When Sandburg sophomore Avery Allen decided to quit club gymnastics last year, she wasn’t giving up on the sport.
Far from it.
Allen decided to try high-school gymnastics, joining the District 230 co-op team, which includes gymnasts from Sandburg, Andrew and Stagg.
“As a freshman she was still doing club,” District 230 coach Allison Hack said. “She felt like she got a little burned out.
“Through her friends, she saw how much fun they were having with our team, so they kind of convinced her to give it a try.”
The move turned out well for both Allen and her new teammates. Allen’s love for the sport was rekindled and the Thunderbolts qualified for the state finals for the second consecutive season. They scored 139.45 points to finish seventh in the team competition Feb. 20 at Palatine.
“The transition from club to high school is definitely a big one considering it’s a whole new set of coaches, a whole new team after being with the same group for so long,” Allen said. “But it was honestly such a positive experience.
“The coaching is so much more positive. They’re all encouraging you to do their best with positive reinforcement rather than kicking you down or putting you down if you don’t succeed.”
That approached worked with Allen, who qualified for state in the all-around and all four individual events.
“It ends up making you even more successful because when you have voices and everyone around you encouraging you, then it makes you perform better,” Allen said. “It’s been a cool experience. I’m glad I got to experience this. I’m really happy that I made the switch.”
Allen experienced both highs and lows during the preliminaries. She qualified for the event finals on vault by tying for 10th place with a 9.375 and barely missed advancing on balance beam, where she took 11th with a 9.075.
But Allen also suffered falls on uneven bars and floor exercise, where she hyperextended her knee but finished the routine, which was her last of the day.
“It was definitely unfortunate for bars because I would say bars is my best event,” Allen said. “That’s something that I thought I was going to be able to make it to the second day on.
“What happened normally doesn’t happen, so that was definitely upsetting. But it’s also important to shake that off because that was our second event. We had more to come and it was important to regroup after that.”
Allen was able to regroup after the fall on floor, using ice and heat to get ready for Saturday’s vault final. She landed her vault and scored 9.175 to finish 11th.
“We just wanted her to go out and do what she knows how to do, have fun and see how it goes,” Hack said. “We’re very proud of her. She’s an outstanding athlete and an outstanding student.”
Indeed, Allen has a 5.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and says she enjoys taking all AP and honors classes. She’s also planning to return next year to enjoy another season with the Thunderbolts, who also bring back freshman Emily Pocica, who took 19th on vault (9.275), 20th all-around (35.325) and 29th on uneven bars (8.1).
“I will be coming back next year,” Allen said. “It meant a lot to us this year to make it as a team because the IHSA wants to not have (large-school) co-ops anymore.
“Us being able to compete at state as a team was so huge to kind of like show the association that we deserve to be here. But if it is our last time coming to state as a team, we tried to really soak it all in and have fun and just appreciate that we’re here.”