Senior Genevieve Clark first joined the Troy United Gymnastics team in her sophomore year. She’s been doing the sport for 10 years after being introduced to it by her mom and grandma. She began her gymnastics career “at GTC [Gymnastics Training Center], where my mom started gymnastics and grandma was always into it as well. Doing that as an eight-year-old, it was so fun and the coaches loved me ‘cause I was short and bendable.”
Clark’s first year was her favorite year of high school gymnastics, but she’s loved it her whole life. Her first gymnastics coaches put a lot of faith in her from a young age. Because of this, she was able to progress very quickly with their coaching.
Gymnastics isn’t just about balance beams and backflips, though. Clark explains that she has learned a lot about professionalism and how she has to present herself to the judges. “First impressions are the only thing you get. They just see your name on the sheet.”
What motivated Clark a lot through the sport were her teammates. If Clark had a bad day at practice, her teammates would tell her, “Don’t you worry! Next meet, you got this,” which really motivated her. Clark attributes her success to her teammates and coaches for getting her this far, “especially my mom for putting me in gymnastics and my grandma because she goes to everything [is] my biggest supporter.”
Clark’s dedication led her to be named co-captain of the team her senior year. As captain, she was able to connect with all the girls due to its small size. Sometimes, they even ask her for advice. Clark adds, “I think that it really taught me life lessons about how being a role model can really impact people and give them the confidence to go for skills better.”
Her hard work paid off in other ways, too. She was the only person from Troy High School who qualified for states, which brought about its own challenges. The day Clark competed at the state gymnastics meet, she was also performing in the school musical, which caused some inconvenient stress due to the conflicting schedules. Clark pulled through, though, staying focused all the while and managing to score well despite her busy schedule. “All day I would eat healthy food and stretch and get warm. I only had to compete with a few skills, and I got a good score. It was consistent.”
Clark’s advice is that, even if you are scared to do something, you should do it. “I faced a lot of mental struggles with being scared to do something, and feel like once I have done it, I feel better and I have learned from these experiences.”
Though Clark will not be competing in the sport in college, she plans on judging high school gymnastics and coaching in the near future.
