Beginning at Northern Elite 

My best friend Nicole was a gymnast at Northern Elite. She has wanted me to join Northern Elite for years. Before I joined my last gym North Stars I tried out at Northern Elite. I really liked the gym but I ended up deciding on North Stars.  

After leaving North Stars I knew I had to join Northern Elite. I did not even consider joining another gym. After trying out the gym said they wanted me to join the level 6 USAG team. I was excited to join this new team. The girls seemed really nice and I liked the coaches. Two of the coaches were married to each other and the third only coached part time. This gym was different than the previous gyms I went to. For example, this gym hosted a lot of competitions so it was required that each parent volunteered at a minimum of two meets to set up and take down. Northern Elite also hosted Miracles every year which was a show the gymnasts would participate in to raise money for childhood cancer research.  

Norther Elite also did a unique program called bootcamp with their gymnasts. It was an 80-hour training program in 2 weeks. We would eat, sleep, and breath gymnastics those two weeks. Each day we would be in the gym 8 hours and only had one half-hour break for lunch and one fifteen-minute break for snack. Most of the day consisted of conditioning. Those two weeks were extremely challenging, but it was a great bonding experience with the other girls on the team.  

For the first couple of weeks, I really liked the gym, but then my opinion began to change. I began feeling really excluded from the team. The girls in my group did not include me much and would often make plans without me to hangout outside of the gym. I also began to realize the coaches would shame me for not being able to do something. I kept trying to push through because I did not want to have to start over at another gym again.  

I went through my first competition season as a level 6 and my second season as a level 7. Each year I began to make more friends. My final year at Northern Elite I competed in USAIGC as a Gold level gymnast. This program was less competitive than the USAG program.  

I trained extremely hard. I was working on a flipping vault called a Tsuk. My coach told me I would never be able to flip it and land it. I was determined to prove him wrong. I ended up getting my flipping vault! 

At states in my age division, I was one of the best girls there. Consistently throughout the season I was placing in the top three for vault, floor, beam, and all-around. I had a really good meet during states. I did not fall on any event and I was extremely powerful and clean. I was shocked when I went to awards. I ended up winning first place in the state for my age division on beam and all-around! 

I am very glad I got all the experiences I did at Northern Elite. It shaped the person I am today.