030: Gymnastics Unpacked – Deductions, Leotard Drama, and NCAA Predictions

Think gymnastics is just flips and glitter? Think again. We’re diving into the powerhouse world of women’s gymnastics with former competitive gymnast and superfan Kaleigh Gabriel. This episode unpacks everything from how scoring deductions really work to bold NCAA gymnastics predictions—and yes, we’re talking leotard dos, don’ts, and hot takes. You’ll hear insights on how the sport is evolving to support elite gymnasts like Simone Biles and Suni Lee, along with advice for young athletes and the parents cheering them on. We decode pre-meet rituals, clear up the most misunderstood rules, and spotlight what makes gymnastics one of the most beautiful AND brutal sports out there. Whether you’re a lifelong gymnastics fan or a casual Olympics viewer, this conversation sticks the landing. 

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Chapters

05:12 - Leotard Impact

• 10:45 - Sports Fandom
• 15:30 - Training Insights
• 22:00 - Gymnastics Levels Progression
• 28:15 -  Scoring Explained
• 34:50 - Mental Challenges
• 41:20 - Culture Shift
• 47:05 - Memorable Moments

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.428)
I feel like I will take this to the ends of the earth, but a leotard should not be distracting to the gymnast's performance. If I am more concerned or worried or focused on what is on the gymnast's body versus what they are doing or how they are performing, it's an automatic no for me. That is not what the sport is about.

I think gymnastics leotards are already putting people in a vulnerable position potentially in terms of body image and how they are viewing themselves. And so when there are leotards that are drawing attention in a negative way or making people comment more on how this looked on someone or how this appears or how this cut fits, I think it's just like keep it simple and go from there because it's just not needed.

Have you ever wondered why people get so hyped about their favorite sports teams? Well, it turns out it's not just about the game. It's about the community. My name is Teryn.

And I'm Ambre. Welcome to Almost Fans, the sports podcast that's fun, a little bit educational, and will give you plenty to say when you're trying to keep up with those diehard sports fans in your life.

Speaker 2 (01:14.862)
All right, everyone, today we are flipping into a sport that is equal parts strength, grace, glitter, and grit. Gymnastics 101. And whether you're a lifelong fan or only watch when Simone Biles takes the stage, we're breaking down the magic behind the mat.

Our guest today is Kaylee Gabriel. She was a competitive gymnast for 15 years and a dancer for over a decade. She earned a degree in dance from UNC Greensboro, a master's in counselor education from Clemson. She's a smarty pants and has worked many years in the fitness and wellness world. Kaylee now works at the University of Florida in talent management and is a full on gymnastics fanatic who has dedicated herself to her fandom of the sport.

She's here to give us a crash course on all things gymnastics from what actually counts as a deduction to her strong and spicy opinions about leotards. And she is gracing us today on her birthday, which is so, so kind of her. So thank you so much for joining us, Kaylee. We're so glad to have you.

I'm so happy to be here.

Well, we're going to get started from the very beginning. So you've done gymnastics for 15 years. What first got you into the sport and what kept you coming back year after year?

Speaker 1 (02:36.268)
Yeah, so my mom actually put my sister and I in sports camps throughout every summer that we kind of had free as little kids. And I started off as like a two year old in the little mommy and me classes, just going with my mom, like hopping on dots and swinging from bars. And then from there just continued those classes. And everyone used to tell me that I was like built for the sport, even from like a little four year old, I was always so short, so small.

My family is really tall, so it just kind of like naturally fell into what I was doing. And it also felt like my sport. My sister was a big dancer. We did that together. We played soccer together, but gymnastics really was like my own. And so that's really what made it like special to me.

Kaylee, a lot of our listeners and I will include myself in this group as well, really only know gymnastics from the lens of the Olympics every four years. Will you tell us what's something about everyday training that would surprise most people?

is such a good question because I do think there is this highlight reel of you get to the Olympics and that's all gymnastics is. But one of the things that I think is misunderstood is the amount of time that it takes to actually warm up your body to actually do the skills and the training sessions and the repetitions of routines. I know practices often are anywhere from four to six hours for that upper level.

gymnastics practice and so the first two to three are often spent just getting ready to actually perform and so it's not just go in and start busting out skills left and right but it actually takes time to to get everything ready to go.

Speaker 3 (04:20.654)
Okay, so warming up, like on a bike, getting your muscles warm. I always see like, you know, the gymnast with those super cool track jackets, like stretch. Yeah. that what you're talking about? So you're doing that sort of stuff for two hours.

Yeah, so in my experience, we would run a mile at the beginning of practice around the gym. So we would just run in circles with our warmups on. Usually gymnasts you'll see have socks on as well. That's not just to like have socks on. Sometimes it helps actually keep your joints warm and actually warm up a bit quicker. So you'll start with running, you'll do drills around the floor. So things like cha-sang, jumping, hopping on one foot on two feet, just getting

that power kind of built and then you would spend the next 30 minutes to an hour and a half going through flexibility and then also conditioning. So oftentimes conditioning would come prior to training because at the end you don't actually want to be super tired to actually do the strength and conditioning portion of practice.

So yeah, I bet that makes sense to do your conditioning first also because it kind of gets your body like in its tired state while you're doing the actual gymnastics so that you can perform while you're tired too and like keep up those skills while you're tired.

Yes, and I think another big thing is like the core work that it takes for gymnastics. If your core is like not ready to catch you if you fall or if you fluke a skill, it can be really, really dangerous. So ensuring that everything is like primed and ready, ready to move.

Speaker 2 (05:51.832)
So you've gone through the levels of gymnastics. Can you explain how that progression works and what it takes to move up from level one to 10?

Yes. So this is really, I think, the most confusing piece of gymnastics. And it has actually changed since I was a gymnast going through the levels. And so this is going to be USA Gymnastics Developmental Program, which is what you typically see collegiate gymnasts come from as well as Olympic gymnasts come from. And so we all know that level 10 or there's levels one through 10, but how do you actually get to level 10?

So you would essentially start at levels one through three if you want to. So one through three is actually optional. You don't have to compete at that level. There is no qualification to score out or to have to move to level four. So one through three is really like your introductory, like go on the floor, do a forward roll, a cartwheel, stand up on the beam, get off of the beam, very, very basic skills.

And then when you get to level four and five, this is what we would call our pulsary levels. And so if you go to a level four gymnastics meet, every single person at that meet would be doing the exact same routine, so the exact same music, and the exact same timeframe. And so everyone's competing the same thing for levels four and five. And then in order to move up from, let's say you're in level four to level five, you have to score usually,

a 34.0 or a 35.0 out of 40 possible points to move on to the next level in either the next year or at your next meet. That rule actually varies by state, which a lot of people don't know. So the score that you have to get could actually be different in North Carolina than it could be in Washington state. So that's a little bit different. And then in levels six through 10, this is what we call optional. And so

Speaker 1 (07:46.678)
At a meet that's level six through 10, everyone would be competing different routines that are all the same difficulty or built around the same skill type. So you could have 50 people competing level six on floor. All of their floor routines are gonna be made up of different skills and have different music to them. But at the end of the day, everything would have the same skill level and difficulty scoring associated with that routine.

So you get to have a little bit more creativity with what you do in those optional levels.

What comes after 10? Like where do you become a pro?

10 would be elite. So oftentimes collegiate gymnast would be coming from being level 10 or junior optional, which would also be our elite level. And then if you are at the Olympic level, you are considered an elite gymnast. So elite and pro are kind of like interchangeable.

Okay, and they come after 10.

Speaker 2 (08:39.182)
I would just like to say that I made it to level six when I was a gymnast. Wow. Yeah. Let's just give myself a little.

Power!

Head up. up. Back over there. Can I just say I have a visual in my head of level four. I'm picturing Teryn as a level four gymnast and her poor mama Jen sitting in the crowd. You've got to listen to the same floor song over and over and over because everybody's doing the same thing.

Yes, and it's like not even interesting because everyone's also doing the exact same movement. So it's not like this person might do a forward roll. This person might do a backward roll. The same exact thing for hours on end.

But you can tell who does it well because you're like, I've seen this 14 times.

Speaker 1 (09:27.15)
Exactly.

Kayleigh, how high in the ranks did you get?

Yeah, so I was training level nine and 10. I had a bunch of knee surgeries through injuries, so knew that I was never actually going to like progress further than that just based on timeframe. But yeah, I got all the way up to training nine and 10 in my last couple years.

That's amazing. How old were you when you were at that top most level? Like high school age? Was it tough to stop? mean, you were spending what four to six hours every night. You're probably really close to the people at the gym and your teammates and everything. Was it hard to admit that it just needed to be the end of the road?

16 to 18.

Speaker 1 (10:05.998)
It was so hard, so hard that I actually continued going to practice the summer before I left for college, literally for no reason other than the fact that I just wanted to be there. So literally up until the day I left for college, I was just going to practice and practicing for nothing just because I loved being in there, in the gym. I think the familiarity of doing things so many times, so many repetitions was just comfort to me.

It wasn't for nothing. You were staying in shape and doing things that you loved. It's exercise, you know?

Exactly.

Speaker 3 (10:44.142)
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Okay, so will you, because I think I can pull them out of my brain, but will you just mention, list off the various events that you'll do at a gymnastics event and which one was your favorite slash strongest and also which one was your nemesis?

Yeah.

So there's four events and women's artistic gymnastics. You compete on all four. You never will see people outside of the Olympics actually just go and compete on the beam or compete on the floor. But the four events are going to be the floor, the beam, the vault and the uneven bars. And again, everyone competes on all of them. My strongest event was the floor because of my dance background. The choreography and moving just came super naturally to me and I didn't really have to think about

Speaker 1 (12:32.042)
at that much. That was always my strength and where I scored the highest. But I actually loved practicing beam the most, which is very odd compared to what a lot of answers were. And then vault can just go. Running full speed at an object that is made of metal and wood, it's just not for me.

Happy!

Speaker 2 (12:53.235)
stationary object.

It feels really foolish, that's for sure. Okay, can I ask you an important question about floor? Speaking to your strengths, how important, I know we're going to get into scoring, how important is all of the flowy, dancey movements in between the crazy passes and tumbles and flips and turns and things?

Way more important than people give it credit for. yeah, oftentimes you'll hear people talk about the artistry or they look uncomfortable or look at how graceful she is. Those are actually things that are part of the judging scores that judges are looking at. So it'd be part of the execution score. So how they are looking at the actual embellishment and enhancements of the routine beyond just the skills being competed.

That blows my mind. So somebody like you with lots of rhythm would excel in something like floor, whereas somebody, not that you didn't, but somebody with like just straight up raw power might actually really love the vault where you're just running a metal and wooden thing and then hoping for the best in the air.

Exactly.

Speaker 2 (13:58.018)
So there's a lot of talk about how tough gymnastics is. mean, I think we've all heard all the conversations coming out of, was it the Tokyo Olympics with Simone Biles and all of that, but it's both physically and mentally very tough. What helped you push through practices and competitions when things got, you know, both mentally or physically tough? Yeah.

That's such a good question. think I am somebody who's very internally motivated to begin with, which is also why I think I thrived in gymnastics because it is very internally and individually motivated. So I think that was always something that came easily to me. But for me, really was just like, I love the hustle and bustle. I loved walking into practice knowing that I had another five or six hours there to kind of like...

do whatever I wanted, I felt like the gym practice days were days where I could walk into practice feeling one type of way and then by the end of the five hours, could be a completely different athlete, person, or feel like in a completely different way. And so I feel like, not to say there wasn't hard moments, but I think that I loved the long hours. I loved the exhaustion because it was almost like proving to myself that I was working towards something.

So I think that just like really motivated me to keep coming back. I will say though, I think the hardest thing for me about gymnastics that people also don't maybe realize is that you're working so hard for hours on end and you're actually only on the equipment for 30 seconds to a minute and a half. So to work for 20 to

40 hours in a week on practice and then go to a competition and have two minutes and maybe you make a mistake. It can be really, really disheartening because you know you can do it. And if that opportunity has passed, isn't a redo.

Speaker 3 (15:53.706)
It's so high stakes and that makes me so uncomfortable. I loved soccer where it was like, miss a pass, but I got my teammates or I'm going to get another chance at it. Hopefully I didn't miss something that resulted in a game losing goal or whatever. But that feels so anxiety provoking to know that just for your brain to just go off of what you're doing for a split second, for you to make the tiniest of mistakes.

That sounds so terrifying, but let's stay on that topic. So, you know, Teryn mentioned a lot of famous gymnasts recently have shed a lot of light on the struggles of, you know, in terms of mental health for these elite athletes. In gymnastics and a lot of sports, we hear this, you know, in a lot of episodes, a lot of, you know, interviews that we do, but can we just talk about how gymnastics is changing? Probably in large part due to these celebrities who are

shining more light on it, but from your perspective, how do you feel the sport shifting in order to support kind of the whole person and not only the athlete?

is such a good question and also always makes me so happy to hear that the sport is changing because I think, I would say from like the 70s through the early 2000s, there was this like, I feel like shining light on pushing through and doing the most and being the best and you're injured but you kept going and like getting carry shrugs. Yes, like getting a literal gold medal for.

breaking your body in a sense. And I feel like over the last maybe two decades, there has been this shift of like, it's not just about the gymnastics, like the person also matters in it. And so people are not just looking at what Simone Biles does on the floor or the vault, but they're looking at her as like a whole person and what she is supporting outside of the gym, what she is advocating for.

Speaker 1 (17:56.27)
outside of the gym. so I think just being able to step back and look at these gymnasts and be like, wow, they're a whole person and they actually have an entire life outside of the 40 hours that they're spending in a gym. And it's just really nice to see. think a lot of things have gone down with USA Gymnastics over the past several decades. so seeing so much positive light be shed on the athletes.

and also see them come together as a team, even when they're competing individually, I think is just really refreshing for a lot of people to see.

Love that. Open optimism.

Exactly.

Speaker 3 (18:34.68)
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Okay, a quick shift in topic here because I know that Kaylee Gabriel, she has big feelings about leotards.

Speaker 2 (19:33.582)
big feelings so we have to talk about it. You have strong feelings. What makes a great leotard? What are some red flags in a leotard?

I feel like this is honestly one of things I talk about the most during gymnastics season with people. And I feel like I will take this to the ends of the earth, but a leotard should not be distracting to the gymnast's performance. If I am more concerned or worried or focused on what is on the gymnast's body versus what they are doing or how they are performing, it's an automatic no for me. That is not what the sport is about.

I think gymnastics leotards are already putting people in a vulnerable position potentially in terms of body image and how they are viewing themselves. And so I think when there are leotards that are drawing attention in a negative way or making people comment more on how this looked on someone or how this appears or how this cut fits, I think it's just like, keep it simple and go from there because it's just not needed.

Isn't it wild? Like I was thinking about who was the, I can't remember what his name is. know he went to Michigan, the male gymnast who wore the, do you know what I'm talking about for one of He wore like leggings underneath or something like that.

Yes.

Speaker 1 (20:56.364)
Yeah, I think he wore the pair of pants when he wasn't supposed to. They weren't like the right fit for what they were asking him to do. And so he got a ton of pushback, like potentially could have been disqualified, but did it anyway.

Yeah, yeah. Because he was like, yeah, that's what it was. They're supposed to wear the like tight pants that are like leggings, basically. But and then he was shorts over top of them because he was like, yeah, why do I have to wear this? What like and what part of these shorts do that affect my whatever, you know, my performance? yeah, he kind of like made a stand on that. And I think that's so funny because it's like.

shorts for a guy, but like it's so much worse for women. hate to say that, but it is. not just not discounting him and his feelings about like his body or whatever, like for women, it's like up their butt. It's so tight and women already have so much shame on their bodies. Yeah. I so feel what you're saying. Like they so appreciate it. I appreciate what you're saying about.

Just like we don't need, I am all for empowering all body types of all sizes of any kind in gymnastics. And unfortunately, I still feel like the public.

does not get to do that without consequences to the athletes still. And so I feel like if you can keep the distraction at a minimum and again, just not have it be a conversation or spark these major talking points for people. It's like, no, it was a great leotard. They did a fantastic routine and they are phenomenal for that. And that's the end of story.

Speaker 2 (22:31.054)
so you wouldn't say more sparkle is better.

Not necessarily. I love a sparkle. Don't get me wrong. I love a little glamorous moment, but yeah, I'm just, if it's distracting, it's not needed. Yeah.

Yeah.

I've been holding on to several important questions on the topic of leotard. Two logistic questions. They look like they're painted on. Are they really that tight? Is it really hard to get into them? And more important than any other leotard topic we have addressed so far, how do you prevent the wedgie? You're doing splits, you've got your legs all over and behind your head and like in other counties. How do you keep that from sliding in there every time you move?

I'm so curious.

Speaker 1 (23:16.824)
Yeah, so they are that small. Like I remember in high school, I would like pick up a leotard to like go to practice and it literally looks like I was like holding an infant onesie and I'm like, how is this supposed to go like on me?

Luckily the material is really stretchy, but I will say the feel, this is also maybe a lesser known fact, the feel of a tank top leotard with no sleeves versus a competition leotard, completely different. If I was competing or if I had a meet coming up, I would like wear my competition leotard like the weeks leading up to.

that competition because it is just such a different feel for me. And so I needed to be able to like differentiate like what my arms felt like when I was doing skills with the long sleeves being so tight versus a tank top and having them free.

That makes a lot of sense. but the wedge.

Are you putting like, yeah, are you putting?

Speaker 1 (24:09.038)
I was gonna say there is sticky spray. So that was like a secret weapon. I know that we used a ton. So you would literally just like lift up the side of your leotard like spray right where the boots are and then hope for the best. But there also used to be rules against like picking a wedgie. So oftentimes you'll see that gymnasts never pick their wedgie like almost ever. And that is actually because

It used to be this way. don't know the formal rule book now, but like you could actually get a deduction for like picking your wedgie during like a floor routine or something.

Yeah.

can't even imagine. then just get it out there, right? Like what if you're on your period? I can't

I know, white leotards. That is something we did not discuss. White leotard, get it out of here.

Speaker 2 (24:58.498)
Get it out. We want nothing to do with it.

There's no place here. I feel so much more better about all my leotard knowledge here. Thank you for answering, especially the wedgie question.

No, not out.

Speaker 1 (25:09.791)
of course.

So speaking of NCAA gymnastics, give us your, okay, I think I know where your allegiance lies, but give us your way too early predictions for the upcoming season. Who's your pick to win it all? Are there any dark horses out there that you think could maybe steal it away? What are your thoughts?

Yeah, this is such a tough question because the national championship this year was such a surprise, I think, for everyone who even ended up in that competition. My initial answer wanted to be anybody but Oklahoma. I'm a huge, like, anybody but Oklahoma can win and I will be happy.

I would obviously love to see the Gators come out on top and fully believe that we have the capability to do that. And knowing this sport, we have an incredibly young team as well. And so that's not typically when you see those championships happen all the time. That being said, I do think Oklahoma LSU have really strong rosters. I don't even believe those words are coming out of my mouth, but they do.

Nothing without Libby Dunn.

Speaker 1 (26:19.348)
I know. Even without Libby Dunn, which most people don't really, she is like also a specialist gymnast and did not come into LSU doing the all around. So it really is interesting to the whole NIL story there. But I've also loved seeing the growth of the Arkansas team. So with Jordan Weaver, she was one of like the prime gymnast, like when it was like my years of still being in gymnastics. And so seeing her coach and Jocelyn Robertson on that roster has been really, really cool. And then I

personally have loved watching Utah. think they are this team that doesn't get a lot of hype around them like other teams do, but they are phenomenal in what they do. One of my favorite gymnasts of all time is Grace McCallum, and she competed for Utah, and she'll be a student coach this year. So I'm interested to see how they come out to

Kaylee, super fast. What does the gymnastics season look like? When does it begin and then when do the standings maybe start to come out? Yeah. I know it's not playoffs, but when does that come out?

honestly so weird. So gymnastics season for college is usually January through early April, but the standings operate a little bit differently because there is this score called the national qualifying score. And that's really what people are looking at throughout the season. So I feel like Florida, for example, could be ranked number four and then they have like

a semi-OK meet and then they're up to two and then they drop down to five. But it's not really, I don't look at those rankings like I would in any other sport. I think that gymnastics is just one of those where it comes down to like a person having a bad day could impact that meet score by a lot. And so it really is just a toss up. But I would say I typically look at the top six teams as like, okay, like those are people that I'm watching versus the actual ranking number.

Speaker 3 (28:14.83)
Okay, that makes sense. That was a perfect segue. I know you're talking about scoring in terms of rankings, but let's talk about scoring. Could you explain gymnastics scoring? let's just, it sounds like there's a couple of different systems and things like that, but for what we're most familiar with, which is the elite, the Olympic style, gymnastics scoring, can you explain this to us like we're five years old?

Yes, okay. So I would just start by saying that judges are at the end of the day looking at two things only. So they're going to be looking at the difficulty score and they're going to be looking at the execution score. So the difficulty score is reflecting the actual skills being done and what types of combinations and connections

are happening on the equipment. So in a collegiate meet, if you hear someone say over the radio or the announcer, she broke a connection there, she won't get that point, doing a leap into a hop is worth something different than doing a leap, pausing and then hopping. And so those can be bonuses, they can add up to like whatever their overall score would be. And so that would be the difficulty score is like literally that their routine has

all the combinations of elements that are required for the collegiate level if we're talking about college and then the Olympic level if we're talking about the Olympics.

Doesn't it also include like how hard the skill actually is?

Speaker 1 (29:50.06)
Yes, so that was going to be my next point is that those know you're good. The skills are ranked basically by the alphabet, so your easiest skills are going to be a then you'll go down the line. B might be a little bit harder. C D and then E is typically the hardest skill that you would see competed on its own, and then that can go into combinations with other skills as well. So it's usually you'll see like a routine written out on paper and it's like C plus D.

to jump in.

Speaker 1 (30:17.238)
a bunch of like slash marks to like actually build out the routine because, okay, I'm going to do a slight segue. Cause the other thing that people may not realize is that the choreographer of gymnastics routines has to be a genius with how they are building these routines. And so that's also an area where I'm a dancer and I'm going to give credit due where to do is that the individuals coming up with these routines and how to place tumbling, how to place acro skills and the dance skills is so strategically thought.

because of these connections and combinations and difficulty scores that are needed. So that's difficulty score. Then the execution score is kind of what we mentioned earlier about those embellishments of they're going to reflect errors made in form. So if you land with your chest down versus your chest up and anywhere in between, they're going to reflect things that are like artistry. So you're dancing on the floor, how confident you look, and then also your precision. So

Oftentimes on beam, they'll call a balance check, which is just like a tiny wobble. It literally could be like your shoulder dips a little bit. That's going to be a dock off of your execution score. And so they're looking at who is the most solid, precise, artistic, confident, put together solid individual on the equipment. And so a combination of those two scores.

Yeah, and I feel like a good example of that is like Simone Biles, right? Her, her like difficulty level is so much higher than everybody else's that like she can't afford to do some wobbles or some like extra little steps because she's got such a big.

Please.

Speaker 1 (31:51.798)
Yes, she could literally fall on her vault and still win because of how hard the skills she does are. Yeah.

I get the difficulty level because that sounds pretty straightforward. This move is this hard, but on the execution side, feels like at least some of it is sort of subjective. How confident does she look? Is that a correct assumption?

Yes, and that's oftentimes too in the collegiate world where if there's like a delay of me or you see like judges talking to each other, it's actually because they have to be within a certain range of the same score in order to actually give the person their actual score of what they made. So usually it's an average of the two, but they have to be within a range. Otherwise they have to talk about like what they saw because it could be different things and ultimately result in a wrong score.

kind like a balance check a little bit.

Yeah, that's interesting to know that.

Speaker 2 (32:51.074)
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So Kayleigh, when you were competing, did you have a pre-meet ritual or any superstitions that you had when you were going into a meet, like before you started competing that you just had to do?

wouldn't say like a superstition, but one rule for our team that I competed with that I would always break, and my coach knew I was gonna break at every single meet, was that I always had to have my hair in a ponytail, and I never had it in a bun, a messy bun, or anything that felt like it wasn't swinging. So one thing about me is that I...

was convinced that there was something about the way when I did skills with my hair in a ponytail where it made me feel more on balance because of the way my ponytail was swinging. And so I would have a ponytail at every single meet that I was at instead of a bun.

That sounds nuts. Did it actually work? Did you ever try a bun and then fall in?

Speaker 1 (34:19.403)
I don't think I did. I was like hardcore, like ponytail is the way to go. And so that's just, that's just what I did.

Why is that a thing just because they didn't want it to like get in the way or?

Again, it comes back to that distracting aspect. So if you had really long hair and your hair was in a ponytail, when you're on the bars, it could actually swing and hit you in the face, and then it's gonna mess up your routine. So I think that was where my coaches really saw it as a safety concern almost. But my hair wasn't that long, and I made sure it was tight and not gonna fall out, so it was fine.

Kayleigh, what is something the any topic, I think we've probably been pretty thorough about the leotard wedgies, but aside from that, what is something the general public totally misunderstands about gymnastics?

Um, I think, can I have more than one answer? Yeah. Okay. I think maybe the fact that smaller or like lighter individuals or people in smaller bodies, that's a sport, that means the sport is easier for them. Um, that is not always the case. And I think that's something that again, coming from stereotypes that have started to change, but I think, yeah, that would be a common misconception is that the smaller and lighter you are, the easier it is. And that's just not always the case. I would also say that

Speaker 1 (35:36.236)
people often will put people in a lane of like you are either a powerful gymnast or you are a graceful gymnast and that there is not a lot of room to be both and I just think that that is false.

and boxes out there. That's absolutely. So looking back on your years in the sport, what's a moment that you had that stands out as unforgettable? And it doesn't have to be like a big triumph or anything like that, but maybe it was a fall or friendship or just what you learned from it. But what stands out the most?

Yeah, think you can absolutely be both.

Speaker 1 (36:12.782)
There's a skill called a kip in gymnastics. I don't know if you're familiar. You might be Teryn if you were level six. So a kip, the easiest explanation, it's how you see gymnasts get up onto the bar. So they bring their toes to the bar and they end up holding themselves up top of the bar. And so it is this like monumental moment, I feel like in a gymnastics career for anybody that like you finally got your kip because it's just the weirdest thing to learn.

And until you do it one time, it just doesn't make sense. Like you just literally are hundreds and hundreds of times trying to get up top of the bar and it takes forever, sometimes years for individuals to get. And so I remember getting my kit for the first time and my coach gave me, it was like around Christmas time. And my coach gave me this like bracelet with like jingle bells on it as like a prize. And I like still have it to this day. Like if you call it the jingle bracelet.

And I have just kept it with me for like literally the last 20 years of my life. So.

So cute. also you just gave me so many flashbacks. Yeah. Makes no sense. It's like gravity. Gravity should not be moving in this direction. like how like you swing your legs out, then they touch the bar and then next thing you know, you're up with your bar at your

What?

Speaker 2 (37:33.326)
Where did that happen? I don't know.

of it. No, I know. It just, really doesn't make sense. And it's also really tiring to do. Like it's not just, let me get on the bar. Like it's actually a skill in and of itself just to mount the bar. which I think people often don't realize too, that the small in between things are still things that had to be learned. And then also a funny story that I remember is there was one competition. It was, think level four. like back in, like I was probably seven years old and I fell off the beam.

I often did in competitions because I would get so nervous, then I hopped back on the beam and immediately fell off the other side. Like I didn't even have time to like get up and do anything else. It was just like, I got so flustered that I hopped right back up and went off the other side of the beam. So we'll never forget that.

Yeah, think we should just remember the jingle bell bracelet instead.

Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (38:28.728)
Wait, can we, I'm still, my brain is still processing this Kip situation and I'm picturing, I've never thought of that movement because when you watch, again, like my experiences, they just do it like it's so easy. I mean, they make everything look easy, but that is such a like accessory piece of the Olympic performance. I've never even thought about how challenging that is. But also I can picture these gymnasts doing, think, crappy if I'm wrong, a Kip straight into a handstand on the bar.

That is the typical progression.

into. And now it just makes me want to go and watch some Olympic performances so I can just reanalyze the connection points and some of these things and be even more amazed than I already am at the abilities of gymnasts. amazing.

That's the amazing thing about gymnastics is they like, I always say when you're watching the Olympics, you should really have like an average person doing the thing right next to them just so you can see like on track.

Failing, totally failing, sawing on their butts over and over again.

Speaker 2 (39:33.058)
Cause you don't understand like how challenging just like just the kip is right? Like just that one little piece to get down is so challenging, but like these girls are doing 17 of them in one routine and connecting them with a handstand to jumping to the next bar and then back down to the other bar from backwards.

Yeah, it's crazy.

right?

So Kayleigh, just to wrap up here, we've got a lot of listeners who are parents. Maybe they have a young aspiring Kayleigh gymnast on their hands or maybe their interest in gymnastics is more like my level, just sort of like the Olympics. Maybe it's more like Teryn's level Olympics plus some personal experience. What is just maybe one last thought you want to leave everybody with when it comes to the amazing world of gymnastics?

think the biggest thing that comes to mind when hearing that is that I feel that oftentimes parents are thinking about what a sport can do for their child in school or like in college. Can they take this and earn money from it, get a scholarship for it and do it longer than beyond high school? And I think that gymnastics is unfortunately one of those where the odds of someone

Speaker 1 (40:54.498)
going to college for gymnastics or making it to the elite level or Olympic level is so low. And so I think I would tell parents that just because the odds of your child not making it to that top level does not mean that the sport will not teach them things and that they won't benefit from it in some ways. Yeah, I think that's what I would say.

That's great. amazing. Ambre and I talk a lot about kids and we talk about youth sports and stuff like that. So it's interesting to hear you say that because it's true that actually it benefits kids more to just do it for fun, you know? Well, Kaylee, this has been so much fun. Thank you for joining us. This has been so enlightening and honestly way more than, you know, my tiny little

Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (41:47.746)
bit of context on gymnastics could have came up with on my own. So thank you for joining us, especially on your birthday. We so appreciate you.

Happy birthday.

This was so fun. Thank you so much for having me.

That's a wrap on this episode of Almost Fans. Whether you're a former gymnast like Teryn or a diehard Olympic viewer and couch watcher like me, or maybe just somebody who's always admired the power behind a perfect handstand. Thank you for being here with us today. Big thanks to Kaylee for joining the conversation on her birthday. We really loved getting a peek into her world and we hope that you did too.

If you enjoyed this episode, please tap those five stars and leave us a quick review. We know it sounds small, but it really helps more people discover the show. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch you next week.