Many people don’t know that Middle Creek has a gymnastics team. Middle Creek has had a gymnastics team for more than ten years. This school sport is very small and often goes unnoticed by a lot of students. In the past years, the most girls on the team has been eight. This school year, there are only three varsity gymnasts: Sophia Hall, Alex Bullard, and myself.
To be on the Junior Varsity team, athletes are required to have at least Xcel gold level skills. This level is equal to level five and six. To be on the Varsity team, athletes are required to have at least Xcel platinum level skills. This level is equivalent to level six and seven. In previous years, both Junior Varsity and Varsity competed at meets, but since the pandemic hit, Junior Varsity is not allowed to compete at meets in order to help limit the number of girls competing. Gymnasts also don’t have to compete “all around,” which is when they compete in all four events: bars, beam, floor, and vault. Instead they can specialize in one or two events if they want.
Practices for Middle Creek gymnastics are usually held on Mondays and Thursdays from 8pm-9pm at Team Attraction Gymnastics. These practices begin in August and end when the season is over in November. Team Attraction Gymnastics also holds practices once a week before the season starts for gymnasts who aren’t in club gymnastics. These practices are held so gymnasts can catch up on their skills before the season even begins.
So far, Middle Creek has had two meets, both at Raleigh School of Gymnastics. The first meet was on September 18, and the second was this past weekend on October 9. I was the only gymnast who could make it to the meet, so Middle Creek unfortunately didn’t have enough people for a team score. On October 16, there is a meet at Superior Gymnastics Academy. The Conference meet is on October 30 at Raleigh School of Gymnastics. If Middle Creek does well at the Conference meet, they would qualify for championships, which would be held on November 6 at Raleigh School of Gymnastics. The times of these competitions are not yet determined, as they are usually determined a day or two before the meet.
The Middle Creek gymnastics coach, Linda Haswell, also coaches four other schools: Apex High School, Apex Friendship High School, Panther Creek High School, and Holly Springs High School. All of these schools attend the same practices but compete at different meets. Middle Creek's biggest competitors are Apex Friendship and Apex High School. Haswell has been a club coach for eighteen years and a high school coach for four years. She became a high school coach because she coaches many high school gymnasts that she also coaches in club and she wants her gymnasts to “have a good experience with their high school sport.” She also says that “North Carolina allowing gymnasts to have high school gymnastics means a lot because they get to do something they love for their schools.” Haswell describes that at meets, Middle Creek gymnasts “pull together a little more as a team, rather than individually.”
With the next meet being held on October 16, it would be appreciated if students came to Raleigh School of Gymnastics to support the Middle Creek gymnasts.
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