Untold Athletes: Amelia Bailey, Gymnastics

Amelia Bailey is a junior gymnast from Saint Augustine, Fla. and is majoring in communication management and design, with a concentration in design. Bailey competes in the beam, floor and vault for the Bombers and recorded a career-best mark of 9.250 on the beam during her freshman season.

Starting my sport later than usual and never thinking collegiate athletics was in the cards for me:

My gymnastics story is a lot different from most of the girls I’ve trained with. Most people start in “Mommy and Me” classes when they’re two and just continue from there. I originally started playing soccer and quickly found out that it was not for me when all of the other kids were chasing the ball while I was on the opposite end of the field doing cartwheels. My mom finally decided to put me in gymnastics when I was almost ten years old just for fun, but I ended up progressing quickly. 

Never once did I think I would compete in college, in fact, I told myself I could quit once I got to Level 7 because to me, that was “making it”. I started realizing I could go further and began to take my gymnastics more seriously. Training with girls my age or younger that were way ahead of me made me work even harder. I came from a gym where the girls had very different goals from me, and I knew that I had to focus on myself and follow my own path without worrying about judgment from others. 

I’m proud of my story and my journey even though it looks a little different. What started as an after-school hobby turned into my passion and I am forever grateful for it. I am really happy that I was able to make those decisions on my own and put in the work to reach my goals. I think my journey makes me even more appreciative of the sport and I look at every practice now in a whole different way. I’m making my younger self proud, and to me, that is the ultimate success.