As the season wrapped up, PA gymnasts navigated obstacles and growth during the season. Balancing personal school and sports brings challenges of their own, but gymnastics is not just a hobby; it is about teamwork, perseverance, competition, and personal growth.
Sophomore Bella Torres has been involved in gymnastics for eight years. In these years of experience, she has learned that gymnastics is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. “My biggest challenge is getting over mental blocks on skills,” Torres said. Mental blocks, which are psychological barriers that prevent the gymnast from performing a skill, are common in gymnastics, especially when athletes attempt difficult skills. Overcoming fear and doubt often takes patience and support from teammates and coaches.
Despite these challenges, Torres enjoyed the season because of “the strong sense of community within the team.” She appreciated the group’s consistent warmth and energy. “The team is all really good friends, which makes practice fun,” she commented.
Gymnastics includes four main events: vault, bars, beam, and floor, which all require a variety of techniques. Torres’s favorite event, she said, is the beam “because it is fun to flip off the beam.” Beam is often considered one of the most difficult events due to its narrow surface, which demands a lot of concentration and self-trust.
Torres also enjoys the floor, where her favorite skill is the cartwheel tuck, which is a skill that starts as a normal cartwheel, but in the middle, the gymnast brings their knees into their chest in a “frog-like” position, and then extends their legs to land. Tories claimed this move requires “power and coordination.” While she prefers the tuck, she believes her strongest is vault, noting the “speed and intensity” of the event.
Sophomore Arielle Goelz, who is in her second year of gymnastics at Princess Anne, shares a love for creativity and the variation that floor allows. “My favorite event is floor because it is very personalized to your style,” Goelz said. She enjoys trying new choreography and tumbling skills, which allows gymnasts to “express themselves while competing,” she stated. Her favorite skill is a Valdez, which is an acrobatic move that acts as a back walkover, starting seated on the floor. She described the skill as “fun to do” and “helpful for improving flexibility.”
So far, Goelz said she has enjoyed the season because of the close connections she has made with friends on the team and the opportunity to stay conditioned during the winter months. She described the team chemistry as “fun and positive,” adding that practices are filled with “good vibes and an exciting environment.”
Camille Destan, a newer gymnast, described the team environment as welcoming and supportive, noting that upperclassmen often help the newer athletes during practice. “Everyone is always willing to help you if you’re confused or nervous,” she said.
While she has previous experience with tumbling from competitive cheerleading, Goelz still faces challenges. “The biggest challenge for me would be my connected switch leap to tuck jump, then wolf jump,” she said. This is a high-level gymnastics combination, which can be used in floor routines or on the beam and is designed to focus on smooth movement. She explains that it requires significant balance and power at the end of her routine.
Newer members of the team learned to adapt to the sports’ challenges and demands. When she began her gymnastics journey, sophomore Camille Destan said the transition was challenging, but rewarding. “My biggest challenge is learning how to trust myself with new skills,” Destan said. As a newer gymnast, she explained that adjusting to the pace and expectations of the team is also an obstacle.
Destan’s favorite event is bars because she enjoys building strength and learning new transitions. Her favorite skill is a kip, a skill on the bars in which the gymnast transitions from hanging below the bar to a front support position on top. Destan said it made her “feel proud and accomplished” once she mastered it. She explains how learning new skills is like a “domino effect” because “once you learn one hard skill, you get into a flow.”
Destan described how many skills are meant to prepare gymnasts for higher-level tricks. “For example, a round-off is preparation for harder tumbling like round-off backhandsprings and round-off back-tucks,” she said. These skills use a round-off, which is a turning cartwheel, landing on two feet, as preparation for more difficult skills. One of the higher-level skills Destan mentions is a round-off back tuck, which starts as a round-off, and right after, the gymnast performs a full somersault in the air with their knees tucked into their chest.
While she is still developing consistency, Destan said her strength is her determination. “Even when something is hard, I want to keep trying,” she explained. For the future, she said she is “most excited about continuing to improve and feeling more confident.”
As a team, PA gymnastics has experienced both successes and setbacks throughout the season. Torres acknowledged that the team has struggled in overall placements. After placing second at their first meet, Goelz noted that the team has seen improvement. Rather than focusing solely on wins, the gymnasts emphasized growth and personal progression as key measures of success.
Gymnasts at different experience levels met similar goals. Goelz continued improving skills such as turns and leaps, while building stronger bonds with teammates. For Destan, her goal was to gain confidence and become more comfortable with the sport.
