On May 15, Gili Gershoni (’28) earned first place in her age group in the Vault event at the East Coast Regional Championship. A significant recognition for youth gymnasts, this is just the latest accomplishment of one of Tenafly’s rising gymnasts.
Gymnastics has always been a part of Gili’s life. She started gymnastics when she was five years old, and she wasn’t fluent in English at the time. Due to the language impediment, she described that learning gymnastics was a bit hard, though she was able to take classes with her friend. Eventually, her friend quit, but Gili persevered, eventually entering her eleventh year of gymnastics.
The transition into high school has been particularly difficult for Gili, since she used to face difficulties balancing her hours of gymnastics training and her school work. However, with the support of her family, friends, and teammates, she was able to adjust well and find the motivation to continue pursuing gymnastics. Now, she easily balances schoolwork and gymnastics practice, even having extra time to spend time on other passions.
Gili is not a member of the high school gymnastics team, but she is a part of a club, “Meadowlands Gymnastics Academy,” that takes part in competitive competitions. Gili has done phenomenally in her events this past year. Just a few weeks ago, she won first at the New Jersey All-Around Gymnastics Competition, which determined what rank she held in her age group within the state. She placed first in the Floor and Beam event and second in the Vault event, with impressive scores of around 9.6.
“This competition was crazy to me because I couldn’t really believe myself and how I was doing so well with my performance,” said Gershoni, reflecting on her achievement. “When awards came and I ended up winning first place in the New Jersey state competition, I was in shock. I became a champion.”
Her result from the state competition allowed her to qualify for the East Coast Regional Championship, which took place at Penn State University on May 15. Only those who had qualified from the state competition participated, and Gili, having gotten first at states, was the first to automatically qualify. Despite feeling that she had overworked herself before regionals, she was able to perform very well on the day of the event and earned first place in her age group for the Vault event with a score of 9.4.
Gili’s family is very proud of her and happy to see the results that have stemmed from the effort that she has been putting into gymnastics, day in and day out.
“Gili has dedicated herself to practicing every day for what seems like forever, putting in three hours each day,” said Kobi Gershoni, Gili’s father. “We are so happy to see her hard work come to fruition, all while managing her schoolwork and a demanding practice schedule, reinforcing her belief that focus and dedication lead to results.”
By putting in nearly 15 hours of practice a week, Gili has proved that hard work truly does pay off. Although it may seem difficult to juggle so many activities while staying dedicated to school work, maybe all that is needed is, as Gili put it, “confidence and motivation to continue [your] path.”
