For UCLA stars Jordan Chiles and Emma Malabuyo, college gymnastics is about having fun

UCLA gymnast Jordan Chiles, second from left, smiles while standing next to her teammates during a “Meet The Bruins” event at Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 14. “When it comes to college, you can play around,” Chiles said Tuesday, ahead of UCLA’s season-opening meet Saturday against California and Oregon State at the American Gold Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Championships in Oceanside. “It’s a stressful, mental game 100%, but if you’re dedicated to what you’re trying to do, then that can help you with what else may be happening — whether you’re going back for another cycle or you’re coming back for your NCAA season.” Chiles won team gold at the Paris Olympics but became embroiled in one of the biggest controversies of the Games when she was instructed to give up her individual floor exercise bronze medal to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “She really inspires the people around her.. She has this really unique ability to not take gymnastics so seriously — or at least act like it, right?” Jordan Chiles does her floor exercise routine during the “Meet The Bruins” event at Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 14. “Understanding that with elite, everything was very technical, you have to find the right execution, the right difficulty, all these things.” Malabuyo added: “You have to be perfect, and you can’t really have those extra bobbles.. It’s more team-oriented, so you have to adjust mentally.” When practice wrapped up Tuesday, with senior Emily Lee and graduate students Chae Campbell and Brooklyn Moors focusing on the small details before the team traveled to Oceanside on Thursday, Chiles asked to address the team after McDonald called a team huddle.