Winning at the Battlefield

York, PA: November 20-21, 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the Tim Weaver Battlefield Invitational. This was a heart-warming and successful weekend for the Temple Men's Gymnastics team. We sent 12 of our team members to work all weekend long to help the meet hosts from Hanover Gymnastics. The men provided help with data entry, awards, selling T-shirts, and tearing down the equipment to pack up and put away into the trailers. Lisa Pratt of Hanover Gymnastics ran a smooth and highly professional event for the gymnasts. We were favored with the presence of AAI member Steve Hass. Steve has a true talent for public speaking and has worked his way into announcing gymnastics meets over the years. All weekend long, Steve gave shoutouts to TUMG and made sure to inform the public about that status of our team and how we need to financially support ourselves.

There were many Temple Owls in the field, as usual. Aside from our team members, half of the judges for the men's competition and several coaches out there in the field of play are TUMG alumni. The lifecycle continues as we watched future Owl, Jason Wenzel, compete in the Battlefield Invitational. Our team members spoke with fans and prospective students and parents at every session. Pictured below is junior, Matt Coljohn, manning our table. Thanks to those that donated and purchased our new shirts!

After the meet concluded, the guys helped tear down the gym and worked efficiently with the AAI crew and volunteers from the Hanover Gym. Just before we finished the job at 10:00 PM, we received some exciting news.

The winner of the 50/50 raffle wanted to donate the funds back to the TUMG program! We were thrilled to hear this news and were in disbelief. Thank you Megan Burns from Roth's Crosspoint! This excitement came at a great time and was the perfect motivation for the guys to finish the teardown job at the end of a long weekend. Upon completion of everything, Lisa Pratt and Hanover Gym donated the other half of the 50/50 money back to our program! We were further in disbelief and fortunate to be involved with such generous, goodhearted people.

A big thank you to Steve Hass, Lisa Pratt, and Hanover Gymnastics for the massive support and help during the Battlefield weekend. The TUMG members can feel and see the community support. They can also see how much you all want TUMG to succeed.

Look out for us at our next stop at the Liberty Cup in Oaks, PA! Go Owls!