For state qualifying gymnast Lexie Ede, this season has been one for the books. Lexi finished thirteenth overall, eleventh in bars, and qualified for finals in vault, taking eighth place.
It wasn’t just her individual feats that fueled Ede’s success, it was her team as a whole. Her most memorable moment was seeing her team do well when MHS hosted sectionals, “We started on vault and Ella and Isla both went before me and landed both their vaults for the first time ever this season. The energy was super high and everyone was so excited and it was extra special because I got to see the hard work they put in behind the scenes in order to achieve their goals,” said Ede.
Ede’s motivation was necessary to keep the ball rolling. Though she went to state her freshman year, she dedicated her time solely to the club level her junior year, so getting back into the swing of the high school season was a big shift. “The biggest challenge for me this season was pacing myself. In highschool gymnastics we compete in around 12 meets a season with some of them being twice a week. Going from club gymnastics where I compete around five times a year is a big jump. So being able to pace myself in order to stay healthy throughout the season was a big challenge,” said Ede.
Gymnastics is full of ups and downs, “My state meet didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t my best meet of the season but that definitely motivates me to come back even better next year,” said Ede.
Another difference the state meet presented was the atmosphere. Compared to the uplifting energy of her teammates when they were together, seeing that energy replicated by other teams made it difficult for Ede to maintain the headspace necessary. Ede described the state meet as “really different from any other meet of the year, it’s super loud and there’s a lot going on at the same time,” she explained, “the 8 qualified teams are super energetic, and it’s hard to channel that energy as an individual qualifier.”
It requires an acute awareness of mental health, physical health, and personal motivation to be able to gauge how much one can push in a sport so individually reliant, but Ede emphasised the positive impact the supportive MHS environment surrounding her has fostered. “Staying motivated during a long season can be difficult, especially during the winter season but having a great group of supportive coaches who were willing to listen and work with me not only helped me in my gymnastics but motivated me to want to be better for my team,” said Ede.
Along with the support and skill, it was Ede’s mindset throughout the season that gave way for her accomplishments. The impact of her attitude was reflected not only by her own sense of accomplishment, but by her performance, “I tried going into this season without setting any expectations for myself and it led to me accomplishing some things I’ve never done in the sport before. I set personal records on every single event this year and my all-time high all-around score. This led me to many titles at invites, conference, and sectionals.”
