Since 2023, the All Things Gymnastics Podcast has done in-depth interviews with over 20 gymnasts about their college recruiting journey as part of our Recruit Reflections series, which is brought to you by Full Out Collegiate Recruiting. These conversations offer a broad spectrum of perspectives — from some of the nation’s top recruits, to athletes pursuing Division III opportunities, and even those who chose to follow a different path through acrobatics and tumbling. Our hope is that their stories provide valuable insight into the many ways the recruiting process can unfold.
For Season 3, we will be joined by seven athletes and one parent:
- Annalisa & Malea Milton (Class of 2026 – LSU Commits): Click here to listen.
- Heather Parker (Class of 2022 – CMU Cymnast): Click here to listen.
- Anika Most (Class of 2024 – Kent State Gymnast): Click here to listen.
- JoJo Valahovic (Class of 2025 – UNC Gymnast): Coming June 23
- Leah Fontaine (Class of 2025 – Retired): Coming June 30
- Izzy Biro (Class of 2025 – MSU Gymnast): Coming July 7
- Jillian Fisher (Class of 2025 – UNC Gymnast): Coming July 14
- Erin Lang (Mother of Maryland Gymnast Olivia Lang): Coming July 21
As the class of 2027 begins having contact with coaches, we compiled some of the top tips a few of our guests had to offer over the years to help guide the next generation.
Mackenzie Estep (Class of 2025) | Oklahoma
Fresh off announcing her commitment to the University of Oklahoma in 2023, Mackenzie Estep (Ascend Gymnastics) was the first interview in the Recruit Reflection series. Her list of accolades has only continued to grow since then: seven national titles, 2025 Nastia Cup Champion — the list goes on. Ranked as one of the top recruits in the nation by College Gym News, June 15 was a busy day for Estep. Not only did she have finals at school, but the text messages from college coaches were flooding in — starting at 9 p.m. on June 14 (midnight on the east coast). Estep skipped gym and took five calls back to back that evening. She had offers from many of the top programs, but ended up taking visits to Utah, Oklahoma, LSU and Florida. In the end, she decided to join the legacy that is Oklahoma Gymnastics.
Mackenzie’s Top Tips:
- Post on Instagram – both the good and the bad: “I wasn’t crazy on Instagram until probably [2022] because I was kind of scared to post, to be honest. I wasn’t sure if my stuff was good enough to post. After meets my scores were sometimes a bit low so I would be like, ‘Oh, I can’t post that.’ But I had to learn that scores are subjective and it’s honestly best to put it out there and let people form their own opinions. Instagram is a great resource that you can use, and so many people are on that platform, so it’s great to get yourself out there.”
- You don’t need to be perfect when coaches visit: “You have to remember that, yes, they’re there to watch your gymnastics, but they’re also there to watch how you react as well. They’re there to watch how you react when you do a good turn or a bad turn, how you interact with your coaches or teammates. They’re there to watch more than just your gymnastics, so it’s OK to make a mistake. At first, I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t fall off the beam. I have to be perfect,’ but I think that also adds an extra layer of stress that’s not needed, and it could really affect your gymnastics. You just have to remember what you do every day because they’re coming in to watch you, so you’ve obviously done something right. Stay calm and just know that they’re not there to watch you be perfect.”
- Double check your emails before hitting send: “Make sure the names of the coaching staff are correct. There was an instance where I did send the wrong name, and I didn’t know that I had done that until my club coach brought it to my attention, and I felt so bad. So I sent an email back and I was like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ He was super gracious about it, and he actually made it kind of a running joke through my whole recruiting process. I also think putting your number when you’re emailing is pretty important because there were a couple instances when people had reached out to me but I never got their texts because they had my number wrong and they had to contact my club coaches. Make sure that’s seen in your email as well so they have the right email or number to contact on June 15.”
Lexi Zeiss (Class of 2024) | LSU
After coming off a second place finish in the all-around at the 2022 Pan American Championships and being named an alternate to the World Championship team later that year, it felt like Lexi Zeiss (Twin City Twisters) was having the perfect build up to the start of her recruiting season. Despite receiving interest from many teams around the country Zeiss only took two visits — Florida and LSU — before deciding she wanted to be a Tiger.
Lexi’s Top Tips:
- How to tell coaches no: “I called every school because my parents are super big on having good social skills and making sure you call and thank them because they spent their time talking to you – which I think was so amazing, but it was also really hard because I built connections with people. I also just felt bad… My mom would tell me, ‘You’re giving this spot to someone else. You’re helping them in a way,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re right.’ But you also feel bad because they’re giving me an opportunity. I cried on almost every call because I felt like a terrible person. You just have to figure out what you want in a school and remember that they hear no more than they hear yes, and it’s part of their job. They understand that you want to find the place you want to be at. It’s not even about gymnastics, it’s about school and what you want to do, so they understand that.”
- Have another set of eyes with you on visits to help evaluate team culture: “There’s no stupid or dumb questions. Asking the girls questions separately from other people just to give them that chance to talk to you is important. I also asked my parents to really watch. Because I knew I would be so into it and not always stopping to look around and be like, ‘How is everyone interacting right now?’ So that was helpful to have people around you helping you watch and see. Another thing is, I watched every college gymnastics meet the year before I committed or was looking at schools, just to watch them compete. Like, ‘How did this team act when they didn’t have something go their way, or how did this team act when they did have something go their way?’ So I really watched, and that helped me narrow down schools before June 15.”
Sydney Seabrooks (Class of 2025) | UNC
A level 10 gymnast for four years, Sydney Seabrooks (LaFleur’s Gymnastics) began talking to college coaches on June 15 after her sophomore year of high school. Seabrooks was one of the largest advocates for transparency in the college gymnastics recruiting process — sharing her journey every step of the way on social media. And she was so committed to helping the next generation, she actually joined us for this series twice! In the end, Seabrooks did seven official visits — a tie for the most of any athlete in the class of 2025 — before settling on the University of North Carolina.
Sydney’s Top Tips:
- Take as many visits as possible: “If I could visit every single college campus in the whole entire country and still pick UNC or another school as my number one, then that is where I was meant to be. That is where home is for me. If I was like, ‘You know what? I kind of do want to visit this school,’ then I’m going to take that visit if I have the means to do so because I don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, but what if I would have visited ___? What if I had really loved it there?’ So I definitely thought of it as like — let’s have no regrets, let’s experience all of this, and celebrate what we’ve done for so long. All the gymnastics, the calls, building the relationships … Let’s celebrate that!”
- Don’t be afraid to ask where you stand: “You have to remember the coaches are so busy with their time and they’re also looking through so many girls, that if you want something from a coach, you’ve got to go call them, you got to go message them. If I wanted to know something right then and there, I would just text the coach saying, ‘Hey, are you free for a call tomorrow or tonight?’ It definitely came to that point where you do have to push that transparency, you have to push that line to get what you want from it. It’s very good to just to know where you are in their list and then know if you should move on from there. You don’t want to waste your time.”
- Pick a place you’d want to be if the sport went away: “I looked at what I wanted beyond gymnastics. I want to be somewhere that if something were to happen, could I see myself just being a student in this place? Not a student athlete, but a student at this campus or the school specifically.”
Charlotte Raymond (Class of 2024) | Brockport
When gyms were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s when Charlotte Raymond (Global Gymnastics) first realized she wanted to be an NCAA gymnast. As a level 10 gymnast from a small gym in Ontario, Canada, Raymond was pleasantly surprised to receive a few emails on June 15. Raymond, not wanting to go too far from home, took unofficial visits to West Chester, Illinois State, New Hampshire, Central Michigan and of course Brockport — where she ended up committing!
Charlotte’s Top Tips:
- Don’t focus on the division: “You have to be true to yourself and go to a school that makes you happy. At first I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go to DIII’ because … of course the goal is to go DI, but it also isn’t at the same time. I’m still going to be competing for an amazing team and I’m going to be close to home. It’s a great gym! I felt so much pressure to want DI when deep down I knew I wanted to go to Brockport. It’s just a number. At the end of the day, you’re still doing college gymnastics. You’re still getting a college degree.”
- Take the training gym into consideration: “I really wanted a gym that I know I could improve in. Having pits and a lot of equipment — I really wanted that because I know I’m not done improving. I feel I still have lots of room to improve on skills and get new skills. At first I didn’t know some gyms didn’t have pits. I thought all NCAA gyms did but I learned even DI gyms — they don’t always have pits. Brockport (has) a really nice gym and has pits on pretty much all events, so that was really important to me.”
- Send a thank you email after your visits: “A day or even a few hours after I would send a follow up email just thanking them for the opportunity and experience. Because I want them to know how grateful I was for the opportunity.”
Ellerie Poel (Class of 2024) | Calvin University
Since she didn’t start competing until the age of 11, Ellerie Poel started recruiting a little bit later than most. A level 9 from Cardinal Gymnastics, Poel was mostly receiving offers to do gymnastics at DIII schools, as well as from schools that offer acro and tumbling. Poel ended up making the decision to say goodbye to gymnastics to pursue the acro and tumbling route and was a part of the inaugural team at Calvin University.
Ellerie’s Top Tips:
- Be prepared if you do cold calls: “I just made sure that I knew a lot about the school. It was important to me to make sure that I knew what I was talking about and that I knew I was asking good questions. What was really helpful was giving myself a lot of time in the day to call the coaches. I would have hour blocks for a five to ten minute call just to have time to get my nerves together and make sure I had everything together. And then also making lists was really helpful. That was something that Full Out Collegiate Recruiting was really helpful with – making lists, knowing which coaches I’ve called already, who I haven’t and who I need to follow up with after leaving voicemails.”
- It’s OK for your goals to change: “I was kind of always looking into both (NCAA gymnastics and acro and tumbling), just to see what I wanted to do. But I didn’t start to shift my focus fully until after going to a lot of gymnastics camps. I came away just not really liking the way I felt afterward … So I knew that pursuing college gymnastics just to be a college gymnast wasn’t really worth my happiness and my experience at college. That was kind of the big realization this past fall — that acro is where I feel comfortable, it’s where I want to be. It’s exciting. It’s fun for me. So that was definitely a hard shift to feel like I was leaving gymnastics behind a bit, but I’m just so at peace with that decision. I would tell any athlete, don’t be afraid to change plans. I think it’s super important to stay open minded to the possibility of going to a different school or different division, or even changing your sports completely or deciding that you’re not going to pursue college athletics anymore. I think it’s really important for athletes starting recruiting to remember that there’s no shame in following where you feel called to and no shame if that calling means that you walk away from something that you really thought you were going to pursue. I definitely want all athletes — but especially athletes who are older or at a different skill level — to remember that we’re so much more than just our sport or our success in the sport. And no matter if you go to your dream school or you get a scholarship … You’re so much more than your sport or your success in the sport and no matter what you’re always valued for who you are.”
Makenna Damhorst (Class of 2023) | Penn
Injuries set Makenna Damhorst (East Bay Gymnastics) back during a critical time in her recruiting journey, and she didn’t reach level 10 until her senior year of high school. Still, Damhorst remained determined, putting in the work and earning offers from UC Davis and George Washington. But her heart was always set on UCLA. In her own words, she took a leap of faith — enrolling at UCLA in hopes of earning a walk-on spot. To stay in shape, she joined the club gymnastics team at UCLA and even joined the Bruins’ Division I rowing team. Eventually, though, she learned there wouldn’t be a place for her on UCLA’s gymnastics roster, and she knew it was time to shift her focus. That’s when Penn entered the picture.
Makenna’s Top Tips:
- How to navigate feeling lost: “I was kind of struggling with that loss of, where am I going to go now? Like, what is my journey? I’ve always wanted to do collegiate gymnastics and I just felt like it was such a difficult space to be in. I was kind of walking through the dark, like, ‘Where do I go next?’ And that’ll happen a lot. If you’re trying to get recruited right now, trust that you’ll find your way. It’s gonna be OK. Doing club gymnastics was such a fun experience. It completely defied all my expectations because the NAIGC has people from all ages. So there’s a community group and say you’re pursuing a PhD or you’re in your 50s, you can still do gymnastics. It’s absolutely for the love of the sport and people are just doing gymnastics. So it’s absolutely a blast because people just do it because they want to. And it was nice to have a different perspective on gymnastics and just the raw beauty of the sport and how much love there is for it.”
- Boost your academics: “Definitely take classes that interest you, but that are also rigorous. I would say read a lot if you like reading for fun, because I think it helps with writing essays. And also if you have to take the SAT, it really helps with the reading section. So just read New York Times articles or books that interest you.”
Hannah Aoki (Class of 2025) | UNC
Hannah Aoki (Georgia Elite) was a little bit of a late bloomer to college recruiting, as she didn’t become a level 10 until her sophomore year of high school, but she was determined and willing to do whatever it took to achieve her goal of becoming a college gymnast. After winning the all-around title in the All-Star East division at nationals her junior year, Aoki received the phone call she had been waiting and hoping for from UNC.
Hannah’s Top Tips:
- Reach out to coaches early — don’t wait until June 15th: “I wish I would have started talking to colleges and sending them videos earlier on, even though I wasn’t level 10 yet. You want to get in their inbox, you want to do all that stuff. I don’t know why I just assumed that if they can’t talk to you, you can’t talk to them. But that’s not the case—you can still talk to them; they just can’t make contact with you (before June 15th). If there’s a school you really want to go to, make that known. Show how much you want to be a part of their program and differentiate yourself from everybody else, because there are so many gymnasts. But what’s going to make you stand out?”
- Embrace your own unique journey: “Your journey is so different from everybody else’s journey, and you always have to remember that. For me, sometimes—obviously being a late bloomer in the gymnastics world—I felt like I was constantly going on Instagram and looking at these girls who are committing. Even at my own gym, these girls are committing around me, and it felt really stressful at some points because I felt so behind and I was constantly comparing myself. I had to re-evaluate and say, ‘OK, Hannah, this is your gymnastics. You’re the only one that can control it, and if you work hard enough, you’re going to end up where you want to be.’ You can’t let the outside world affect you. Your journey is your own journey.”
Anika Most (Class of 2024) | Kent State
The recruiting process was anything but easy for Anika Most (Capital City Flips). As a level 9 (training level 10), Most didn’t have a lot of guidance going into the recruiting process since she didn’t know many people who had done it. Although she had emailed her videos to most DI teams, she didn’t get the response she was hoping for on June 15. She was being told her gymnastics wasn’t at their level, but she continued to work hard in the gym and out (she was working two jobs to pay for her gymnastics) and was hoping it would pay off. In her own words, Most said she felt out of control as she watched people commit around her. She was offered a spot at her dream school and had it pulled away at the last second because the coaches miscalculated how many academic scholarships they had. Eventually senior year wrapped up and she still didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t have a graduation party and felt defeated, until she got the opportunity of a lifetime at Kent State on June 26 — just two months before moving to campus.
Anika’s Top Tips:
- Handling the disappointment from not receiving much interest: “I just kept telling myself, ‘It’s out of my control. I can’t keep thinking about this. All that I can control is how hard I work in the gym and how hard I work outside of the gym.’ At the time I was working two jobs to pay for my gymnastics tuition. I was training 23 to 25 hours a week and I just really put myself into giving everything I had to get on a team. Even if I didn’t get on a team, at least I knew I did everything I could and I didn’t just quit. It was really hard at times because I wanted to quit. I was like, ‘What’s the point? I’m working myself to exhaustion every day. I just want a break.’ But I knew in the end, even if I don’t make it onto a team, at least I gave it my best shot.
- Be aggressive and reach out to coaches, even when it feels too late: “My mom didn’t let me give up and especially my club coach, she was like, ‘You’re not giving up. Reach out to every single school right now. Email them again.’ And I did that. I emailed every single school. I went back to my list that I had from my junior year when I was emailing everyone. I went back and sent them an email again and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m competing at nationals next week. I’m so excited! I’ve had a really hard recruiting process — I would love for you to look at my videos and I’d love to meet you at nationals.’ One of the moms at my gym made recruiting cards for me that had my picture, my scores, my skills, a fun fact about me and my high school GPA. And I handed those out to coaches at nationals … I think it helped them see the card and remember who I was, because I’m sure they talk to hundreds of gymnasts and coaches over the weekend … Before we practiced on practice day I went up to coaches and I introduced myself with my coach and it was the scariest thing ever because I wasn’t a very outgoing person at the time. I would walk up and be like, ‘Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve been emailing you for the past week. Here’s my card. I’m sure you’re really busy and probably can’t talk right now, but I just wanted to come up here and introduce myself and let you know how interested I am in your school.’ They were always really nice and took it, even if they probably didn’t have a spot left for me in the 2024 class.”
Leah Fontaine (Class of 2025) | Georgetown University
Leah Fontaine (Capital Gymnastics) was a level 10 gymnast for roughly six years and had her eyes set on college gymnastics for as long as she could remember. The fall going into her junior year was a busy one. Fontaine visited six schools (UNC, Maryland, Penn, Brown, Illinois and Yale), and even received a few offers! However, that winter an ankle injury set her back and interest from coaches slowly started to fizzle out. The recovery process was challenging, and Fontaine began to question what her future would look like. A few months after surgery, she made the difficult decision to retire from the sport of gymnastics and pursue her other passions. She committed to one of her top schools, Georgetown University, that initially wasn’t an option due to not having a gymnastics team. She also started a nonprofit, Build A Water Project, which helps to build wells in communities in need. Fontaine even spent her senior year doing gymnastics with her high school team, re-sparking her love for the sport and allowing her to end the way she started — doing gymnastics for fun!
Leah’s Top Tips:
- Find other interests outside of gymnastics: “It was genuinely one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make. I asked my entire support system, and every day there would be a different answer. Some would say, ‘You shouldn’t leave; you should keep trying,’ and some would say, ‘Wait, that could be really bad for your body, mind, and soul…’ I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to listen to myself but also hear from a lot of people who had done something similar or were on the academic path that I was interested in… There were so many considerations and factors. Gymnastics was my favorite thing ever — I absolutely loved it — but at the same time, I knew that coming back (from injury), it wouldn’t be the same. I knew the environment with my gym and with the sport wasn’t the place that I wanted to put myself every day. I also knew I’d have to let go of a lot of the other stuff, like my nonprofit that I built and internships. So I ended up stepping away, which was so hard but also the right decision. I’ve made so many fun memories and experiences this past year and a half away from gymnastics, and I don’t regret a single moment of my gymnastics journey. I feel like everything really led to where I’m supposed to be.”
- Do your research: “Look into the news about the school. I was following some colleges, but I remember talking to a head coach at a school, and then one of my friends was like, ‘Oh, have you seen the news about this school? There’s definitely been some things coming out — XYZ.’ So that’s definitely something to consider too, which I originally would not have said. But sometimes it can be true that it’s not a good fit. Also, talk to the athletes on the team. Generally, they’re gonna hype up the school because they want you to come, but sometimes they are more honest. They’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s great, but ___.’ When I would stay in the dorms, I would ask, ‘Is there anything I need to know about this school? Do you really like it here?’ And the coaches honestly encourage it too. They put you in the dorms so you can ask those hard questions to make sure it’s a good fit for you. These are good things to know, so keep track of that!”
- Know that this is a fluid process: “A misconception is that you get all your calls on June 15th because that’s the big day. And that’s definitely true for a lot of athletes — you do get a lot of calls and emails — and I still got some calls and emails, but the majority of schools I really ended up considering I talked to later on in my recruiting process. It’s more of a fluid process.”
Interview Coming June 30 – Stay Tuned!