Looking back to her days as a Spartan gymnast, volunteer assistant coach Nicole Curler remembered a motivational email that former team psychologist Angie Fifer sent to her with inspiring words. She printed it and posted it in the gym for the Spartans to see daily.

Hanging next to the floor exercise mat is a list of 10 points reminding the gymnasts how lucky they are to be at MSU and inspiring them to push past the obstacles.

“(I) thought it might be a good idea for me to put this out here,” Curler said. “Maybe they’ll read it, maybe they won’t, but if it helps one person, then it’s better than no one … and I was just trying anything I could do to help them succeed this season.”

The motivational points include: “No. 7: Hard work trumps everything,” “No. 8: You must sacrifice to get what you want” and “No. 10: Dream big,” one of head coach Kathie Klages’ favorites.

“Obviously to dream big is a really huge thing, and to believe in what you’re dreaming is so crucial,” Klages said. “Before you can get anywhere, you have to believe, and ‘believe’ is a really big key word for me.”

Losing eight of their nine dual meets, it would have been easy for the Spartans to give up on the season.

But coming down to the Big Ten Championships last weekend, MSU had one final chance to prove it deserved to advance. The Spartans finished with a score of 194.425 — high enough to get them to regionals.

“It was helpful (in getting to regionals) and seeing them perform a little bit better and build some of that confidence,” Klages said. “We’ve been telling them all along that they’re a very good team, but they needed to put that together.

“Once they started to do that and see (they) are a talented team, they believed in themselves more and … trusted each other.”

Senior gymnast Kelsey Morley said the inspiring list helped the freshmen adjust to collegiate gymnastics when they were quickly thrown into competition because of team injuries.

Specifically, “No. 9: All sports include running, conditioning, and lifting” helps because it makes everyone aware of the different elements of the sport at the collegiate level.

“Another good one is, ‘(No. 3:) You are not always born into a family,’ because coming to MSU, you can come here and not know anybody,” Curler said. “At least with these kids, you had 10 other people to show them the way.”

Although many points are inspirational, “No. 4: It is a gift to be a Big 10, Division I athlete,” serves as a valuable reminder to the Spartans of their successful careers.

“I forget that sometimes, too, when I don’t want to come in and practice that day,” Morley said. “(I) just come in and know I can overcome this, and I can give it all I have because I’m here — I’m a gymnast on Michigan State’s gymnastics team, and that really means a lot to me.”

Curler hoped her signs would help MSU survive the difficult season, and with the team qualifying for regionals in Corvallis, Ore., on April 2, she knows her little contribution made a huge difference.

Each gymnast can relate at least one of the 10 points to her gymnastics, and that’s what Curler said she likes the most.

“After every meet, they could come in here, and they could read it,” she said. “One of the 10 things could give them some extra motivation to get through the next meet.

“It’s hard coming in here every single day and then traveling every weekend and … it has pretty much everything about gymnastics in it, and it makes you realize how great it is to be doing what you’re doing, (despite) all the rough times we’ve had this season.”