10 coach of the year four times.
Her 12-member team began its season Jan. 17 in the Lindsey Ferris Invitational, placing third out of six teams. The team’s season includes a total of 12 meets and runs until late March.
Q: What do gymnastics competitions involve at the college level? Which apparatus tends to be most challenging for athletes?
A: Each team puts six competitors up on each event—vault, floor exercise, uneven bars and balance beam—to represent their team. Of the six athletes, the five highest scores count toward the team total. Each apparatus presents its own challenges, but many athletes say that the balance beam presents quite a challenge.
Q: What are the most important attributes for a gymnast?
A: Commitment, resilience, ability to adapt, self motivation and high standards of excellence.
Q: When did you start in gymnastics?
A: I started gymnastics at the age of 8. My father was my coach. He played professional baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals system. He coached football, baseball and basketball at our local high school. When I became interested in gymnastics he became a student of the sport of gymnastics, and we learned together. I learned very quickly that to succeed I could out work most people and outlast the rest!
Q: Any predictions for the season? Any athletes in particular you’d like to highlight?
A: We have a very young team this year. Team captain Meg Quinn and NCAA qualifiers Leslie Delima and Amanda Murphy are the leading returning performers for us this season. Kayla Carto and Stephanie Stoicovy are two standout talents who should have a huge impact on GW gymnastics’ success this season.
Q: What do you like about coaching?
A: Coaching women’s gymnastics at GW for the past 25 years has been an honor. To work with bright, talented, young student-athletes every day has truly been a magnificent adventure!
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