From Couch Flips To UCLA Bars

What if the best season starts when you finally stop forcing it? That’s the turning point Maddie shares as we trace her path from a three-year-old flipping off couches to a UCLA D1 Gymnast and now a senior balancing bars and degree in applied mathematics! WOW!  Maddie almost walked away after Level 10, burned out by self-promotion and a chaotic recruiting landscape—then found her rhythm, got into UCLA academically, and seized a rare chance to walk on to one of college gymnastics’ most electric programs led by Head Coach Janelle McDonald.

We go inside the demands most fans never see. NCAA hour caps don’t soften the intensity: three-hour practices, strength work, and a meet-day “touch” that lasts four minutes for the entire lineup. On bars that can mean one turn, new settings, and a clock winding down while you’re still waiting to jump. Maddie breaks down the mental side of that moment—trusting the thousands of reps, using the touch for feel and cues, and treating a miss as useful information rather than a verdict. We unpack how lineups are chosen, why alternates always prep, and how an unexpected exhibition at Stanford proved the value of staying ready.

Culture is the power move here. UCLA’s program prizes big personalities and genuine support, and Maddie describes arriving without the usual recruiting runway, being welcomed instantly, and then growing into a leadership role as a young roster took shape. With eight seniors gone, she shifted from quiet example to vocal standard-setter, helping protect a culture the team rebuilt over years. That investment paid off with a nationals run that felt like a culmination—a result that matched the work, the values, and the joy.

If you’re chasing performance under pressure—whether you’re an athlete, student, or leader—this story lands. It’s about letting go to compete better, choosing teammates to quiet nerves, and solving one hard problem at a time. Listen, share with a friend who needs the nudge, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. If you want to support Maddie in her senior season and all the UCLA Gymnastics team go to: www.uclabruins.com 

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Maddie: UCLA Senior Gymnast
• 3:10 From NorCal Clubs To Level 10
• 6:20 The Unlikely Walk-On To UCLA
• 9:35 Roles, Events, And Team Fit
• 13:35 Balancing Applied Math With D1 Sport
• 17:55 Training Load And NCAA Hour Limits
• 22:35 Four-Minute Touch And One Turn Psychology
• 28:25 Lineups, Alternates, And Game-Day Swaps
• 33:25 Culture Shock: Finding Belonging Fast
• 38:05 Leading A Young Team With Intent

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Hey, welcome back to the Plan B podcast. Tonight I have a really special guest and somebody that I am a huge fan of and have enormous respect, not just for who she is as a person, but for the sport and really the toughness of the sport that I didn't get an appreciation for until I watched this athlete live about, oh, it's nearly 18 months ago. And this athlete that I'm speaking out about is Maddie. She is a senior from UCLA. She's a gymnast. And she is with us tonight and she's going to share her journey so far. She will be graduating in three months' time and she is embarking. The UCLA team has started their uh preseason and they're soon to be launching into this season. So I have really just caught Maddie. She's very busy with both school and gymnastics. So we're super grateful, Maddie, that you have come on the show. So hey, welcome. And thank you for having me. It's so great to have you. So, Maddie, I know that you're originally from NorCal. And we've had a few NorCal athletes on on here. We've had SoCal, we've had some East Coast athletes, we've had an athlete from Virginia. How did you find yourself at UCLA on the gymnastics team? And just before you know you get to that, take us back a little bit further on when your gymnastics journey started.

SPEAKER_01: 1:38

Oh, okay. I started doing gym when I was three, three years old because my parents were getting a little sick and tired of me flipping over the couches and off of them. And so they put me into gymnastics so that I can have some sort of outlet for all of that extra energy. I stayed at the same club gym for pretty much my entire junior Olympic career. They call it DP now instead of J O, but my entire JO career, I was in the same, I was at the same club. And I did gymnastics all throughout high school. Went through all the levels four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten. And I did level ten for four years in high school. And level ten is kind of the it's like similar to college level. College can be a little more difficult, a little less. It kind of depends on what skills you have. So level 10 is like college level ready. And how I got to UCLA was kind of a happy accident because I was so ready to be done after high school. Like just I hadn't found rediscovered the joy in competing yet. And I was kind of just going through the motions and everybody was in my head talking about getting recruited to college and nothing was really panning out for me. So in my last year, I kind of just decided I'm not gonna think about that anymore. This is gonna be my last year, and I'm totally okay with that. And I had one of the best years that I had ever had. I applied to a bunch of schools just preparing to go as a regular student, got into UCLA, and UCLA was in the middle of a bit of a coaching change. And so one of the coaches who had previously asked about me at Cal had become head coach of UCLA, and then she started asking about me for UCLA instead, especially since she knew I had already decided I was going there for school, anyways. And one thing led to another, and I ended up walking on the team in September, kind of just like a surprise. Here I am in the team picture, in the team picture, because nobody really knew I was coming, and I didn't really either until probably about like three days before I was supposed to be there. And so yeah, that's kind of how it, that's kind of how it started. It was very, it was very surreal to be able to just walk on because it's not a very common thing, I would say, in the gymnastics world, anyways.

SPEAKER_00: 3:39

You know, I don't know if it's common in any world really, but I I can imagine even more uh less common in gymnastics because when we think about how many members are actually on the team, and you can explain that to somebody who really is just an observer, a huge fan, but I don't really know the intricacies of gymnastics in regard to is it just are people selected just for apparatus or are they selected and expected to be able to do everything?

SPEAKER_01: 4:04

That's kind of like on a school by school basis, at least for you, CLA, you you kind of are expected to like do everything. But if you have like a very good specialty in like an event that is lacking, for example, for us, Vault has always been Vault is just in high demand for any NCAA school, because if you have a 10-0 start value vault as opposed to one that starts from like a 995 or something, like colleges will want you to come and compete that vault, especially if you can do it well and execute it very well. But it's kind of a mix of like, are you a fit for the team? Like, what can you offer? What can you bring to the team in terms of not just skill? Because obviously not everybody's gonna get to compete, but and also in terms of like team culture, what do you bring in that regard as well? UCLA tends to attract a lot of big personalities. I think that's just because that's the legacy of the program. If you look back, um there's a lot of big personalities. It's very fun school. We're not like there's some programs that are more like I don't want to say like they're like not fun, but they're just more like rigid and they don't allow for as much fluidity. So UCLA's definitely more of like a fun program. We do it our way. And yeah, it's kind of just it's up to the colleges, more or less, but you do have to have the skills to these get in there.

SPEAKER_00: 5:13

And but I'm gonna point this out because I know you never would. And just for our listeners, um not only is Maddie a super talented gymnast, but she's also incredibly talented academically. And she would never tell you this. She's very understated, blends in, you know, just never wants to be, from my perception, or never wants to be the center of attention, a huge team person, which is, you know, one of the most admirable, you know, traits. She's always lifting others up. But tonight is my opportunity to lift you up, Maddie. Okay, and I know you're gonna squirm, but luckily people can't see you squirming. So not only does Maddie do the hardest sport, okay, which I put gymnastics up there as one of the top three hard sports, and we can debate later about what the other two might be. But gymnastics is incredibly tough for multiple reasons. For the hours of training, for the apparatus and the skill that they have to do. But on top of that, Maddie then decides to go to UCLA or is accepted into UCLA and share with our listeners, Maddie, what you have been studying for the last uh four years.

SPEAKER_01: 6:12

Oh, I am an applied mathematics major. I was originally a math applied science major, but I quickly realized that that was not going to pan out very well with my newfound gymnastics schedule because I picked a major before I was on the team. So then I switched probably like two quarters into my freshman year into being a applied math major. So yeah, that's what I've been doing for the past four years.

SPEAKER_00: 6:34

It's so impressive. Like it's when I just mentioned and you know, often when people ask if I'm working with athletes, I never mention their name. But I've always been super proud to always say, and I have an athlete that is a math major, like not only a D1 college athlete, but a math major as well. And people just like literally fall over because it is like being a student athlete is extremely demanding. And I can only imagine the demands of your course. It's like it's not like you get to have a, well, maybe you can correct me, it's not like you get to have a film study class in your schedule or a walking class that I know some people do get to have. Believe it or not, there are walking classes that can count towards points or whatever it is. I can imagine your schedule has just been pretty intense the whole time.

SPEAKER_01: 7:17

Yeah, it it kind of has. There's been a few quarters where I was able to sneak in like one or two classes that are more like for me. Like I think there was a quarter where I took a I took Korean one a quarter so that I could learn. It was basically just a Korean one, so I learned Korean for a quarter, and that was really fun. This quarter, I believe I'm taking art education in prisons, which I needed for an upper division, but I had I heard really good reviews about the class, so it's like a once-a-week seminar type deal. And so I'm sure that will be very interesting and thought-provoking as well. But you know, it's there's a lot of major classes in there. Uh, I think there's only luckily though, I think there's only been like two quarters out of the 11 I'm going to do. There's only been two quarters where I had all three of my classes were major classes, and there wasn't like GE in there somewhere. So I think that only happened twice, which is a pretty good score over 11 quarters.

SPEAKER_00: 8:12

Well, it I have to say, listen, cognitively, and as a psych, I I'm always looking at sport and the athletes from that perspective. Cognitively to be able to do math all day and then be able to do gymnastics. And while I've always had an idea of the sport of gymnastics, and that goes back to things I used to do when I was at the Australian Institute of Sport, and my coach, hopefully, my real coach my coach is not ever going to listen to this, but when she would send me for a warm down post-either track sessions, because we had, you know, track sessions several times a week as part of triathlon training, I would go do my warm-up. It was supposed to be like 20-minute cooldown. And instead of doing the 20-minute cooldown, I would run over to the Australian Institute of Sport gymnasium and sit in the top balcony and watch the gymnast do training. And that became something that myself and other runners would just do. We'd say to our coach, yeah, yeah, we're going to do a cooldown, and we'll see you in 20 minutes. And we would go over and we'd sit and observe the gymnasts and the training. And for those of you who are not aware, like my sport of training in triathlon was easily as a professional, it was like seven hours a day. But Maddie, what share with us what how many hours a day is the gymnastic schedule at the D1 level?

SPEAKER_01: 9:21

Well, NCAA limits you to max 20 hours a week. And that's of like any counting hours. So that like includes like if I have a mandatory meeting or something that I have to go to, like that would be in that countable time. So when it was when I was in preseason, it was definitely I was on a usually three hours of actual like workout a day. Occasionally there would be a day of three and a half, but mostly three. And then an hour of either weightlifting or cardio. And that was five days a week. Weightlifting was four days a week, practice was five days a week, and so it totaled out to be sometime around 19, 19 and a half hours a week. And you know, they would fit in meetings wherever they need to be, but three hours a day of actual like flipping flipping, probably like two because we actually had a warm-up in. So, anyways, three hours a day of flipping, we'll we'll leave it at that.

SPEAKER_00: 10:10

Yeah, it it's intense, it's intense, and and a lot of preparation goes into it. And I luckily have been very privileged to be able to see Maddie live. And I first watched her as a sophomore at the meet in Stanford, and I'm also very excited to be able to go back there on March 7th to see Maddie compete there for the last time as a senior, unless you guys go back there a couple of times. But when I first saw Maddie as a sophomore, I was so excited. Just for anybody who wants to watch gymnastics at the college level, the atmosphere is insane. And UCLA team parents do an amazing job at being a great cheer squad. So I really loved that whole experience of sitting with those parents and cheering on the team. But obviously, I my whole focus was Maddie and just watching her and seeing what she was doing. And Maddie's uh number one apparatus is the bar, uneven bars. And so when I was really paying attention to that, I really saw something which blew my mind. And I know that other athletes listening to this who are uninitiated in the world of gymnastics are going to have an appreciation for this. So the gymnastics team, okay, they arrive somewhere and maybe a few hours before they do their warm-up, okay, as a team and they get some time to practice, blah, blah, blah. And then they have a break. And then they have this big walkout. Uh, you know, a few hours later, they introduce the teams who are competing and the crowd's there, it's exciting. And then they move to their apparatus and they have a total of four minutes. And Maddie, you can correct me if it's longer at some meets, and and I'm super excited to hear the psychology behind how you manage this. They have four minutes to warm up. And and when I say four minutes, it's four minutes total for everybody. And only one person can go on the apparatus at one time. And Maddie will tell us how many people are actually waiting. So you could possibly only maybe get on for a minute, and then you have to get off and be ready to go and do a perfect routine with that short a warm-up and that short ability. And sure, you know, their muscles are warm, they're trained, these are really high-level athletes, but still, part of a warm-up is also to get rid of nerves. And it's also a part of a process to relax. So these gymnasts get a couple of minutes to really get locked in. So, Maddie, how did you do that? How do you do that? Because you're about to do it all over again. Well, you actually, Maddie just got back from Utah at 1 a.m. this morning. So she's she's already in the thick of it. It's preseason. Share with us how you do that. Because to me, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_01: 12:36

Well, I think for a lot of us, it comes down to you have to like know that you've done it so many times in training to know that the warm-up is all you need and that you'll be fine just on that turn. So we'll just let's do let's say for vaults, for example, four minutes. Usually there's seven people. Sometimes there's eight if it's like a senior meet or something, but usually it's like seven people. Uh, you have the six girls that are competing, and then you'll have that seventh is either an alternate if it's if you're on like ESVN or something and they're being strict about runtime, or there'll be like an exhibition, so they'll get to go, but their score won't count for anything. And so there'll be seven of us typically on any given events that have to warm up. Vault usually get two vaults. Most girls do a layout on their first vault. I'm speaking about the backwards vaulters. We don't have any front vaulters, but front vaulters would probably do like a bike or something. Back vaulters do tend to do a layout on the first vault and they'll do their actual vault on the second, and then they'll compete after that everybody's done. So you probably get two vaults over the table. During the actual like general warm-up, you probably get you can probably get as many as four or five. But usually people vault pretty quick and they only take like three. But for bars, usually you get about three or four turns on bars during the general warm-up, but during the touch warm-up, you get one. So crazy. I'll say from my experience, last weekend in Washington, our first meet out, we had eight people because they allowed us to have two exhibitions at that meet, and so there were eight of us on bars. And fun fact almost everybody on our team that is in the bar lineup currently is on fig bar setting, and I'm the only one that's on wide. So they have to actually like change and set the bars in between when they go and in between when I go, and I was last. And as long as I get on the bar before the time is off, like they can't kick me off the bar. So I just had to jump to the bar. But I'm pretty sure when I looked at the clock, because the clock was right in front of me as I was ready, getting ready to go. For my touch, the clock was at like 15 seconds. So I stood there for like I stood there for like three and a half minutes because it wasn't my turn yet. I was last. I was the last person to go. And so you only do get one turn when you're on bars, anyways, to pretty much do a full routine cold, which is not something you typically do. But when you're at a meet, you have enough adrenaline and you've also already warmed up everything that day. So like you you feel a bit better about just doing a cold routine. And some people do just a first part, they don't do discount. Some people just do disalt, less common, but it happens. And that's yeah, beef you get a 30-second touch.

SPEAKER_00: 15:00

Oh, sorry. No, that's okay. Sorry, like but I know I was just like, you were going through the whole physical, and I think that's like so admirable to be chill and be okay with only a 15 seconds, like 15 seconds on the clock, and it's sure they're not gonna stop you, but you've got that little bit of pressure. Hey, I've got to get this done. That's the physical side. Tell us what is going through your head. That's what I want to know.

SPEAKER_01: 15:20

I mean, honestly, nothing until it's it's actually my turn to get on the bar. At least on bars for me, if I make it, it's a good thing. If I miss it, it's also okay. Because if I miss it, I know what I have to correct when I actually compete. And so that's not too big of a deal. Making it obviously gives you like a better vote of confidence going in because you're like, okay, I just hit that, like, I can just do it one more time. But if like you miss, it's not really like the end of the world. Like, if you don't make that turn, because that's not the competition turn. As long as you hit in competition, that's what really counts. So yeah, I think I'm usually trying to just get like re-familiarize myself with the bar because every time that they set a bar, the bar feels different. Well, that's it's not supposed to, but that just happens when you're like setting the bar so quickly, it's not going to feel the same every single time. So just re-acclimating to the bar is usually what that turn is for. Like focusing on certain cues that you know you want to hit during the routine. So, like maybe if you're a little short on cast and you know that that's something to focus on when you actually salute and raise your arms. So yeah, it's kind of just like getting the feel for it because then you know that you your next one is the one that counts. So it's getting any analogy that is out that she possibly can.

SPEAKER_00: 16:26

Yeah, it's I think the mental strength and the mental focus of gymnasts is is right up there with you know the best athletes, you know, that there is. I think it's just it really is to me so impressive. Now, Maddie, I know you said that towards the end of high school, after four years of level 10, which is equivalent to a college level, you were really almost ready to throw in the towel, but you decided not to, and you were already accepted into UCLA for academics. So you just thought, were you just thinking, hey, what the heck? I've got nothing to lose. I'm just gonna try out for the gymnastics team and see what happens. Or where are you at? Because I could imagine, like, I'm getting a sense that you you weren't perhaps going through, or were you going through high school saying, I want to be a gymnast in college.

SPEAKER_01: 17:11

Maybe like my sophomore and junior year, that was kind of the pretense I was operating under, was like my next step was get on a college gymnastics team. So I was doing all the things. There were, I think the year that I was coming up into being like a sophomore and junior was when they finally changed those abysmal rules and made it so that you can't, because people were committing in like eighth grade and it was like crazy work, and then you had to wait and see how they would pan out. Like people were verbally committing to go to college when they were graduating middle school. And so they changed those rules kind of around the time that I was coming up, and so you couldn't even talk to college coaches until your junior year. So then everything kind of shifted and everything kind of changed kind of around time. So recruiting was as a process was shifting a lot, and so it was a bit hard to navigate. I think it's a bit easy, oh, it's easier and harder now, but it was all very new because this was like the first couple years of the rule change. And so I think my sophomore year and my junior year, I put a lot of work into like making sure I was filming videos at practice, like trying to email college coaches and reach out. I think I had a website at one point of just like just different things about me to like try and get myself out there, but I was also just not good at doing that in general, and it was causing me a lot of stress, and then I wouldn't be happy with how I was competing. And then, of course, COVID happened, and that took away some years of season that otherwise would have been like very good for me. And so then I was kind of just like, eh, like by the time I hit my senior year, I was kind of like over the whole like trying to go to college business, not like academically, but like for sport. I was kind of over the whole trying to like play look at me, flyering myself to try and get into college because most people commit by the time they're like juniors, like some seniors go uncommitted and they commit at the last minute, but like it was again, it was a new kind of era. There were still some people who had committed when they were in middle school and were just now going to graduate, like in my years. So like spots were just weird. And I was kind of just over the whole thing, and it kind of made the sports like a bit unfun for me. So once I kind of clipped my clipped that tie, clipped that weight off my back, I actually started competing better, shocker. I started doing a lot better, shocker, and then the colleges started coming to me, shocker, shocker, because I started doing I started doing well and I started doing better. And then people were like, wait a minute, she where has she been? Like she's not committed, like what's what's going on? But I still like hadn't really found the funds. So I was kind of it's being a little annoying because all these colleges were coming to me and they're like, We'd love to have you on our team, and this, that, and the other. And I was like, Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. I'm actually gonna be done. I decided it's a long time ago. Thanks, but no thanks. Like, I appreciate the interest, but like I'm I'm done, like I'm over it. But for some reason, I graduated from high school and it was like my summer before college, but I didn't stop going to the gym, which my mom thought was strange because she's like, Well, if you're done, then be done. I was like, ah, but I'm like, I'm having fun, like I'm getting to do skills I don't usually get to do. Like, I'm just like working out for me and it's really fun. And I was having a good time. My mom was sick of paying for me to go to the gym. Right. I know if you're gonna be done, be done. Yeah. She said, if you're gonna be done, be done. So I think I did two months of of summer where she paid for it. And then she like deadlined me at the beginning of August and she She's like, okay, like I'm I'm not paying for another month. So like August like fourth or whatever, you're you're done, whatever day it was. She's like, that's your last day, and you're done. And I went in that day on my last day and I balled my eyeballs out because I didn't want to be done. Shocker.

SPEAKER_00: 20:29

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 20:30

Shocker. I didn't want to be done. And this was after I pretty much told all the colleges no. So after I had gone and went and shut all my doors, I was like, wait, no, wait, I don't actually want to be done. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So, pretty much the only person I could reach out to was the UCLA coach who had already like she had asked about me when I went to Nationals that year. Like I think I talked to her at Nationals and I was like, Yeah, no. But I'll see you on campus though. Like I'll see you in the fall. So I think I like panicked reached out to her. I was blowing up her phone, like, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, hey, remember me. Please, please, please, please, please, please. I think that only really worked out because the incoming class for UCLA was pretty small that year. There were only three people who were coming in. And usually like an average freshman class will have like four or five, like three is pretty small. And so there was space for me there. And that's kind of how I ended up realizing that I wasn't done and I didn't want to start just yet.

SPEAKER_00: 21:30

So And they and there you are. You have walked on. And listen, everyone listening, I I need to point this out. If you haven't observed the UCLA team, for for Maddie to be able to just walk onto this team, it's not just any type of team. This is a pretty extraordinarily talented team. Am I correct in saying you have two Olympians on you on the UCLA team?

SPEAKER_01: 21:52

There's definitely one. I think T T was an alternate, I think. Yeah. Tiana was an alternate for the 24 team. Joe was on the 24 team. There's still a lot of people who came from elites. Oh, elites are on the team. There's too many. But Tiana was an alternate for the Olympic team this year. Jordan was obviously on the team. So there's two Olympians, a lot of what's Jordan's last name again?

SPEAKER_00: 22:15

I got a mental blank. Charles. Yeah, Jordan. Amazing. And but and and one thing that's super impressive about the UCLA team is that all the girls, it doesn't matter if you're an Olympian or you know, just have come from whatever background, all the girls are so incredibly supportive of each other, and you really see an amazing team environment. And I really love that. The way you all support each other during each apparatus from the sideline and how you really get into it, that in itself was so was so fun and so exciting to watch. And just seeing how how much you really love and appreciate the sport and really want your team members to do really, really well. Doesn't matter if you if you're not getting a turn on that apparatus because on the day it's the coach who decides who gets to go on which apparatus. So it's never guaranteed, I'm guessing. Is that right, Maddie? That the team the coach makes an assessment based on previous performances or or training. Does she just let you know the morning of or is it or is it the day before? What how does she do it?

SPEAKER_01: 23:16

Usually she kind of currently the coaching staff will have like a meeting, usually the night before, and they'll try to send up lineups the night before, hopefully not too late, because they know that we don't like waiting because some people won't sleep until they see those lineups. So you can't put them out too late. Yeah, the coaches will have a meeting. They pick lineups based off of their own criteria, what they've been seeing in practice and how they know you compete and how your attitude has been during practice, this that and the like. So there's a few different criteria there, but they they pick based off of those things, they'll send out the lineups the previous night. But I mean, anything really can happen. And typically, even if you're not in a lineup, if we are in a dual meet, so it's just us and one other team as opposed to like a quad or there's four teams if it's a dual. Usually, even if you're not on the lineups, you'll train on the open events because you never know when you might be needed. I think when you were there at Stanford myself for you, you guys see that because I don't think I was in. I don't think I was in supposed to do anything that day. Or no, I was supposed to exhibition vault, but I don't think I wasn't supposed to do floor that day, and you got to see me do floor. Like I was nowhere near that floor lineup, but there was a cascade of things and it happened. And because I had warmed up on an open event, they're like, Okay, like, well, girl, take your pants off. You're you're right there, like you're exhibitioning, right? And so I was like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 24:33

So And Maddie, I actually had a clip, I have a clip of that floor routine, and it was it was amazing that you know, and even now. Oh yeah, okay. Well, I definitely want to see. Can I if we if we could share that with our listeners? Because on one of my promos, I had you as I I remember filming that, and I remember mum being sitting next to me was super excited because it was unexpected and we got to see it, and you were phenomenal. And when you finished and the and your team ran over to you, I really loved that. That was that was great. I know that's normal, but you know, it's just such a nice thing to see because not every team has in sports, you know, it's quite common in gymnastics, but has that amazing culture of so supportive, all together celebrating the success of another. And I love that, and I love that for multiple reasons because you know I'm always trying to tell the athletes that I work with, hey, if you focus on your teammates, it actually alleviates pressure from yourself, okay, for your own performance that day. So trust the process, trust your training, trust your coach, and then on on competition day, don't focus on yourself, focus on what I can do for my teammates and how can I lift them up. And that is incredibly evident with the UCLA team and the way that they support each other. So it's super impressive. So, Maddie, this is your fourth season. And unless there's something you're not telling me, this is your last. In your journey so far of the three seasons you've had before, what has been the most unexpected part about being a college uh level gymnast and and what you've experienced? What was something going in that you uh either weren't prepared for or were really surprised?

SPEAKER_01: 26:11

I think I wasn't, I was very surprised with myself. I I think when I came in as a freshman, I thought I was like 10 million leagues below everybody else who was there. And that first week of preseason, my freshman year, was so very rough. And I was wondering why I even bothered to come back at all. And I was getting a lot of regrets that first week. But one of my teammates who is one of my very, very best friends, still even now, she graduated, but she had sent me a text in that first week and was like, you're doing great. Like, I know it seems really hard, and like, but you're doing a really good job and to keep going. And that was the I didn't expect that people would, I guess, come to my aid so quickly, like, because I everybody else, like, with how gymnastics recruiting works, like you know the people you're going to be on team with before you get there hundred percent most of the time, because you are gonna go on your recruiting trip where you'll get to meet the team, you'll get to hang out with everybody. You'll also be hanging out with other prospective recruits who are also gonna be there. Once you're actually committed, you go on your official visits and then you get to see all those people again, like you know who you're gonna be there with. And because I kind of just got there at the start and I hadn't really been following College Gym as closely, like I didn't really know anybody who's there. And so I guess I wasn't expecting them to be like right there with such open arms, like ready. And that was kind of the most unexpected thing from when I first got there, and it's just a part of the culture year, just like how welcoming that people are. That's something that we really try to pride ourselves on being as a team when we're representing UCLA. So even when like people come into the gym, like when we're training, we try to make an effort to say hello and welcome them in because our doors are just open. It's like a public space that we practice in. Obviously, you can't practice while we're practicing, but like you could come in and watch at any time, technically. So, you know, trying to be welcoming of people that are coming in, and that was definitely because it's a lot different from club. Club, you're like competing for yourself, and so the team aspects and how strong the team, like how connected the team is, was definitely something that was unexpected. I don't know what I was expecting. I don't think I had expectations on that, but it was very unexpected seeing how tight-knit it all really was. It was very cool.

SPEAKER_00: 28:29

Yeah, uh I I could imagine, and I think it would be, you know, for being a an individual athlete as well in triathlon, you know, the team aspect was something that a lot of people don't realize in the sport of triathlon. We have like a part of our competition is that we also have a team aspect uh during the world championship, and it was the you know, the the fastest, top fastest four or five, depending on the event, would determine the team medal or the team world championship medal. And that was always more exciting than how we individually went, and everyone was, you know, oh it didn't matter how you went as far as, but it was more important how you contributed to the overall placing. So in individual sports, it's really nice when that is added, or that's a bone, that's a component of the sport. So I know I truly appreciated that as part of my sport, and I could see that in gymnastics because gymnastics is is so tough and so really brutal. And I I mean, I watch 12 years of warm-ups. This is my my coach hearing this is gonna freak out of me like running over and leave and not doing a cooldown and going and watching gymnastics for all that time. But I really do love and respect the gymnasts for their work ethic and their discipline and just how hard they train. So, with this being, you're a senior, you're a leader, you've got freshmen looking up to you. Is there anything you're gonna do differently this season, having had three seasons under your belt?

SPEAKER_01: 29:50

Uh I guess my the biggest difference this year. I don't know if you know a lot of our graduating, we had a very big graduating class last year. I think there were eight people that graduated just from last year, so eight seniors. One of them came back, thank goodness Clay's back, but they were a very like bold, like they were very good leaders and they were very outspoken and they had their own opinions and they had of they had definitely a way that they wanted the year to go and they shaped it in that way and wanted it to be like that for the entire year. And so they were a very strong presence on the team, and so we knew that it was gonna feel a lot different, especially since there's only what technically there's only seven upperclassmen on our team as a whole. There's 19 of us, so seven upperclassmen and eleven underclassmen. It's definitely a very young team that we have, and so we knew it wasn't gonna feel exactly the same as it did last year, and so something that we wanted to do was make sure that our freshmen were feeling welcomed because all of us had very interesting first years as and maybe like maybe they were like, I know I talked about how I felt very welcomed, but like it could have been better. It could have been better, it could have been better. And so we really wanted to make sure that they didn't have like the same experience, like some of the same experiences that we did during that first during that first season with some of the not so happy memories from that year. We wanted to make sure that they didn't experience that, but also it was kind of showing them what our standard is and what the culture is all about, because there's five sophomores that are kind of like, yeah, they've been there for a year, but like, you know, they're still new, they're still learning, and then six freshmen who have no idea what to expect, and there's only matter of fact, there's only five of us that have been there for three plus years. Because even though there's seven upperclassmen, there's a transfer in there, there's two transfers in there, and so they've spent two MAX or none, or sorry, that's wrong. They spent one MACs or none years at UCLA, and so they don't really like know what the standard is. So there's only like five of us that have been there for an entire two plus years, and so it just became something that we had to establish our baseline of what our standard is and how we wanted to shape the culture because we spent a lot of time while I've been here rebuilding that culture. We spent a lot of time working on that, and so we wanted to make sure that we kept it and didn't let it go to waste all the rebuilding that we had, excuse me, all the rebuilding that we had accomplished. And so that was definitely something that felt a little different taking on a leadership role. I've always been a more of a lead-by-example type of person, and so just trying to keep up doing that and offer my opinions in places where I once wouldn't have because I was like, oh, maybe I don't have enough experience. But there's only three of us that have been there for three plus years. So that definitely counts as a lot more experience now. And so just having the confidence to speak when I otherwise wouldn't have was definitely a change from this year to previous, especially since those last seniors were very vocal. So I didn't really have to do much talking because I knew they were going to say something, and so I didn't have to do as much. But, you know, that's just something that's been different.

SPEAKER_00: 32:48

I love hearing that. I love hearing athletes take ownership and and lead. And in our first episode of season two, we had an NFL footballer, and he talked about taking his role as a leader and as a senior with his senior in high school, but still lead he was a defensive end, and he was talking about how he led his group and hearing you talk about what you had experienced and what you would like to do differently for those coming in is so great to hear. It's so nice because it's so selfless. And it's again putting teammates first in an individual sport, which is so refreshing because it's very easy to be incredibly selfish as an athlete. And I say this not, you know, to put athletes down, but because we have to rely on our bodies to perform. We have to be selfish to a certain extent to be able to produce what is being asked of us by our coaches. And so to really care and consider your teammates, so refreshing. It's so empowering. And those athletes that you're doing this for, they're gonna remember this, Maddie, and they're going to repeat what you're doing for them because you've given them such a great experience. So kudos to you and the upperclassmen for doing this. And I'm sure it's gonna be evident in your results this season. So I'm I'm super stoked about coming and seeing that. And we're gonna mention that at the end. Has there been anything in this journey in your very long? You know, how many years now? From the age of three? How many how many years total are have we been doing gymnastics? We I now have jumped on board we because I am living vicariously through you now as a gymnast. Um so how many years have we been doing gymnastics? Um nearly, nearly 18 now.

SPEAKER_01: 34:29

18.

unknown: 34:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 34:30

So nearly 18, not quite yet, but nearly.

SPEAKER_00: 34:32

And and this doesn't have to be just specifically UCLA. I mean, it's nice, you know, UCLA is a school on a lot of people's lists. And and for student athletes to be able to have the opportunity to be an UCLA athlete, it's it's also another massive bonus. What has been your most memorable part of your illustrious gymnastics career so far, either in college or just in general? One that you will always like what does it is there one moment that stands out, or is it, you know, that you could share? I think there's two.

SPEAKER_01: 35:00

There's one from club and there's one from college. I'll do the one in club first because obviously that one happened first. But I went to nationals only two times in club. Nationals is like you go as a level 10, so you have to be level 10 to go. And it's like the top seven people at regionals in a given age group get to go. And there can be like 20 people in the age group, and so it's a pretty selective thing, unless you're well, no, if you're really little, it's even more selective, but it's a pretty selective thing. And so I got to go twice. First time I didn't do as well as I wanted, and second time was during that senior year when I was kind of just like, What's whatever's. I actually remember this is kind of funny. I actually remember being a little bummed because I wanted to be done. And when I was at regionals, I like I started on bars and I completely flubbed my bar routine. Like it was really bad. And then I was like, oh darn, guess I won't have to go to nationals. And then I did like lights out on every other event, and I placed fifth, and I still ended up going. And so then I was like, three more weeks of training, but I was really excited for it, and that wasn't the moment, funnily enough. The moment was when I actually went to nationals that year. And I we started on vault, ended on floor, and I was doing my last floor routine. And I remember I just had so much fun in it. It was very, it was a good floor routine for me. I'd say it was a good floor routine, but I performed it better than I had any other time I did it. Like I always tried to perform my floor routines, but that one I specifically remember performing it very well, the dance of it, anyways. I performed it very well. And I just remember feeling very happy and like satisfied and fulfilled when I saluted and walked off the floor. I felt very happy. I still go back and watch that routine sometimes because I just really liked it. And so that's the one from club. And the one from college was the last April when we went to Nationals and we made it to day two, it felt like a culmination of all the rebuilding we had been doing culture wise, and that it was finally showing up and like our results on the floor, and like we knew that we were good enough to be there. And it was just very that year was a very, very special year. And so that moment kind of encapsulated all the feelings that we had from that year. And it was just very special, very special. I don't think I'll ever forget. It's very special.