The end

Bergland recalls competing through on-and-off back injuries since high school, enduring pain all the way to landing a spot on MSU’s team. Doctors could never determine the root of the problem; they told her she had alignment issues, which they’d correct before sending her on her way while everyone hoped for the best.

“I had to play a game of ‘This is too much, this is not enough,’” Bergland said. “The doctors kept telling me all along, ‘It’s not a good idea for you to keep doing it.’ I kept pushing because I wanted to do it so bad.”

In her sophomore year at MSU, years of anguish and pushing the limits finally caused her body to say no.

Standing against a balance beam one day, not doing much of anything, Bergland stood up and “everything happened.” Feeling a sharp pain shoot through her back, her legs gave out.

“Tears came to my eyes,” she remembered. “I didn’t actually cry, but I just knew something bad had happened.”

For days after, Bergland had difficulty walking, turning in bed and simply getting around.

Her family, whom she credits with helping her through the pain, the decision and the healing, stood by and watched her as the difficulty mounted and she was forced to finally make a tough decision.

“It was hard for us to see her fight through injury and knowing that it was, each time, getting more long term,” said Dave Bergland, Megan’s father. “Part of us was relieved that she took the position of, ‘I’ve got to look at my long term future, and I’m not going to do this until I’m a crumpled-up being.’”

A new perspective

Megan Bergland says her daily schedule hasn’t changed much. She still spends hours in the gym every week with the team and dedicates ample time to her school work, the goal of becoming an elementary school teacher fresh in her mind.

But she now has a different outlook on the sport she loves, and finds herself longing for the little things she used to appreciate.

“I’ve always loved to go for a run or be outside,” she said. “I still go outside, but can’t do stuff. … One of the big things we do over the summer as a family is we go to a cabin and water ski and tube … I couldn’t do that, and I won’t be able to do that again.”

Looking back at how her life has changed is what brings out a defining revelation in Bergland’s life and one of Klages’ core teachings about life after gymnastics.

“Picking up my younger brother — I can’t pick him up any more,” Megan Bergland said. “I’ve always done that. He’s six, but he’s still pretty small. I just always imagined being able to pick him up, but a year and a half ago, when this happened, I wasn’t able to.”

Said Klages: “I always tell my athletes, ‘I want you to be able to bend over and pick up your baby. I don’t ever want you to have someone else get your baby out of your crib because you goofed up your shoulder or you hurt your back so badly.’ That’s always my test.”

At MSU, an athlete’s consent is required for them to be placed on medical scholarship, as Bergland now is.

But seeing her athlete go through pain and agony and struggle to stay comfortable for bus rides, Klages said she would have encouraged Megan to call it quits even sooner.

“It’s just gymnastics,” Klages said. “It’s not a lifelong thing. You’re not going to go out and do pro gymnastics after your career here. They have a life after gymnastics, and sometimes it’s really hard to get athletes in the midst of their desire to finish out their career to see that.”

Nothing new

In the gym, Megan remains an intricate part of the team and someone Klages calls a “perfectionist,” but her perspective differs when she’s on the sidelines.

“My goals for myself have changed,” Megan Bergland said. “I can’t have gymnastics-related goals. My goals are to be there for the girls every day, have a positive attitude inside the gym, be there for support outside the gym, let them know I can be a study buddy — just be inspirational to them.”

Dave Bergland said the intangible presence Megan brings to the team — now from the sidelines — is no different from the attitude she’s brought to teams in the past, dating back to club gymnastics in high school.

As the only level nine gymnast on her club team in ninth and 10th grade, she would compete without teammates but would get to know the girls she competed against, her father said.

“By the second or third round,” he said, “you’d see her cheering those other girls by name even though they were going against her.”

When she competed with a larger team in 11th grade, she would extend the same courtesy to girls competing alone.

“She would grab those orphan girls and say, ‘Let’s have those girls be a part of our team because they don’t have anybody to cheer them on. It’s not about her winning. It’s about having fun with the team,” Dave Bergland said.

“When she gave it up this fall and the coaches gave her the chance to be a part of the team, there was still a spark like, ‘This is great, and I can (continue) to do what I came to be a part of with Michigan State’s team.’”

A new beginning

Megan Bergland has difficulty coping with her situation because, as a remaining part
of the team, her role has changed and the new set of circumstances don’t allow her to participate in the way she intended to at MSU.

“It’s frustrating because I feel like I didn’t finish what I started,” she said. “That’s hard for me because it’s not my personality, but I still feel so blessed to be a part of it.”

Klages saw Bergland’s transformation from a lead-by-example upperclassman to a bark-in-your-ear team leader in the team’s home opener in January.

The girls were struggling on the balance beam — having difficulty mounting and staying on it — and it was killing their standing in the four-team meet, which included two Big Ten foes.

That night, Bergland, once more likely to go out and land a top score than cheer one of her teammates, got in their ears.

“I thought that was the greatest thing she could have done,” Klages said.

“She had a big part in why our team came back on floor and had such a great performance because Megan can’t do it anymore. She doesn’t have that opportunity to get out there and perform.”