The longtime coach of Columbia River High School gymnastics has a theory about her sport’s popularity.
“It was an Olympic year,” Alicia Green said. “When gymnastics is on in the Olympics, for our team at least, our team grows.”
Sure enough, Columbia River is one of several programs with higher participation numbers.
Columbia River, which has earned a trip to the state championships as a team for 19 consecutive seasons, had 15 gymnasts a year ago. This season, that number grew to 26 and the program had to hire another assistant coach.
Ridgefield, too, hired an additional coach. The Spudders, who had nine gymnasts a year ago, had as many as 19 at one point this season.
The Battle Ground School District reports numbers are on the rise there, too. Battle Ground and Prairie gymnasts practice and compete together during the regular season before breaking off into their separate classifications in the postseason.
Coaches embrace the new athletes.
“We always want as many girls as we can to promote the sport,” Green said. “Whenever our sport grows, it’s going to help keep it around.”
Two of the newcomers to the sport at River this year did watch the Olympics last summer.
“It’s always been so cool to watch, always so cool to see those girls do those things,” freshman Arianna Robinson-Diaz said.
“The gymnastics are alway super cool to watch,” junior Makaylee Moore added. “It definitely increased my interest.”
That is not to say that the Olympics competition was the biggest factor in their decisions to join high school gymnastics. For the most part, it was to be part of a team, a community.
“A lot of my friends talked about how great it was,” Moore said. “I decided I might as well try it.”
“I wanted an opportunity to get myself involved in the sport, to get better skills,” Robinson-Diaz said. “I did it four years ago for a couple months, then I stopped. I wanted to try it again and get myself out of my comfort zone.”
Starting over or starting from scratch in this sport surely fits that description. Newcomers practice with seasoned varsity athletes, often with club gymnasts. That could be intimidating.
The Chieftains try to make for a smooth transition.
“There is no competition with their teammates,” Green said. “It’s all about individual goals and trying to grow the individual person.”
Robinson-Diaz practices alongside the reigning All-Region gymnast of the year, Sarah Ellis.
“It’s just as fun. I watch Sarah do her routine. Maybe I’m not … like she is, but I have three more years left to try my hardest,” Robinson-Diaz said. “I want to try to be the best that I can to be a better gymnast.”
No one can expect expertise so soon anyway.
“Everyone’s at their own level,” Moore said. “I didn’t come to gymnastics to compete. I like competing, but it’s more that I wanted to be part of a team. Everyone cheers everyone else on. It’s a very uplifting group.”
The best teams clearly have go-to gymnasts, just like any good team in any sport has go-to athletes. But a true team has athletes performing their roles to the best of their ability.
Columbia River has not gone to state as a team 19 years in a row just with elite gymnasts.
“You can have superstars on your team, but when they graduate, who’s going to replace them?” Green asked.
It is the newcomers this year who could shine next year and beyond.
