Raising the bar

Every afternoon, 11-year-old Caitlyn Clemons gets an “itch,” her mother says. She just can’t sit still until they’re on the way to ACE Cheer Company Trussville.

Caitlyn, who has lived in Trussville almost her entire life, has been a gymnast for three years. She practices between four and five hours nearly every day. When she’s not at the gym, mom Connie Clemons said, Caitlyn is watching videos of more experienced gymnasts to see how she can improve.

“I just loved it so much. When I first did it, I told my mom, ‘I want to keep doing it. It’s so much fun,’” Caitlyn said of her first gymnastics lesson.

Her interest in gymnastics started on the playground, where the home-schooled now-sixth-grader took a different approach to play time.

“Instead of swinging on the swings, she would climb the pole and get up on top of the swings and just do all these crazy things,” Connie Clemons said. “She made it look so easy.”

Despite having about 650 gymnastics and tumbling students at ACE, gym director Tiffanie Reed said Caitlyn is one who stands out as an athlete and a person.

“She’s a very big team player on our gymnastics team, as well as a leader and a role model,” Reed said. “She’s fun to be around, and she’s helpful.”

Caitlyn said her favorite event is the balance beam, but she also competes in uneven bars, vaulting and floor exercises. She’s a relative newcomer but went undefeated last year in her competitive season, making it all the way to state. 

“She is a ball of talent,” Reed said.

This year, Caitlyn moves from compulsory levels, where every competitor performs the same routine, to optional levels, where she can choose her music and routine.

“You get to show your personality in your routine because it shows off your strong skills,” Reed said.

“I know it’s going to be very, very hard,” Caitlyn said.

Caitlyn doesn’t really see a challenging part of the sport she loves. When asked if she ever gets tired of balancing school and life with so many hours of practice, Caitlyn just responded with an emphatic shake of the head: “No.”

“I guess because she loves it, and she’s giving it her all; we don’t mind the sacrifice because of how she wants to do it,” Connie Clemons said.

Even at her young age, Caitlyn drives herself hard. She doesn’t consider a skill to be learned until it’s perfected.

“For Caitlyn, doing a skill and it being perfect are not the same thing,” Reed said, adding that Caitlyn is “a natural talent, so you tell her once and then she fixes it.”

“Tries,” Caitlyn corrected modestly.

Though she still gets butterflies at every competition, Caitlyn wants to perform at elite levels.

Her goal isn’t necessarily an Olympic gold medal, however. It’s a college scholarship and, someday, a job coaching more young gymnasts.

“Because I love little kids. They can be very annoying sometimes, but it’s adorable,” Caitlyn said.

Succeeding at that level will take years of practice, day in and day out. But if you ask Caitlyn, coming to practice is the best part.

“Every day when I come to the gym, I want to work hard and never give up,” Caitlyn said.