It might appear that a high school gymnast who also competes for a private club has it easy. A club team’s demands and routine requirements have to be harder, right? Schedules that overlap probably mean less practice for one of the teams. A meet is a meet, no matter the stage.
As it turns out, none of the above statements is true.
Other sports have many aspects that are similar no matter the skill level or from club to high school — a layup is a layup in basketball, a quarterback hopes to throw the ball to a receiver in football, and a shot on goal is a shot on goal in soccer. Gymnastics, however, has differences that make the transition from one level to another much trickier than one would expect. For example, in high school, scoring can be more stringent, and skill requirements are actually harder.
Wayland-Weston gymnastics team member Sawyer Whitcher has been crushing her newest endeavor on the mat — as well as bars, beam, and vault. For the second straight high school season, the sophomore, who started the sport at age 5, has shown improvement from meet to meet to lead the squad in both individual scores and team results.
Whitcher is also currently in the Diamond Division in the Xcel program for her club, the New England Academy of Gymnastics. Platinum skills are equivalent to Developmental Program Levels 7 and 8, whereas high school routines should be at Levels 9 and 10. The Developmental Program track is usually considered more skill-based and is for those looking to advance to high school and college competition.
“I definitely feel this season I improved a lot over last season,” Whitcher said. “From the first meet to the last, not only were my scores better, but my skills and my confidence in myself grew.”
Speaking of the last meet, Whitcher recorded her best scores of the season for a 33.6 all-around score in the Dual County League championships. That was a 1.6-point improvement from the end-of-the-season competition as a freshman. She finished in fifth place in all-around in the five-team event.
“Sawyer is capable of more difficult skills than some of the other girls, which helps in the requirements for each event,” Coach Julia Schaefer said. “From the first competition last year to the last one she has improved her score in every event. It’s amazing to see her progressing.”
This season Whitcher improved by a whole point on floor exercise (7.5 to 8.5) and beam (7.5 to 8.9), and slightly on vault, where she was “already clean,” according to Schaefer. There wasn’t really any improvement, score-wise, on bars, as that is the most challenging in high school. And she narrowly missed qualifying for the state meet on the beam.
Whitcher started in the sport as many do — her parents put her in classes at a young age. She loved the competition aspect of the sport. And since she considers herself somewhat of a perfectionist, she felt the sport was for her, so she stuck with it.
“When you’re out there competing with friends and you can do cool tricks, it’s very freeing,” Whitcher said. “To be able to control yourself while you are in the air or doing a trick is very comforting.”
In eighth grade when Whitcher learned there was going to be a team at Wayland High School, she knew she would participate in both teams, despite the big commitment. Between the two, she’s in the gym five of the seven days a week for 13 hours. Add in travel to and from practices and meets, and time to be a high schooler is limited.
“Sometimes you don’t really realize how much time gymnastics takes up until you want to do other things,” Whitcher said. “It’s a huge part of my life. But I love it and all of the work does pay off.
“I knew being on the high school team was going to be extra time and extra responsibility. I knew I already loved doing gymnastics, so being on an extra team would be fun and would be an opportunity to meet new people. As a freshman coming into high school, you don’t know a lot of people, so it was nice to have that chance,” she said.
Whitcher improves throughout sophomore season
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