Our school is home to several different sports and recreational activities. Some are wildly loved and appreciated by a community of fans, like football. Others are less well-known and receive less fan appreciation, such as our gymnastics team. 

The team took second place at the NAC-VI championship. However, this wasn’t due to luck. Several of the athletes have been competitive gymnasts for years.

“I started when I was four, and I just loved it,” sophomore Keira Valente said. 

Some competefor other teams, as well as the school’s.

“I used to compete on the SGA competitive teams and Tri County,” sophomore Ellison Mitchell said.

The second place NAC-VI finish along with girls’ tennis and golf helped make up for sub-par finishes by football and boys’ soccer in the Wells Fargo Cup competition. The Cup awards the school in the conference whose teams had the highest finishes over the school year.

For this competition season, the team population started to grow.

“I think there were about four of us that returned. There are a lot of new members this year,” junior Samantha Bucklen said. “I think there’s only three or four of us returning, more than five new.”

Before going to competitions, team members have to endure a lot of preparation.

“So, if you’re not on a separate club team then you practice, I think, twice a week for the school, but I practice five days a week,”sophomore Nava Robinson said.

Finally, it was time for the NAC-VI championship to take place. Each of the girls have certain exercises they enjoy and excel in.

“My favorite was floor because it’s just fun to compete in, (insert grade here) Kennedy Edwards said.

There are also parts that the gymnasts tend to struggle with or don’t look forward to.

“I think beam was the most challenging, because of all the nerves,” Robinson said. “I had the skills. It was just a little nerve-wracking sometimes.”

There was also the matter of competing with the other conference schools.

“Millbrook is always competitive and then Heritage. They don’t have a full team, but there’s one girl that’s very competitive,” Bucklen said.

Despite all the challenges and worries, the team expected to perform well.

“I thought we would do okay,” Valente said. “Everybody had their own skills.”

In the end, Valente was right. 

“We placed, which we normally don’t do, and we all got high scores,” junior Taylor Jones said.

The team itself enjoyed success, but each competitor also did well individually.

“I got my highest beam score of the year,” Mitchell said.

 All in all, the gymnastics team is extremely proud of the way they competed at conference.

“I wouldn’t change anything,” junior Lauren McGough said.

Despite their successes, the team get as much recognition. There are things the team members wish the student body knew.

“That we have a team,” Bucklen said, “A lot of people don’t know.”

Several of the girls wish that the team had more publicization.

“There could be more announcements about us,” Mitchell said.

At the end of the day, even when the girls feel under appreciated, they are thankful for gymnastics’ impact on their life.

“Gymnastics has taught me a lot of different goals, like leadership, perseverance and teamwork, and it will stick with me a lot,” Robinson said.