Brooke Kelly
Brooke Kelly is signing to be a part of the gymnastics team at the University of Missouri on Nov. 12.
Alabama is known as a fertile hunting ground for high school football and basketball players. Gymnastics, not so much.
But if the state keeps turning out gymnasts like Brooke Kelly, that could change.
Kelly, who trains at Mountain Brook Gymnastics, will sign with the University of Missouri this month to begin her college career.
Kelly picked a full-ride offer from Missouri over offers from Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Kentucky, Arizona State, Penn and several others, about 15 in all.
She’s the first from Mountain Brook Gymnastics in at least some time to get a scholarship. The 17-year-old senior trains with Helen Nabors and Michelle Dent.
How does one get that kind of attention from big-time gymnastics programs? Winning the Women’s Junior Olympic Nationals in uneven bars is one way. In the Senior B category in May in Jackson, Miss., she posted a 9.70 to win the event. She finished tied for seventh in both the vault and balance beam and finished 10th in the all-around.
Why Missouri, when both in-state schools had interest?
“Missouri was a full-ride offer, and now they’re in the SEC,” Kelly said. “They have a new coach, great new facilities, and I really liked the campus. They also have a tutoring system that’s really great. A big thing was in what I want to major in physical therapy, they have a 100 percent passing rate.
“I was kind of hesitant at first [at going away for college], but I looked at the big picture. With the full scholarship, there’s no college debt, free out-of-state tuition, room, food, everything. I know these days people who are still paying off their college debt in their 30s and 40s. My mom and coaches gave me really good advice and pointed me in the right direction.”
That’s a gymnast keeping her balance.
“We’re so excited,” said her mother, Karen. “And [Missouri] is excited to get a girl from Alabama. The coach, Shannon Welker, calls her his ‘Bama girl.’”
Brooke’s participated in gymnastics for eight years in all, taking a couple of years off for cheerleading before she vaulted back into gymnastics.
She began competing at Level 10 in 2012. The 5-foot-1, 110-pound athlete won all five gold medals at the 2014 Magic City Classic. She placed fourth all-around at the Sand Dollar Invitational. She won all five gold medals at the GymStar Classic. She placed first on beam and second all-around at the National Gymnastics Challenge. And she captured bars, beam, floor and the all-around at the Alabama State Championships.
It may sounds like it comes easy …
“It’s a lot of dedication and hard work,” she said. “Four and a half hours, five days a week. You have to be really dedicated.”
