![]() I consider myself healthy for this point in my career, so I’ll do more of the same.” “I believe that I still would've made the same choice if I hadn't been injured. “I just knew that my body could handle it,” she said. But she said her injury played no role in her decision. Brown ruptured her Achilles just weeks before the 2020 season abruptly ended because of the pandemic. That may not have been the case for other people, but I’ve been healthy enough that I could continue to do it for one more year.ĭenver’s Lynnzee Brown echoed similar thoughts when discussing her decision-making process. “My body still feels pretty good, so I feel like I have another year in me. ![]() “I definitely wasn’t ready to be done last year,” Loper said. Other top returning gymnasts were in the same boat as Kaji - both when it came to considering past injuries and planning to stay on campus for grad school anyway.Įven if she had torn her Achilles at the start of her NCAA career, Minnesota gymnast Ona Loper’s immediate reaction to the extra year was “Yes, absolutely! I’m sold.” She was already going to be at Minnesota for graduate school to complete her degree in - surprisingly enough - epidemiology. So she thought, “Why not just compete for the last time?” In addition, Kaji had already planned to be on campus for graduate school. “As much as my body had started to hurt in my senior year and my fifth year, I felt that - taking the summer to kind of think about it - I was still able to contribute physically,” Kaji said. She began reconsidering that extra year - even if her body had been feeling the effects of doing collegiate gymnastics for five years. In June, a few months after the 2021 season had concluded, Kaji started to change her mind. I had imagined a different direction for the future.” I was really looking forward to life after gymnastics. But for me, especially after taking an extra year already previously with my Achilles - I took a redshirt year - I thought in my mind and body that I was done, that I had given all I had and all I wanted. “I knew there was a lot of talk about girls immediately going to take a COVID year. “My initial reaction was actually to not take the COVID year,” Kaji said. I just kind of put that off, and I was going to decide afterwards.”Ĭlair Kaji of Iowa was a fifth-year senior preparing to hang up her leotards when the NCAA announced the extra year of eligibility. “So I kind of used that as ‘If everything doesn’t go exactly the way I want it, if I really wanted to, I could come back.’ But at the same time, I tried not to really think about another year during season. “I put a lot of pressure onto myself to make my (initial) senior year perfect,” the Florida gymnast said. She was aware of the option and kept it in the back of her mind, focusing on the 2020 season. Others took their time while some even changed their minds.Īfter hearing the news, Baumann didn’t make a decision right away. ![]() “I knew I would 100% regret my decision if I did not take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for one more year with (my team)!”īrown and Desiderio knew right away that they wanted to use the extra year, along with Ona Loper of Minnesota, who called it “the easiest decision.” But this wasn’t the case for all collegiate gymnasts. “I definitely did not see the opportunity coming, but I remember feeling so grateful and blessed,” the LSU senior said. And if I have another year to try to make them proud, I want to do it.”ĭesiderio was equally shocked and excited when she first heard the news. ![]() “I was very close with that class, and I basically told them that I was going to do everything that I could with whatever time in gymnastics I have left for them. “I was very grateful for the opportunity because I knew the seniors before me didn’t get that,” Baumann said. With the rather unexpected news, gymnasts like Baumann and Christina Desiderio of LSU are cherishing this extra chance. “I was shocked because they hadn’t given the 2020 seniors an extra year,” Lynnzee Brown of Denver said. ![]() At least it was supposed to be.īecause of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted winter sport Division I student-athletes an extra year of eligibility. Competing every season since the 2021 season was her final one. Not yet.īaumann joined the Florida Gators gymnastics team upon her enrollment at Florida for the 2017-2018 school year. Nearly six years later, that same elbow still affects her gymnastics. However, she decided to defer an entire year because of her elbow injury. The injury caused her to withdraw from Olympic Trials.īaumann would miss the Rio 2016 Olympics but was set to compete at the University of Florida that fall. While training on uneven bars, Baumann injured her elbow, tearing ligaments and muscles. In June 2016, Alyssa Baumann’s dream of competing at the Olympics was torn apart - literally. ![]()
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