Nothing beats the thrill that Miko Matz experiences when he swings on the high bar.
But singing, or screaming, comes awfully close.
Matz, a senior gymnast at Naperville North, also fronts the metal band, When Giraffes Attack!
“I’m into the screaming metal stuff that parents dislike,” he said. “I was raised on the classics. I played violin and viola in orchestra and just moved from there.”
He also likes the daredevil aspect of gymnasts. He’s doing high bar, parallel bars and still rings this spring.
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“I’m pretty much doing the same things as last year with maybe another trick added as a requirement,” he said. “With the new rules it’s more of an emphasis on form than difficulty.”
Matz didn’t become a gymnast until freshman year, but developed quickly.
“As a kid I was like a monkey always climbing over stuff,” he said. “I tried the other sports, but just went through the motions with those. I didn’t have the love for them that I have with gymnastics.”
Having one of assistant coach Ryan Dengel’s classes freshman year led Matz to gymnastics.
“He was recruiting guys and really cool so I decided to check it out,” Matz said. “My dad was also a high school gymnast and he said I’d love it and I do.”
He especially loves the thrill of high bar.
“High bar is very comfortable for me because I know where the bar is,” he said. “It’s just kind of a prolonged flying feeling kind of thing. On floor you have to worry where the ground is. On high bar you need to know where it is, but for a moment it’s like flipped. You really want to know where that handstand on the bar is and make sure you’re hitting every time.”
He certainly hit on April 15 against Naperville Central, winning high bar with a 7.1. He added a 7.2 on still rings as well as an 8.0 on parallel bars to help the Huskies earn a 137.1 to 134.7 victory.
“It’s definitely been nice to see my team grow from an underdog, 120-point team to an upper 130s one and maybe low 140s,” he said. “Our hard work is paying off, which feels great.”
The Huskies wrapped their regular season last Friday with the DuPage Valley Conference meet. They’re now preparing for the Wheaton Warrenville South Sectional on May 6.
How Matz and his teammates fare in the sectional will also have an impact on the band. When Giraffes Attack! could compete in Naperville’s Battle of the Bands on May 15, the same night as the state gymnastics finals.
“We’d like to get into the Battle of the Bands if we could,” Matz said. “We’ve written a bunch of songs and are in the midst of recording our EP.”
Teammates Ethan Aquino and Cam Ludeke are also in the band.
“I’ve got a great group of guys to coach this year,” Huskies coach Brad Foerch said. “It’s basically, ‘Coach, what do you want us to do?’ It’s never a struggle, never a fight with these guys.”
Matz, who’s an Illinois State Scholar, hopes to pursue a career in music at Columbia College in Chicago.
“I definitely want to learn more about recording music, especially if it doesn’t pan out being signed by a major label,” he said. “I could learn how to be an in-house engineer, which would be great.”
Whatever he chooses, he’s going to go where his heart leads him.
“I love gymnastics and that’s why I’m here,” he said. “If you do something you love, you’re not working a day in your life. Why waste a day doing something you don’t like?”
Walker is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.