Bailey York

From the age of five years old I have loved gymnastics. Okay, well maybe it was more of a love-hate relationship sometimes, but I kept coming back to the sport and falling in love with it again and again.

My parents put me into a kindergarten class and I loved that. However, when I got moved up to the next class, I wasn't the best in my class anymore and immediately begged my parents to take me out. They listened, but then just a year later, I wanted to try again. I stayed in the sport for the next couple years until, again, I felt like I wasn't progressing enough.

Again, my parents took me out and even let me try horseback riding which I loved. But I was still doing flips everywhere I went and decided to give gymnastics one more try. My poor parents!

This time I stuck with it for 6 years straight, competing on multiple different levels and even winning state champion for beam one year. Eventually, though, school stress got in the way so I decided to do the next best thing and coach gymnastics instead. Before coming to Athens to attend UGA, I coached for 3 years and still consider the gym my second home.