Life as a high school athlete is busy. On top of going to school and practicing your sport, there is a great deal of emphasis placed on making decisions about your future. Whether this means taking the S.A.Ts, applying to schools, or going on college visits, a majority of these four years are spent planning for the next four. During this time, you are essentially responsible for marketing yourself to get to this next chapter even though not all of these final decisions are in your hands.
The recruitment process from the point of view of the coaches–the people actually in charge of making these decisions–is rarely discussed. The big question is, what exactly are these coaches looking for and how are they making these decisions?
There are 86 schools in the United States across all divisions that have NCAA sanctioned women’s gymnastics programs. While this number may seem like a lot, there are many more athletes with the hopes of doing college gymnastics than can be accommodated by 86 rosters. In 2024 alone, there were 1,791 gymnasts in total across all 86 rosters, with 1,000 of these athletes actually having the opportunity to compete for lineup spots each season. Though some programs have been added over the past few years, there have also been universities that…
