What do gymnasts do after they have competed up to level 10 and did not stand out among the rest of the national gymnast to make it to the Olympics? They go and compete in the collegiate level. As you have read gymnastics takes a lot of dedication, so gymnasts that want to make the collegiate gymnastics team have many years of training behind them. Male and female gymnasts have the opportunity to receive a scholarship (full or partial) at a Division I (D1) or a Division II (D2) college.
Scholarships
The NCAA is the only athletic organization that awards gymnastics scholarships to male and female athletes, making it even more competitive to receive a scholarship (Gymnastics scholarships,2012). With that said “gymnasts are then competing for not only a limited number of spots on the team but a limited number of scholarships, as the NCAA only allows a certain number of awards per school, per team, and per gender” (Gymnastics scholarships,2012). All athletic programs have a scholarship limit, gymnastics programs seem to be very limited. For D1 women’s gymnastics the NCAA limits the gymnastics program to 12 scholarships and 6 for D2 colleges; men’s gymnastics programs for D1 are allowed 6.3 scholarships and D2 is limited to 5.4 scholarships (Scholarships for gymnast,2012). For women’s college gymnastics programs there are 62 D1 schools that offer a gymnastics program, 7 D2 gymnastics programs and 13 D3 gymnastics programs (Collegegymnastics scholarships and recruiting,2012). Men’s gymnastics programs are offered at 16 D1 schools and have no D2 gymnastics programs (Scholarships for gymnast,2012). These scholarships that are offered have more rules to them, the 12 scholarships for D1 women’s gymnastics programs have to be given as a full-ride, no exceptions; these are called “head count” scholarships (Scholarships for gymnast,2012). “In contrast, Men’s D1, D2, and Women’s D2 gymnastics are “equivalency” scholarships; coaches may divide up the value of those 6 or 5.4 scholarships they’ve been permitted any way they wish” (Scholarships for gymnast,2012). A common strategy among college gymnastics coaches is to spread the amount of money over a wider athletic recruiting base and offer many partial scholarships and fill in funding gaps with academic and need-based scholarships (Scholarships for gymnast,2012). It is extremely competitive to be offered a gymnastics scholarship so the gymnast who do are very excited and focused to work hard in and out of the gym.
Recruitment
Recruiting for college gymnastics takes much work on the athlete. Besides having to work really hard in the gym, gymnasts need to have good grades and a high GPA (which goes for all college athletes) as well as making sure they are getting looked at by the schools the athlete is interested in. Instead of a gymnast waiting to hear from a college coach they have to take the first step and have their coach send footage of the athletes best work on one or two of their best events because many gymnasts are great on a certain apparatus rather than excelling in every event (Gymnastics scholarships,2012). Most gymnastics coaches use video to evaluate gymnast and when they are able to narrow it down they will take the time to see the potential recruit in person (College gymnasticsscholarships and recruiting,2012). Some gymnasts post their best competitions on websites like YouTube in hopes that will help with college recruitment.
This chart below shows the 36 teams that have advanced to compete in the NCAA Regional competition ranking as of March 26, 2012. On April 7th they will compete for 12 places at the NCAA National Championships (NCAA women's gymnastics rankings- March 26, 2012 - Final for Regionals!,2012). The rank is obviously on the far left and then the name of the school. It gives you the conference the school is in and what division they are. The numbers that you see are the school overall team all-round score. They take the highest the lowest and one more score and average it out for each event to get the total all-round score. Whichever team has the highest all-round score is the winner of the competition.
This chart is for women’s college gymnastics. The link to the website is under the chart if you would like to look at the website with the article on womens college gymnastics regional qualifying.
2012 REGIONAL QUALIFYING TEAMS:
Rank
|
Team Name
|
Team RQS
|
Region
|
Conference
|
Division
|
Ave
|
High
|
1
|
Florida
|
197.445
|
SE
|
SEC
|
1
|
197.093
|
197.900
|
2
|
Oklahoma
|
197.360
|
SC
|
Big 12
|
1
|
196.890
|
197.475
|
3
|
UCLA
|
197.270
|
W
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
196.889
|
198.050
|
4
|
Alabama
|
197.245
|
C
|
SEC
|
1
|
196.918
|
197.725
|
5
|
Nebraska
|
197.030
|
SC
|
Big 10
|
1
|
196.596
|
197.600
|
6
|
Georgia
|
196.995
|
SE
|
SEC
|
1
|
196.844
|
197.700
|
7
|
Oregon State
|
196.760
|
W
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
196.441
|
197.400
|
8
|
Utah
|
196.705
|
NC
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
196.773
|
197.550
|
9
|
L.S.U.
|
196.570
|
C
|
SEC
|
1
|
195.977
|
196.850
|
10
|
Arkansas
|
196.545
|
SC
|
SEC
|
1
|
196.106
|
197.225
|
11
|
Stanford
|
196.410
|
W
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
196.033
|
196.825
|
12
|
Ohio State
|
196.245
|
C
|
Big 10
|
1
|
196.037
|
197.625
|
13
|
Penn State
|
196.230
|
NE
|
Big 10
|
1
|
195.958
|
196.650
|
14
|
Denver
|
196.090
|
NC
|
WAC
|
1
|
195.356
|
196.725
|
15
|
Boise State
|
196.055
|
W
|
Mountain West
|
1
|
195.616
|
196.850
|
16
|
Arizona
|
196.020
|
SC
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
195.442
|
196.525
|
17
|
Minnesota
|
195.985
|
NC
|
Big 10
|
1
|
195.179
|
196.250
|
18
|
Auburn
|
195.965
|
C
|
SEC
|
1
|
195.381
|
196.875
|
19
|
Missouri
|
195.925
|
SC
|
Big 12
|
1
|
195.354
|
196.375
|
20
|
North Carolina State
|
195.870
|
SE
|
EAGL
|
1
|
195.287
|
196.775
|
21
|
Michigan
|
195.825
|
NE
|
Big 10
|
1
|
195.236
|
196.300
|
22
|
Illinois-Champaign
|
195.695
|
SC
|
Big 10
|
1
|
195.198
|
196.150
|
23
|
Washington
|
195.595
|
W
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
194.908
|
196.350
|
24
|
Kentucky
|
195.490
|
C
|
SEC
|
1
|
194.669
|
196.025
|
-
|
Iowa State
|
195.490
|
NC
|
Big 12
|
1
|
194.730
|
196.025
|
26
|
Kent State
|
195.400
|
C
|
MAC
|
1
|
194.678
|
196.400
|
27
|
West Virginia
|
195.265
|
SE
|
EAGL
|
1
|
194.771
|
196.475
|
28
|
Arizona State
|
195.145
|
SC
|
PAC 12
|
1
|
194.504
|
195.875
|
29
|
New Hampshire
|
195.120
|
NE
|
EAGL
|
1
|
194.358
|
195.800
|
30
|
Iowa
|
195.065
|
NC
|
Big 10
|
1
|
194.671
|
195.875
|
31
|
North Carolina
|
195.010
|
SE
|
EAGL
|
1
|
194.443
|
195.750
|
32
|
UIC
|
194.940
|
SC
|
Midwest Independent
|
1
|
194.000
|
195.250
|
-
|
Michigan State
|
194.940
|
C
|
Big 10
|
1
|
193.798
|
195.550
|
34
|
Maryland-College Park
|
194.905
|
SE
|
EAGL
|
1
|
194.377
|
195.950
|
35
|
San Jose State
|
194.790
|
W
|
WAC
|
1
|
194.329
|
195.850
|
36
|
Central Michigan
|
194.770
|
C
|
MAC
|
1
|
193.764
|
195.675
|
This is the chart for men’s college gymnastics. Regular season for most men's NCAA teams will end this coming weekend and conference championships will be held the weekend of April 7th. The link to this chart is under the chart if you would like to read more about mens gymnastics rankings.
TEAM TOP 15
Rank
|
Team Name
|
Team 4 Ave
|
Region
|
Conference
| ||||
1
|
Oklahoma
|
353.667
|
W
|
MPSF
| ||||
2
|
Penn State
|
352.667
|
E
|
Big 10
| ||||
3
|
Stanford
|
352.650
|
W
|
MPSF
| ||||
4
|
Illinois
|
352.133
|
E
|
Big 10
| ||||
5
|
Minnesota
|
346.567
|
E
|
Big 10
| ||||
6
|
Ohio State
|
344.400
|
E
|
Big 10
| ||||
7
|
Michigan
|
343.400
|
E
|
Big 10
| ||||
8
|
California
|
342.083
|
W
|
MPSF
| ||||
9
|
Nebraska
|
340.900
|
W
|
Big 10
| ||||
10
|
Temple
|
339.267
|
E
|
EIGL
| ||||
11
|
Air Force Academy
|
336.033
|
W
|
MPSF
| ||||
12
|
Iowa
|
335.567
|
E
|
Big 10
| ||||
13
|
UIC
|
331.667
|
E
|
EIGL
| ||||
14
|
William & Mary
|
330.000
|
E
|
EIGL
| ||||
15
|
Army
|
329.200
|
E
|
EIGL
|
This short slip has pictures of women and mens college gymnastics teams!
References
College gymnastics scholarships and recruiting. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.athleticscholarships.net/gymnasticsscholarships.htm
Gymnastics scholarships. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.scholarships.com/financial- aid/college-scholarships/sports-scholarships/gymnastics-scholarships/
Men's NCAA gymnastics rankings- March 19, 2012. (2012, April). Retrieved from http://www.gymnastike.org/article/11618-Mens-NCAA-Gymnastcis-Rankings-March-19-2012
NCAA women's gymnastics rankings- March 26, 2012 - Final for Regionals! (2012, April). Retrieved from http://www.gymnastike.org/article/11680-NCAA-Womens-Gymnastics-Rankings-March-26-2012-Final-for-Regionals
Scholarships for gymnast. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.collegescholarships.org/scholarships/sports/gym.htm
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