3 Lakewood Ranch gymnasts earn their shots at competing on collegiate level

The paths to college gymnastics do not all look the same. 

Some are more or less straight, like that of Alyssa Orgen, who started in the sport at 4 years old after her family noticed that she was an easily excitable child.

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Orgen started in dance, but decided that was "too slow." Gymnastics fit her better. Over time, she kept excelling, and advancing, until she reached Level 10, the highest level of junior gymnastics. She began to attract interest from college gymnastic programs. 

Others' paths are less straight. EmmaGrace Kelly's path was a slow-building one that took a sharp turn near the end. Kelly, like Orgen, started in gymnastics at 4, but she didn't decide that she wanted to pursue gymnastics at the college level until she was a freshman in high school. At that point, Kelly said, most gymnasts are already in Level 10, but she was not.

It took another two years for her to get there, and Kelly's first year at Level 10 was hampered by a recovery from surgery, so she did not perform up to her standards. To impress a college enough to offer her a spot, a big senior season would be needed. She "worked double-time" to ensure that happened, she said. 

Some paths, like that of Natalie Thomas, hit a snag. Thomas started in gymnastics at 4 years old, but only did it for fun. Thomas stopped the sport at 7 years old to try swimming. Her family had moved to Lakewood Ranch from Jacksonville, and she wanted a fresh start. But she eventually returned to gymnastics, and after she began to understand that she could earn a scholarship for her performance, she rededicated herself to being the best gymnast she could be. 

All three gymnasts, members of Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics, achieved their end goal. This fall, Orgen is headed to the University of Kentucky; Kelly is headed to West Chester University (Pennsylvania) ; and Thomas is headed to George Washington University (Washington D.C.). 

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Getting to their schools has been a challenge for all three, they said, as gymnastics has taken a lot of physical and mental energy from them. It's a sport where one off-kilter attempt can result in serious injury. 

"Even after all this time, my brain will still say, 'Oh my gosh, I'm on a 4-inch-wide beam right now, what am I doing?'" Kelly said. "I sometimes have to go back to a lower beam and build myself back up when that happens." 

Anxiety about competing affects gymnasts at every level. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles elected to bow out of the competition because she was suffering from "the twisties," a term gymnasts use to describe the feeling of not knowing where they are relative to the ground during aerial maneuvers. Biles has returned to Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and younger gymnasts like Lakewood Ranch's have learned to power through similar struggles. 

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"I use visualization when I'm stressed or I have a bad practice," Thomas said. "I picture myself having good routines to distract myself, rather than sitting in bed thinking about the bad practice. Or I'll go do something that takes my mind off of gymnastics completely. This is not our entire lives. It's OK to focus on other things, too."

For the sport's upper echelon, the final results are worth the mental challenges. Orgen recalled competing at the 2024 Women's Development Program Level 10 National Championships in Daytona Beach in May. It was the last junior competition of her career before heading to Kentucky. Orgen said that as soon she finished the vault, her final event, she looked at Lakewood Ranch co-Head Coach David Parraga and immediately got teary-eyed. 

"I thought about the last 10 years of my life," Orgen said. "I could not believe how far I had come and the opportunities gymnastics has given me.

"I have a great support system here that has helped me on days when I wanted to quit. One bad day can make you rethink your whole career. You have to remember that you are worth it. You are strong enough to overcome it." 

Kelly, giving advice to young gymnasts, said self-reflection is the best way to get where you want to be. If you can pinpoint your flaws, Kelly said, you can put a spotlight on them during training. 

Thomas was even more blunt.

"You need to mentally and physically fight," Thomas said. "Just keep going, no matter what." 

Their paths took them all on different journeys, but Orgen, Kelly and Thomas will share a common title this fall: the title of college gymnast.