She claps her hands together, eyes downward as a plume of chalk surrounds her. A deep breath in, and out. She can feel the seconds ticking by from this one last moment to prepare, before she bends her knees slightly, and the world spins around her.

Ellie Grigsby is currently a sophomore at James Bowie High School, but outside of scholarly activities has achieved the status as a Level 10 gymnast. She has been involved in gymnastics since she was three years old, and states it was the first sport she had a strong connection with.

“It was fun,” Grigsby said. “I feel like it’s so different from a lot of other sports. I could just go to the gym, kind of flip around. It was just completely different from anything else I’ve ever done.”

The initial appeal that Grigsby felt for gymnastics has led her to a lasting athletic career, in which she continues to train, 12 years later. The entirety of Grigsby’s gymnastic journey has taken place at Austin Elite Gymnastics Center, where she currently trains six days a week, Monday through Saturday.

“Some of my closest friends are through gymnastics because we spend so much time with each other,” Grigsby said. “We see all sides of each other, good, bad, ugly, so we’re all pretty close.”

Gymnastic practices typically consist of training on the different equipment, doing drills and strengthening exercises, and working on new skills.

“I feel like gymnastics taught me discipline from a young age,” Grigsby said. “Because in the sport there’s always so much going on at once, if you don’t have any self-discipline, you’re not gonna go anywhere with it.”

Gymnastic levels are based not on age, but on the progression of skill a gymnast holds. Advancements are made to the next level once a certain set of skills are able to be completed, such as a back handspring or even a cartwheel.

“After level 10 is Elite,” Grigsby said. “Which is pretty much the people who are home-schooled and want to go the Olympic route. Even girls who are the best of the best don’t go Elite. Some people just choose to stay level 10.”

Most novices start at level one or two, and level four is the first of the required competitive levels. As Grigsby is in level 10, she regularly goes to gymnastic competitions that last a total of four hours with gymnasts competing in the four events; vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor routine.

“I’d say my gym has a pretty positive environment, but there’s also a lot of discipline,” Grigsby said. “We need to know what we’re supposed to do, and at this age, it’s really on you if you don’t. We just recently got a new head coach, so we have a lot more structure.”

Juan Jimenez is the head coach at Elite Gymnastics and has clear ideas on how to best help his students train and prepare for all gymnastic situations ahead of them.

“I have to create an environment where the girls feel comfortable failing,” Jimenez said. “I know it sounds odd, but in this sport failure is a tool. The girls fall a lot. If I can’t create an environment that is encouraging and helpful, the girls won’t want to try their best.”

One prestigious achievement Grigsby obtained was placing at the Western Championships. She is ranked first on vault in her region, which consists of six states, with nine competitive regions in the entirety of the US.

“Ellie is incredibly resilient,” Jimenez said. “This sport is not easy. At the levels that Ellie is performing in, it takes a huge toll on the athletes. Over the past eight months Ellie has pushed through a lot of progress despite some minor setbacks.”

Gymnastics is a sport with a high level of injuries, with its athletes averaging 2.6 injuries per gymnastic season, according to BMJ Journals. Despite being a younger athlete, Grigsby has fallen prey to dislocations, concussions, and torn ligaments like any other.

“Most of my setbacks have been injuries,” Grigsby said. “When I’m hurt, I try to do as much as I can, and only stop when it’s the breaking point. Not everyone has these setbacks, and I have to make up for it.”

Like many extracurriculars, gymnastics has challenges that make its participants true testaments to the sport. As practices occupy a large portion of weekends and time after school, Grigsby has settled into a routine to juggle her other commitments.

“It’s definitely hard,” Grigsby said. “I try to get as much schoolwork done as I can in school, but that doesn’t always work. I do homework in the car, on the weekends when I have time.”

Weekday practices are four hours long, and Saturday practices are typically from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“She has so much love for the sport, because of how much of a time commitment it is,” friend Vera Lee said.

Outside of gymnastics, Grigsby participates in JBHS track and field, where she advanced to the state meet for 100 Meter Hurdles last year. During the spring, her school days become sandwiched between early track mornings and after school gymnastics practices.

“She has really good time management,” Lee said. “She is really good at balancing out friends, school, and gymnastics. She’s a good friend to be around.”

Although Jimenez has only been training with Grigsby since January, he already has strong feelings about her merits as a gymnast.

“I have been the most impressed with her resiliency,” Jimenez said. “Her ability to be relentlessly dedicated to her goals. It’s incredibly admirable. It is not a very common characteristic in people, let alone teenagers.”

Not only does her coach and peers believe she has resiliency and strong will to achieve her goals, they believe Grigsby is set to succeed and continue on with gymnastics to greater parts of life.

“My hopes for Ellie all revolve around the goals she has made for herself,” Jimenez said. “I think she is more than capable of predicting her future and my job is to facilitate that.”

Grigsby hopes to make it to the national competition this year and then from there her eyes are set on Division One athletics.

“Ellie is a natural leader, there’s a good chance she has always been like that,” Jimenez said. “Gymnastics is simply how she chooses to show her greatness.”

This story was originally published on The Dispatch on October 29, 2024.