realistically, do I have a chance at this point?

[canadiangymnast_eh]

One of my long term goals as a gymnast has been to get a scholarship to a university for gymnastics. I understand that at this point I don't have much of a chance, so I am looking towards division 3 schools which unfortunately don't give scholarships.

Here are the skills I'm working on and have competed this year that I would hope to have by the end of my senior year:
vault: tsuk open tuck and competed pike
floor: backwards 2.5 twist, front 1.5 twist to backspring, back 1.5 punch layout and competed back double and back 1.5 punch tuck
beam: side somi, backspring backtuck, torjette full and competed aerial, back tuck, switch leap, and geiner pike off the end.
bars: flyaway double twist, toes on handstand, blind change and competed flyaway 1.5 twist, free hip handstand, and counter up.

so I have a few questions if anyone would be willing to answer them.
1. do I have any chance to compete for a division 3 school? would division 2 be out of the question?
2. are there any other skills that I should be working on to make myself more eligible?
3. How do I go about applying or getting recruited since I live in canada?
4. When do I need to start applying? I am going into my junior year this year.
5. what do I need in the academic side to get recruited. I heard I need to take my SAT's? anything else?
6. Legally, Is there anything I need to do? I already have my US citizenship since I am a dual citizen.

Any information would be appreciated!

 

[gymnast695]

Im only in high school so I don't know for sure but one of my teammates is now a D3 gymnast and you sound pretty equal to her! I went to a meet of hers and it was mostly level 9 and 10 skills and what you listed I saw alot of, plus some bigger skills. And as for recruiting, my brother was recruited for a D1 school but different sport, and I learned you start looking and emailing coaches your junior year. On D3 websites under the gymnastics section there's usually a recruiting form link to a document which asks about the skills you can do and such which is submitted to the coaches. The coaches cannot call you yet but you can call them and take some unofficial visits to figure out which school is best for you. Unless those rules are only for D1 schools? I'm not sure. And academics wise, I think they need SAT scores and your high school transcript. Hope this helped a little!

 

[gymdog]

I'd have to see a video to say for sure but honestly with those skills going into junior year (unless they're super not competition ready and only projected or something? Not sure I understand) you aren't necessarily limited to division 3, although it's a good idea to look into. Vault is weak, and so is bars without a high to low transition and same bar catch (the base routine you're looking at needing to show ability for is going to be something like shootover handstand connected to toe hecht (counter up), circling skill to handstand, giants, full pirouette or blind/front/half pir, some C dismount). Beam looks on track but beam is kind of heavy on most NCAA teams anyway. My advice is get the back handspring back tuck to a back handspring two foot lay by the end of this year. With the other skills (aerial/side somi, pike gainer dismount off the end - if this is directionally appropriate, and work some upgraded jumps, you stand a chance to be competitive). Floor is pretty good - what's the possibility on a double back?

That said if you want my honest advice about choosing any random school that will take you on their intercollegiate gymnastics team, I would advise you against this. Consider all your college possibilities carefully. Another school with a club team may be the overall better option for you. You are looking at 4 more years of gymnastics. Without a scholarship to sway the decision you should really look at the cost of the various options (you have dual citizenship which means you're probably eligible for some financial aid, and for state school purposes could possibly establish residency somewhere after your second year).

As far as the SATs, probably a good idea to register and take within the next year. Chances are one of the schools you'll end up applying to will require or strongly encourage including them. It's better to go ahead and do it then to try and register in a mad rush your first semester senior year. As far as educational requirements, check out the NCAA clearinghouse. Chances are a college preparatory program will meet the requirements (such as IB), but not sure how it's going to work exactly with going to high school outside the US (it's obviously definitely possible, I'm just not personally sure how that works).