New Leadership, Same Goal: Buckeye Men’s Gymnastics Chases a Ring
11/14/2025 11:13:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics
With the season on the horizon and the Ohio State men's gymnastics team having their sights set on winning a national championship, the Buckeyes look to their captains Jesse Pakele and Justin Ciccone to lead them to success.
The pair of senior gymnasts have observed multiple styles of leadership over their gymnastics careers at Ohio State and have been taking notes so they could be the best leaders for their team this upcoming season. Ciccone has prior experience leading this team as a second-year captain, but he feels that this season is different because he gets to lead with his best friend who he shares the same goals with.
"I definitely made a lot of mistakes last year, trying to make sure everyone's on the same page of things. Communication was hard between me, the coaches and [Kameron Nelson] sometimes – it was definitely a very difficult but very great learning experience for me. I got to find myself as a leader at that time. I did get injured towards postseason, and I got to sit back and just really see myself, how I can become better next year," said Ciccone. "Finding my leadership which is, as a transformational leader, inspiring the guys to be the better version of themselves, making sure I'm inspiring them in and out of the gym, because I want them to reach their best selves. The difference between this year, obviously, I'm working with my best friend. This is, in the past few months, been the best time that I have had being a captain."
Pakele is going into his first season as a captain for the Buckeyes and he also notices many differences between the leadership last season compared to this season in terms of co-captain chemistry and overall goals of the team.
"It's way easier to have someone with the same goals as you and we do live together so it's easier as we can knock things out together at home. Having [Justin Ciccone] have this background of going through this whole cycle together is very reassuring to the guys and me, that this is the same thing he's gone through last year. Even though it's maybe the hardest day, my body feels terrible, but having this background that he had last year, the suffering and all that pain is going to be so worth it. We're chasing that ring this year, and he and I are going to graduate this year. We don't want to leave empty handed – there's no other option," said Pakele.
The mindset is different for this team because of the ambitious goals they are trying to achieve this season. Off-season training started with the new captains before the summer, giving Pakele and Ciccone the time to create training plans and brotherhood ties with their teammates.
"We have a whole plan set up. We basically broke it down into phases and the first three months from June, we had phase one - which was working on our brotherhood mindset and practice manners, like putting your phone in the box when you get in the gym, stretching together and really building that foundation to set us up for the later months," said Pakele. "From there, we just went phase-by-phase on what we needed to work on, technique-wise and everything else. We changed our whole conditioning and strength plan so that's all very organized now. Everything we do, we come in, look at the board, knock out all the strength that we have planned, and then go to the coaches for assignments and we attack from there."
"Each month or before each phase, we always go over what this phase's goals are – making sure we're going to hit each goal in that phase. Our first phase was literally just building brotherhood. It wasn't even mainly gymnastics focused. It was mainly about building the team in and out of the gym, making sure we're doing all those things to have the most cohesive team because team chemistry is one of the biggest things when it comes to winning a national championship or a Big Ten title," said Ciccone.
A goal of Pakele and Ciccone's is to make every teammate feel welcome and cared about, letting their leadership styles and morals shine through. The team is these captains' top priority, and they are willing to go out of their way to make each member feel as comfortable and confident as possible.
"The main thing with Justin and I is making sure that we're making this space a very open, welcoming environment, especially with the freshmen that we have," said Pakele. "There's one guy, he came from [Casimiro Suarez]'s club team, and another, he's from Ohio as well, so making sure that they're welcome here and that they're not afraid to practice is important. That was one thing I was a little bit nervous about when I came here [as a freshman]. I felt a little bit of a tension and me trying to put forward my best self every day - I was a little bit afraid and we didn't want the new guys to end up being afraid of practicing in their own gym or their new home."
"It also works outside the gym too, making sure to build that trust. We're doing team activities at least every weekend, meeting with each other so people that trust us outside correlate with us inside the gym as well," said Ciccone. "I know if Jesse's going up to do a floor set that he's going to hit that set because we built that trust in and out of the gym. It's lights out. He's going to hit that set."
The pair's friendship makes their leadership dynamic unique because of how close they are and them being on the same page for everything they do. What they want for the team becomes easier.
"Him and I – we can read each other super, super well. I know when he's mad, he knows when I'm mad. We know our boundaries super well, but there's never a point where I'm going to favor Jesse's side just because he's my best friend," said Ciccone. "The thing is, we can both take constructive criticism super, super well, which is another good thing with our friendship too. We keep it real. It's a good bond and a good boundary that we both share because we're best friends, but we also have to lead a team at the same time. We know that we're not going to just be ourselves, how we're goofballs and best friends, and then go lead the team like that. There's a certain standard that we have for ourselves every single day and we both understand that it's part of our core values, that leadership, so we bring that to the gym every single day."
Jesse Pakele and Justin Ciccone's hard work and experience will help this goal-oriented team feel a sense of belonging and assist them in becoming ready to put in the work for a Big Ten championship and a national title. The Buckeyes can look to these seasoned veterans for inspiration and see how industriousness, diligence and discipline lead to success and achievement of their goals.
