1. What inspired you to start gymnastics, and how old were you when you began?

“I started gymnastics at three years old and have done it continually (I’m fifteen now). My parents put me in it because all my brothers did sports, but I didn’t have a sport.”

2. What does your typical training routine consist of?
“I practice five days a week for about 4 to 5 hours. We start with warming up individually and then do a group warm-up, which changes throughout the week. Then, we split up into 3 or 4 groups and practice our events, staying on each one for about 30-55 minutes. After we’ve been to each event, we usually condition, and then we stretch.”

3. What would be your advice to other students on how to balance practices and competitions with school and other commitments?
I don’t really have a good answer for this. I usually practice from 4 to 8, so we try to schedule everything around it. I’m pretty bad at managing my time, so balancing it all is a struggle for me.

4. What is the most challenging aspect of gymnastics and competing?
“Probably the most difficult part of gymnastics is having to be strong mentally and physically. You have to be strong everywhere in order to do all the events. Bars require a lot of upper-body strength, especially in your arms and abs. Beam requires good balance and concentration. The floor requires a lot of power and endurance. Vault requires speed and shoulder strength.

The sport is really hard mentally because it’s easy to get scared and bail out of skills (which can be really dangerous, especially with more advanced skills) and to develop mental blocks. Mental blocks are super frustrating to get over because once you get them, it’s really hard to get over them. I’ve had teammates who basically killed their all-around score because of mental blocks.

About two years ago I got a mental block on my bar dismount. It got so bad that I wouldn’t even do it with two coaches spotting me at the same time. I basically had to start back from square one and gradually work my way up. Then a year later I got it again. It was super frustrating to get it for the second time and it took a lot of private lessons to build up my confidence again. Luckily for me, the two mental blocks both happened during the summers, so it didn’t affect my competition seasons. Right now I’m over it and I competed it this season, but the mental block still lingers a bit. I will confidently do the dismount and up-dismounts into our foam pit, but when I’m on the actual uneven bars, I need to have a coach stand by the mat when I dismount. However, I am getting more confident with it, and I plan on working on it this summer and practicing more advanced dismounts.

I’ve been competing for nine years and I still get anxiety lol. On average, it takes a little more than a minute to perform each event, but during the routines, you’re being watched by the judges, coaches, other gymnasts, and the crowd. The judges score you based on your execution, difficulty, and sometimes even your facial expression. They also deduct any mistakes I make. A small mistake, such as a flexed foot, can cost 0.05 to 0.1 depending on how badly I did it. While that may not seem like a lot, it can determine your place on the podium. At one of my recent competitions, I got second place on vault, the person in first place beat me by 0.025. It also makes me nervous knowing I only have one shot to perform correctly. I can’t go back and redo anything I messed up on. Everything I do is final and will positively or negatively affect my all-around score.”

5. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment in gymnastics so far?
“My greatest accomplishments this year were moving up to level 7, getting my giants on bars, and doing very well at the state competition. The competition was on Saturday, and it was the last competition of the season. I got second in the all-around with a 37.5, just 0.075 behind the person in first place, and I qualified for regionals.”

6. What is your ultimate goal in gymnastics?
“I haven’t given this much thought lol. I definitely want to move up to a higher level, maybe even join a college team.”

7. What advice would you give to other students on how to stay motivated?
“I like to motivate myself by thinking about how far I’ve come over the years. I’ve had a lot of roadblocks along the way, and seeing how much progress I’ve made, even this season, is really motivating. Also, my parents, coaches, and teammates always motivate me to work hard, even when I don’t do the best at a competition.”

8. What is your favorite thing about being a gymnast?
“My favorite thing about being a gymnast is being able to do the sport for God’s glory.”

9. Which gymnastics skill or routine do you enjoy performing the most, and what about it excites or challenges you?
“I like all the events, but I really like doing beam and floor. The beam is roughly 3-4 feet off the ground and only 4 inches wide, so it’s hard to stay on when you do skills. It’s hard to do skills on it at first, but once you’re able to do it confidently, the feeling is so satisfying lol. Floor is really fun because I can just go all out on my tumbling and launch myself into the air; it basically feels like flying. So, I basically like doing any skill that has to do with flight.”

10. How do you handle the pressure of competition, especially in front of crowds or judges?
“When I was first competing (I was about 6 or 7 years old), I would get so nervous about competitions that I would cry. To calm me down, my mom would pull me aside, and we would pray together. Then she would ask St. Dymphna (patron saint of emotional distress) for her intercession, then we would put our hands together and send all my worries away. Over time, it’s gotten easier to calm my nerves. I’ve been competing for almost 10 years now so I’m pretty calm at competitions. Now I only get nervous right when I’m about to compete lol. I don’t really think about the crowd when I compete. My brain kinda turns off, and I don’t really think about anything but my routine. Judges are different, for obvious reasons. But I still focus on my routine more. I constantly talk to myself and go over everything in my head, and remind myself of things, like to point my toes, spot the turn, look for the landing.”