The gymnastics team tumbles toward new year

The student-run club hopes for new recruits, holds interest meeting, efforts new exectutive board positions

Carrie McLendon

Contributed photo The 2023 gymnastics team poses.

The Troy University gymnastics team is looking for new members for the 2024-2025 season.

At an interest meeting held in Hawkins Hall last Wednesday, students were able to ask questions and get an idea of what the team’s expectations are.

Gymnastics is one of the few student run club teams offered on Troy campus. The team is open to any student who is interested, at any skill level. Members are not required to compete in competitions if they are not interested in doing so.

“We actually don’t have too many expectations,” said Maren Settle, coach and president of the gymnastics team and a junior sports management and psychology major from Greenville, Alabama. “That’s the nice thing about the league that we're in.

“We're able to accept all and any, so someone who has no gymnastic experience at all can come and join the team and we'll be able to help coach them up to a level where they could possibly compete.” “[We’re looking for] people who are excited and willing to learn new skills and try new things,” said Hannah Leake, vice president of the gymnastics team and a senior exercise science major from Enterprise, Alabama.

After an incredibly successful inaugural year where they won the southeast regional championship, the team is striving to do even better this year.

“We’d like to get a national bid, and then, be able to go to the national competition,” said Settle.

The team got a national bid last year but were unable to go due to funding issues.

The team will be making a few changes to their executive board in hopes of focusing on other important areas in the upcoming season.

“We had only four positions last year that were able to be voted on and elected, so this year we would like to have closer to five or six. We now have a little bit more leadership, and we’ll be able to focus efforts on things such as apparel and sponsorship, as well as community outreach,” said Settle.

Overall, the main goal of the team is to form a positive and comfortable environment, and they are looking to bring that into the new season.

“The ultimate goal that we’ve always had is just to create a positive gymnastics environment for college-age kids,” said Settle.

When asked what she wanted to bring into the new season, Leake said, “Hopefully the same family aspect that we had last year.”

If students have any questions or are interested in joining, can email msettle@troy.edu or message the team’s Instagram @troytrojansgymnastics.