In the early ‘90s, the University of Wisconsin cut a variety of varsity sports, including both men’s and women’s gymnastics. To make up for it, the Wisconsin Gymnastics Club formed in 2002. This year, the club boasts 100 members on their roster.
Competing under the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC), the club participates in meets throughout the spring.
Becca Tran, Wisconsin Gymnastics Club president, has been in the sport since she was 2 years old. She competed throughout her childhood before quitting in high school.
“I was thinking about how I missed it, [and] I want to get back to the events. So, I joined the club, and it was very fun to keep doing gymnastics, but also a great way to meet new people,” Tran said.
Knowing she wanted to continue with gymnastics, Tran sought out the club from the website. She said she was nervous as a freshman when joining, but everyone was “super welcoming."
“There was a very big range of skill levels too, which I thought was interesting,” Tran said. “There was no pressure on the gymnastic side, and it was a really good way for me to have made friends freshman year.”
Wisconsin Gymnastics Club invites all skill levels to practices and competitions. They have a team composed of diverse skills.
At the UW-Madison Student Organization Fair his freshman year, senior member Isaac Alvarez said the club got his attention while he was walking by their booth.
“They said that I looked like a gymnast and [asked], ‘oh, did you ever do gymnastics?’ I [said] no, it always interested me, but there wasn't an outlet or a program in my hometown for that. I thought that was pretty cool that it just kind of happened,” Alvarez said.
Tran said she’s seen the club grow since her freshman year, where they were more focused on introducing students who had never done gymnastics before to the sport, instead of prospective returning gymnasts.
“I think it's kind of evolved to support both ends of that,” Tran said. “We are very supportive of members who have never done gymnastics before and would love to teach them everything, but we're also very supportive of our members who want to be competitive and will give them the means that they need to succeed.”
The club competes every spring semester, where they travel to other universities and compete with other gymnastics clubs. Each year, the team travels to nationals for a three-day meet where most club teams in the country compete at.
“I remember my freshman year, I was very nervous. I [said] there's a lot of really good gymnastics–which is awesome–and I wanted to put out my best,” Tran said. “That was a lot of stress, for sure, but it was also a really cool experience, being able to meet teams from all over the country, as well as getting to travel to a new place.”
As a former competitive gymnast who has returned to the sport in college, senior Sydney Koch said a memory that stuck out to her the most has been nationals.
“Every year with the teams has been so fun, not just competing, but watching. Especially [watching] my teammate Becca [Tran] making finals every year, and just the electricity of our team supporting her and everyone who goes to finals,” Koch said. “We're always there to show up for our teammates. It's just a whole collaborative experience to travel with your team.”
Tran said about 24 members are signed up for Nationals this year in Birmingham, Alabama, April 8-11. In the past three years, the team has traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
As a club run by UW-Madison students, they have no official coach to manage the practices or competitions. In an open gym format, the members run and dictate their own practices.
“I found that my experience [in the club] has become a little bit more independent,” Koch said. “Before, I was really focused on my coach pushing me to do numbers and get me ready for competitions, but here I'm pushing myself to make sure that I know what I need to do going into competitions.”
A typical practice follows a group warmup and stretch, open gym practice and group conditioning, stretching or game. Koch said having no formal coach has “benefitted” her gymnastics, even though she’s found herself being her own coach.
Hazel Skarlupka joined the team this fall as a freshman with no gymnastics experience. With no formal coach or overly structured gymnastics practices, she’s been growing in her skills through dedication and the help of her teammates.
“I came in with no experience, and they've taken time out of their individual practices to coach me in any way they can,” Skarlupka said. “[They’re] probably some of the most generous people I've met.”
With the open structure of the club’s practices, each member chooses how many practices they would like to attend each week at their off-campus locations.
Tran said most members attend two to three practices a week, as they run 8-10 p.m. four days a week, with one early afternoon practice on Sundays. It was a change in intensity for her, but she attributes her re-found love of the sport to the open practices with Wisconsin Gymnastics Club.
The club has an upcoming competition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champion and will host the Midwest Regionals in DeForest before traveling to Alabama for the NAIGC Nationals.
“I'm really looking forward to seeing our new members compete and stay with the club. Being president for the first year, I get to do a lot with recruitment and getting to know the new members, so I'm really excited,” Tran said. “We've had one competition so far, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how everyone grows in their gymnastics, personally and [in] our future competitions.”
