February 05, 2010

Gym Dogs: McCool

I walked through the 3 sets of double doors leading to the Georgia Gymnastics training facility for the final time today. Last week I pushed the gymnastics beat writer Roger Clarkson to do a feature so I could do one last Gym Dogs sportrait. Of course it could be of no one other than former Olympian and current superstar senior Courtney McCool. She is currently No. 2 in the nation on floor exercise. McCool was the first gymnast I met and photographed back at the start of the 2008 season. I was still bumbling around with lighting at that point.

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Courtney McCool during her sophomore season

When the 5' tall beaming athlete approached I was immediately struck by her charisma. She was all smiles, incredibly outgoing, and assertive. I liked her instantly. Over the next two seasons I had a total of 6 photo sessions that included McCool. I didn't even mind when she took control with her own ideas or told me she didn't like a picture. It was always refreshing to photograph someone that really contributed to the shoot. Of all the athletes I've shot Courtney McCool cares the most about creating the best image we can.
Today I set up for the shoot, bouncing around the squishy mats and floor for the last time, until an enthusiastic McCool bounded towards me wanting to know what we were doing. We did two shots. The first is the opening pose of her floor routine. For the second I asked her to do one of her leaps. We got lucky in the first couple of tries and got the shot, but McCool wasn't done. She ran to see what we had after each attempt and insisted on going again and again trying to perfect something that already seemed perfect to me.
When it was over it was sad to say goodbye. She gave me a hug and demanded I can't go. I got to tell her how gymnastics has been my favorite thing I've covered during my time
at the Athens Banner-Herald. I will face many more sad goodbyes in the next two days as my two weeks notice comes to an end. One wonderful thing about saying goodbye is learning that you truly will be missed and getting to tell people how you really feel about them.

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Georgia senior gymnast Courtney McCool

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Georgia senior gymnast Courtney McCool

Read Roger's story HERE.

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