Inside Interview: David Sender

David Sender went from the high of earning his first National Championship in Houston, straight back to the daily grind of, not only training for Trials, but also taking finals at Stanford, where he’s in his senior year as a biological sciences major. (Sender, whose father is an ER doctor and mother was a nurse, hopes to go on to veterinary school.)

So far, Sender has been almost too busy to enjoy his unexpected victory … And he hopes his summer stays non-stop, as he pushes forward to what he hopes will be his first Olympic berth in Beijing.

Inside Gymnastics got the goods from the new National Champ after his finals were finished and before he heads to Philly …

INSIDE: In most years, being the National Champion would be a major goal for every gymnast, but this year it’s just the first step in making the Olympic Team. Where do you go from here?

SENDER: We went back after Championships and most of the work we do between Championships and Olympic Trials is just really detail work. We’ve been working on the rhythm of a routine, … just trying to work towards perfection before Olympic Trials. That’s basically the main goal of the training for the past couple of weeks.

Then, we leave for Olympic Trials on Sunday.

INSIDE: Is your goal at Trials to earn one of those guaranteed berths, which would require increasing your event rankings? [NOTE: The top two all-arounders, combined Trials and Nationals total, will make the team IF they’re also amongst the top three on three events. Currently, Sender is ranked first on vault and fourth on floor and high bar. See “Selection Breeds Success” for more details on how, and when, the men’s and women’s Olympic teams will be finalized.]

SENDER: The ultimate goal is to make the Olympic Team, so whatever I can do to help those chances, to secure that, is what I’m going to do. I’m not going to try and look at, ‘Well, I have to do this well to make it,’ because that’s not necessarily true, because I could still be selected onto the team.

My biggest goal, I guess, is just to do the same thing I did at Championships. Keep everything pretty light and just knock out each routine and hopefully that will work well again.

INSIDE: Is this process of selection, versus straight competition, more stressful? Your fate is in somebody else’s hands.

SENDER: Gymnasts, in general, tend to be a little bit of control freaks; very goal-oriented people. To kind of leave it in someone else’s hands has never been the favorite, I’m sure, of any gymnast, but it’s something we kind of have to live with, work with. That’s the system we have set up.

I just kind of try and ignore some of that, because I can tend to be a little bit of a control freak. I just have to do my job. My job is to go out there and do my gymnastics. That’s all I can worry about. I don’t need to worry about the selection stuff, or who is doing what. I just need to worry about doing my job.

That’s all I can worry about, really.

INSIDE: Last year that selection process didn’t work in your favor, when people who finished below you at Championships were put on the World Team and you were not. Does that still sting?

SENDER: The goal is always to make the Olympics and you’re always kind of working towards that. I wouldn’t say not making the World Championships team last year was a setback—I mean, it wasn’t a step forward, obviously.

(big sigh) I guess the best way I can look at it is that whatever I did at Championships last year wasn’t good enough to the Selection Committee, so I just need to be better. To make sure there’s no doubt that I can be on the team.

INSIDE: How much of this whole process is luck? Staying healthy, being in the right place, at the right time, and being good on the events that the team happens to need?

SENDER: I wouldn’t necessarily say it is luck, because it’s kind of up to them (the Selection Committee), it’s whatever team they put together that [determines] what events need to be filled.

But, you’re right, absolutely—you never really know, like I was talking earlier about uncertainty—it’s just one of the things we have to work with.

And, honestly, they could put together almost any group, well not any group, but multiple groups, from the 14 guys on the National Team and still have a great Olympic Team. So, it becomes about maximizing the tenths they can get.

Again, all I can do is do my gymnastics. Show them what my gymnastics is, what my strong points are, and, hopefully, that should be good enough to make the team.

INSIDE: Do you have a scenario in your mind that makes you a lock for the team? Something you can do that would make it impossible for them NOT to select you, even if you don’t meet the all-around criteria?

SENDER: I think, definitely after Championships, they should look at me as an all-arounder, someone who, at least in the 6-5-4 [team prelims] format, could be really valuable to the team. Aside from that, I just need to make sure that my stronger events look good—floor, rings and vault are where I usually do the best.

I just need to make sure that those look great. That I’m in the top three, or close to it, on all three of those events and then the other three events, as long as they stay consistent, like at Championships, I’d say that’s probably the best I can do.

INSIDE: You were one of the youngest athletes at the 2004 Olympic Trials. What did you learn from that experience?

SENDER: Honestly, I think the biggest thing is just being at the Olympic Trials. It was daunting. In 2004, I was 18 years old and it was first time I was on senior [National] team. It was just kind of, like, the season lasted forever. It felt like years. And it was just kind of that experience—the really long season and being at Olympic Trials for the first time—so it’s not, like, such a shock this time to be there.

I know what the procedure is like, how things are going to work. How to deal with the cameras. It’s just that kind of experience, of having been there before, that should really help this time. I don’t have to worry about all that stuff, basically.

INSIDE: Did you have any time to celebrate and enjoy being the National Champion before you jumped right back into training for Trials and studying for finals?

SENDER: I didn’t really have a lot of time. I think I had a day off when we got back, and that was pretty much it. It was back in the gym.

Still, I did in little bits. Not that I got to relax at all, in terms of my gymnastics, but you have those little times of celebration. There are still people coming up to me and congratulating me, that saw me on TV, or whatever. That can be kind of fun.

(laughs) Honestly, I’m not a huge celebrating person. I don’t really do exciting stuff all that much. So, doing without that, wasn’t a horrible thing for me. … I was perfectly fine to not have some huge celebration and just stay out of the limelight a little bit.

INSIDE: Has being the National Champ raised your profile and, if so, is that a good or bad thing?

SENDER: Yes, definitely, it has.  … Most significantly, aside from, like, the public stuff, I think within the gymnastics community my standing has been raised a little bit.

I’m going to try not to look at it as any extra pressure, coming into Olympic Trials as the National Champion. Again, just keep everything light.

I would hope it’s going to be a positive thing. I don’t intend to get caught up in the media stuff, or all the attention. I’m just going to go out there and worry about my gymnastics. Everything else that goes on is not really something I can control and I’ll just deal with it, or whatever. I’m fine just to kind of ignore it all.

INSIDE: Did you watch the TV coverage last weekend of your win?

SENDER: Honestly? I hate to watch myself on TV. I hate how I look, and I just kind of worry about that the whole time, instead of watching the gymnastics.

… But I think the biggest thing I got out of it was seeing how everyone else competed, everyone they showed on TV at least. Because I, obviously, while competing, didn’t get to see what everyone else was doing. It was kind of nice to see how everyone else did, how everyone else looked. I could kind of compare myself to that, and [see] where I could improve, where someone looked better than me. You know, things I need to fix.

From a critical standpoint it was definitely helpful.

INSIDE: What else should people know about David Sender?

SENDER: Well, I have a tendency to talk to the [pommel] horse. Honestly, I don’t know how uncommon that is (laughs).

I definitely talk to the horse a lot. Just from working on it all the time, and having struggled on it so much, it’s basically developed a personality over the years.

So, yes, I talk to the horse, just during training or whatever and people tend to find that, (laughs) well, kind of weird.

(laughing) Sometimes, on a bad day, it’s [taunting] me. Sometimes, on a good day, we can work together.

INSIDE: What would it mean to you to make this Olympic Team?

SENDER: Ahh, everything, basically. This is the culmination of gymnastics. This is what every gymnast works for. And, yeah, it absolutely would mean quite a bit to make the team. A dream come true, basically.

Since I’m almost positive I’m not going to go for another four years, this is my shot. If it doesn’t work this time, I probably won’t ever do it again.

INSIDE: Do you think there’s any chance the U.S. National Champ won’t make the squad?

SENDER: I hope not!

If I don’t perform at Trials they absolutely could leave me off the team.

(laughs) Like I said, I really, REALLY hope not. I’d have to be pretty bad, I hope, at Trials not to make it. But, nobody is secured yet. Anything could happen, technically.

INSIDE: In a worst-case scenario situation, say, you don’t make the team, has it still all been worth it?

SENDER: Yeah, I think so. Honestly I don’t know if I’m 100 percent decided on [whether I’ll retire]. It kind of depends on how things go this year.

I’d like to think I made whatever impact I was going to on the sport; that I’ve kind of done what I can so far. I like to live without regrets, basically, so I don’t think I’ve held back in any way. I wouldn’t regret the time I’ve spent in the sport.

But, at the same time, [if I don’t make it,] I don’t know whether I’ll be ready to be done.

And look for more on Sender, and the 2008 National Championships, in the July/August issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine. As well as complete coverage of the Olympic Trials, all next week, right here on insidegymnastics.com.