StickItMedia Exclusive Interview

Dominic Morris got off to an early start in gymnastics. At six months he was doing chin-ups and skin-the-cats. At two he jumped out of the family’s backyard treehouse onto a trampoline. Then at age three he was climbing trees and freaking out neighbors when he climbed up onto the roof of his grandparent’s three-story house. Deirdre and Joe Morris had already enrolled their son in a “Mommy and Me” gymnastics class at age two-and-a-half, mainly because “the kid had to be taught how to land!”

In no time, he had to be moved up to the six-year-old class. He was soon doing punch fronts on the tumble track at two-and-a-half, flipping over the vault at three-and-a-half, and doing back handsprings at age four. By the time he was five, he had gone through eight gyms in the Seattle area, mainly because they didn’t know what to do with him. He did what he wanted, and it was nearly impossible to harness all of his energy.

Finally, Coach Guennadi Komissarov at Metropolitan Gymnastics (Kent, WA) took an interest in Dominic, and all that energy started to be harnessed. Komissarov got the ball rolling and had Dominic competing at age five. Due to a family move away from Kent, Dominic eventually enrolled at Black Hills Gymnastics in Lacey, WA at age seven. Under the tutelage of Bob Young, who still coaches Dominic today, he was soon doing giants and a back full. Dominic found a great home at Black Hills.

Now, as a high school freshman with three years of national competition under his belt, Dominic Morris is preparing for his inaugural season as a level 10. As a three-year level 9, Morris impressively posted three straight top five finishes at J.O. Nationals, and he was the level 9 national champion on high bar in 2008.

A former Future Stars National Champion, Morris is a current member of the Junior National Team, along with teammate Alex Powarzynski. His Black Hills team won the J.O. Nationals team championship each of the past two seasons. This powerhouse club team plans to continue wreaking havoc at J.O. Nationals in 2009.

Dominic Morris has a very bright future.  StickItMedia recently had the pleasure of interviewing this impressive young man:

SiM:  What were some of the highlights of competing at J.O. Nationals the past three years?

Dominic:  I’ve always really liked the competition at the hometown gigs, because the venues really aren’t that big and the judging wasn’t too serious.  At J.O.s, being with all the best competitors really helped me see how I did compared to everybody else.  Really, that was one of my favorite things, to be able to see people like Danell Leyva and John Orozco, who were way better than me.  I was able to see where I stood.

SiM:  Other than J.O.s, what have been some of your favorite meets?

Dominic:  I think Pacific Coast Classic and Stanford are the good ones I’ve competed at.

SiM:  What have been some of your major obstacles and challenges to remaining highly competitive?

Dominic:  I’ve grown maybe a foot in the last two years, and I broke my leg this past summer playing soccer.

SiM:  What is your biggest challenge for the upcoming season?

Dominic:  Probably just getting my routines together for the all-around and working on the vault.  I really don’t have a vault.

SiM:  What have you learned most from your peers?

Dominic:  Actually, I am probably friends with all of them.  I like knowing what the other gymnasts are working on and what I need to do next.  I enjoy working with other guys, talking to them and hearing new tricks and techniques that I should try.  Especially the older guys at the camp – they will give you tips and tell you how to do stuff.

SiM:  What inspires you to compete?

Dominic:  I’ve always liked competing; it’s probably one of my favorite things about the sport.  I don’t get that nervous any more, because I’m older.  My teammates and I cheer for each other and have a lot of fun.  It’s fun to go out as a team, because we usually do pretty well.

You are a former Future Stars National Champion.  What is your honest assessment of the Future Stars program?

Dominic:  That was probably one of my favorites.   I liked being able to go to the camps to learn the harder stuff.  So the younger kids, even if they are still in level 5 and just learning giants on the high bar, they get to learn the Future Stars routines.  That pushes them farther than they normally would.

SiM:  What new skill would you like to master during the 2009 season?

Dominic:  Kasamatsu vault.

SiM:  What is your hardest event?

Dominic:  Definitely the vault.  I can’t work it that long because it’s hard on my legs and I don’t have very good ones.  I have an OK floor exercise, surprisingly, but my vault is not very good at all.

SiM:  What advice would you give to a new young gymnast?

Dominic:  You should always work hard and even if something doesn’t seem possible, you will get it eventually.

SiM:  What do you like to do other than gymnastics?

Dominic:  I read a lot, and I used to do inline skating until suffered a type III disconnection to my collar bone.  I stopped after that.  I was pretty good, and I used to compete a little bit.  If not for gymnastics, I’d do soccer, football and wrestling.

SiM:  What are your academic and gymnastics goals for the next four years?

Dominic:  With all the workload in gymnastics, my goal is to work hard enough and get enough credits and good grades to get into a pretty good college.  Outside of school, I had to do 10 hours of cardio, which I’ve never had to do before.  The important thing is to get all my classes and to go to the gym as much as I need to.

SiM:  What is your favorite thing about walking into the gym each day?

Dominic:  I look forward to the new trick I am going to try that day.  I look at the gym as something fun, so I like working routines on high bar or a really hard trick on pommel horse.

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