Every morning, at around 6 AM, a group of students are awoken at a circus camp called Circus Smirkus. They go out for runs, eat a healthy, sugarless breakfast, and go on their way to the tents for training. Juggling, acrobatics, aerials, all sorts of activities. This continued all day, for about three weeks. One student would go on to use what she learnt to help others find their own passion in the area.
Alayna Woitel is a senior at Lake Zurich High School, the vice president of service at NHS and a member of the high school’s gymnastics team. She’s been interested in gymnastics since she was about 5, motivated after finding out about aerial silks online and continuing with it up until this point.
“Lake Zurich gymnastics has been a great experience, I really really enjoyed it,” she said. “It’s just so fun to be part of a team… also I really enjoyed, I don’t know, just being a Lake Zurich athlete. I think it’s very fun to be an athlete in that way.” The sense of community it brings helped enforce her enjoyment of the sport.
“We’ve all got the posters up on the wall, and it’s just fun to be part of that group. On meet days we’d all wear our jumpsuits or whatnot, and kind of say ‘I’m part of Lake Zurich gymnastics,’ and I think that really boosters your enjoyment. For anybody else who’s thinking about joining a sport at Lake Zurich, I would definitely recommend it because it’s such an incredible experience.”
In the summer of her freshman year, she took a three-week course in the aforementioned circus camp. She described it as an extremely popular camp, with tons of other kids arriving, and described it as “really intensive.” During that freshman year, she began her time coaching other students. She currently teaches at KIAGA. She’s said she enjoys the experience of coaching other 5 year olds starting their gymnastics journey.
“Now that I’m done with my gymnastics season, I’m kind of a retired gymnast, so it’s nice to still be able to stay in the sport,” she said.
She’s described her approach to the subject quite thoroughly, having been majorly impacted by her coach at Circus Smirkus as well as at a studio in Grayslake.
“When I was a little girl in gymnastics, it was very… kind of ‘you do this,’” she said. “It wasn’t very much listening to what you want to do.
“There’s not a lot of choice, or there’s not a lot of room to say ‘I’m not comfortable with that, I’m scared.’ They were very harsh on us I feel like, but my coach at my studio has kind of taught me that; how you can kind of instruct a student while also listening to them, but also you do have to push as a coach to be like ‘I know you can do this, I know you can succeed if you try.’ It’s kind of a mix between how much you push vs how much you say ‘okay you don’t have to.”
And now, Woitel plans to head to Boston university in search of a major in public relations. She’s discussed her plans to keep gymnastics in her life, even after her graduation.
““I would like to find a studio in Boston where I could continue doing my aerial silks, or my lyras, or something like that,” she said. “I think that could be really fun.”
College is going to be a major opportunity for Woitel, as it is for many students. She’s told of plans to undergo collegiate research, join clubs and organizations, and major in public relations. But despite this, she’s shown concerns over leaving LZHS.
“I’m excited. I’m a little bit sad that I’m gonna be leaving the school with, y’know, all the people that I’ve known since kindergarten. But I’m excited to start a new chapter in my life. Y’know, move on.”