Senior Natalya Shirley competes at an event at Districts where she won 3rd in Vault. She went on to win first in vault at the VHSL State Competition.
Credit: Damon Moritz
April 3, 2024
This year, the Colgan gymnastics team went to Regionals, and some of its members even went to States. However, many students did not even know there was a gymnastics team. Why is the gymnastics team so overlooked and how does that affect the team?
The team did well this season. One of the members of the team is Freshman Violet Riddle.
“{I’m} really proud of our team and how well we did,” she said.
Going to districts was a big achievement for the team.
“I feel like we should all be incredibly happy with the things we accomplished,” says Riddle.
One important thing to note is that the team is new, with the team only being in it’s third year of operation.
“I understand why people might not know that we do have a team,” said Riddle.
Another member of the team is Freshmen Erin O’Loughlin, who agrees with her teammate that it isn’t a surprise that many people don’t know about the team.
“Gymnastics isn’t the most well-known sport anyway,” says O’Loughlin.
Both O’Laughlin and Riddle wish that more people knew about the gymnastics team. The relative anonymity of the team feels bothersome to Riddle, even with the amount of sports at Colgan.
“I do not feel like there is a lot of effort that goes into our team.” Riddle says.
To add to it, the team has also only had three meets this season, two of which were Districts and Regionals, which frustrated Riddle.
“We had no judges for a lot of meets,” she says.
Although they are not well known, the girls on the team are immensely proud of themselves this season. They got a lot closer during the season practicing everyday together and some of the girls are on the same gymnastics team outside of school.