A one and half full twist dismount off a four inch beam may look incredible, but the dedication and sacrifice it takes to achieve perfection has many gymnasts flipping their priorities and taking their elite tumbling skills to the cheerleading team.

            Gymnastics is one of the most physically demanding sports, Catherine Miller, sophomore and retired gymnast, said. The hard work is rewarded with a fit body and sense of self achievement, yet some girls quit gymnastics to become cheerleaders because of the long training hours required by gymnastics.

            “I started gymnastics when I was two. I was on a team for five years throughout elementary school, and I quit when I started middle school,” Taylor Kuhn, freshman, said. “I was worried about balancing school work in high school and a sport. I knew that our school did not have a gymnastics team, which also affected my decision to quit gymnastics for cheerleading.”

            Nina Skowyra, freshman, also made a decision to become a cheerleader. Skowyra hit a rough patch in her gymnastics career, which helped her to decide to start cheerleading. She said there was a trend of older girls who left gymnastics and joined cheerleading in middle school because there was no high school gymnastics team.

            Although the school may not have a team, Noelle Harada, junior, believes some decide to switch to cheer because they are not willing to sacrifice their time.

            “I think people quit gymnastics to join cheer because gymnastics is such a big commitment,” Harada said. “Practicing 20 plus hours a week really takes a toll on your life and if you don’t love the sport, then there is no point in continuing. People who quit gymnastics still want something to do in there lives so they go to cheer because they already know how to tumble.”

            And at LZHS, cheer is gymnasts’ only school-sponsored option. The high school has not had a gymnastics team since 2004, when there were not enough participants to create a team, Rolly Vazquez, athletic director, said. However, he would not mind the school having the team again as long as there is enough interest in the sport.

            “You need a certain amount of interest to bring the team back,” Vazquez said. “I have seen cases when people indicate they are interested in certain sports, but their club teams interfere with IHSA season. Another scenario is when you get a class with an abundance of kids who are interested, such as the seniors and juniors, but then there are only a couple of sophomores and freshmen interested, and we run out of participants. It’s tough to keep the numbers to continue the sport. There are also cases when students participate in a club outside of school that has different coaching philosophies, which causes them to not join because they don’t agree with the school coach’s coaching style.”

            Miller thinks the main reason more gymnasts are converting to cheerleading is that the sport is evolving and requires more physically demanding skills gymnasts are used to. 

            “Cheer is changing and becoming a bigger and better sport within and outside schools. There is a lot more tumbling involved, which retired gymnasts have an advantage at. It requires more technique and skill today than it has in the past,” Miller said.

            Cheerleading is a more popular sport in high school, Miller said. Not as many schools have a gymnastics team as they do cheerleading. Only seven out of the fourteen schools in LZHS’s conference have a gymnastics team, Vazquez said. Due to this, Skowyra thinks cheerleading will continue to overtake gymnastics.

            “Honestly, I do not think there would be enough participants to start our gymnastics team again,” Skowyra said. “Even those who were once gymnasts may want to switch but they would have lost some of their skills and wouldn’t be use to the long demanding hours of training.”

            Miller thinks not only will past gymnasts be unable to meet the physical demands of the sport again, but the school will not have enough money to start the program again.

            “If they started the team now I wouldn’t be on it because I have lost some of my skills regarding technique,” Miller said.

            Even if the high school had a team, Harada said she would not join it either

            “I would probably not join the team at school only because I am so committed to the club I am with,” Harada said. “I also feel like being with my club provides me with a better opportunity to get a scholarship for gymnastics, which I am currently pursuing. But a team at school would be a great opportunity for people who want to try something new or who aren’t as serious about doing it for club.”

            On the other hand, if there was a gymnastics team before her freshman year, Miller would have joined it.

            “I am disappointed because if there was a team before I entered high school, I would have stuck with gymnastics,” Miller said. “Although I probably would be a foot shorter, fifty pounds lighter, and not very social because of all the hours required to succeed. I do really enjoy cheer now because I realized it can be just as fun, but it doesn’t have the same techniques involved in gymnastics.”