Jackson gymnastics continues to grow
MASSILLON, Ohio — Oftentimes, in sports, the off-season allows for athletes from different schools to compete on AAU teams, which leads to additional rivalries during the season. Gymnastics offers a twist in that during the season, gymnasts from different schools are on the same team at local YMCA’s or Gymnastics of Ohio, and competitors and rivals go against each other during the same season for their high school team. A year ago, Jackson High School’s gymnastics team enjoyed their most successful season, led by the best gymnast in history, Kiara Hockman, who graduated. Head coach Christy Harp described through email what Hockman meant to the program.
“Kiara is such a talented, hardworking, and driven individual,” wrote Harp, who teaches Algebra 2 at Jackson High School. “From gymnastics to the classroom, she set clear goals and put the time and effort to reach her goals. She made it a goal to become a college gymnast, and she is currently at SUNY Brockport. She is down to earth and supportive of all gymnasts regardless of what level others are at. Kiara showed everyone that your dreams can come true if you put the time in. In high school gymnastics, Kiara made it to states all four years and placed third on beam and second on floor her junior year. She holds the school records on beam, floor, vault, and all around.”
America has been captivated with gymnastics since Mary Lou Retton won a gold medal in 1984 all the way through Simone Biles. The popularity of gymnastics has its ebbs and flows. Harp talked a little bit about the sport. “Gymnastics at Jackson did not start until the early 1990s,” wrote Harp, who is married to Nick. They have two children – Blaine, who is at Jackson Memorial Middle School, and Maela, who is a second grader at Sauder. “Gymnastics is popular today. There are wait lists to get beginners into gymnastics at two local gyms I know about.
“High school gymnastics is unique because gymnasts practice at their “home gym” during the week and come together as a high school team on the weekends. Girls on the high school team can be all different levels back at their “home gyms” but compete and are judged as Level 8’s for high school meets. We have had everything from Xcel gymnasts to level 6’s, all the way to a Level 10 on our high school team. Seeing them compete all together in purple and gold is really great. We practice at the North Canton YMCA Gymnastics Center. Other schools at North Canton are Lake, Northwest, Louisville, GlenOak, Green, and Hoover. Perry and McKinley also have teams (at other gyms), so every Federal League school has a team.”
Harp explained the difference between a Level 6 and Level 8 gymnast. A Level 6 gymnast has less difficult skills mastered than a Level 8. Skills are rated by letters. A skills are easier, B are harder and C more difficult. A Level 8 routine for high school requires 4 A and B skills. With most sports, high school coaches see athletes develop through a feeder system. But in gymnastics, the feeder system is developed at the North Canton Y Gymnastics Center and not through Jackson. Harp explained the challenges of this system. “I know from talking to gymnasts on the team what freshmen are coming in the next year,” wrote Harp, who participated in gymnastics and graduated from Jackson High School. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Akron. “I watch practices at the North Canton YMCA so I can see most of the girls before the high school season. “It can be challenging not knowing everything that went on during the week (say if they had a bad practice on Tuesday and now, they are scared of their vault, for example.) It is very rewarding seeing them both at the gym and at school and growing those relationships.”
Harp’s high school numbers are growing, which also presents some obstacles for her as a coach. “We had 19 girls on the team last season, and such a large team actually creates challenges,” Harp wrote. “Some of the meets we go to, we can only compete for six girls per event. I want to be able to allow everyone to compete on all of the events they want to complete on, but it definitely gets challenging. Luckily, the girls are very understanding! They always volunteer to sit out on bars (ha ha.) I try to keep the team supportive and fun, so it is a team everyone is excited to join.”
Following last year’s success, Harp returns a strong team this season:
Emmalie Mitzel, senior, competes in all around. She also dives for the swim team, where she was a state qualifier last year.
Krista Yung, junior, competes in all around.
Emma Werster, junior, competes in all around.
Maria Cho, sophomore, competes in all around.
Riley Zagst, sophomore, competes in all around.
“There is lots of returning talent with experience at the high school level,” wrote Harp. “We have four freshmen who are excited to compete as well.” As the world witness with Biles, mental health and gymnastics can be intertwined. Harp addressed the mental health aspect of the sport. “We do not put too much pressure on gymnasts on any event,” wrote Harp. “We allow gymnasts to take their time returning to the skill which is giving her difficulty. We try to be supportive.”
Gymnastics is an Ohio High School Athletic Association sanctioned sport, where gymnasts can earn a varsity level. An interesting fact is the first state gymnastics tournament held in Ohio in 1926 was for boys only.
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