Under the Monocle: Maya Moran
Junior Maya Moran sticks her landing after her beam routine at a varsity home meet.
The York Girls Gymnastics Team has one of the longest competition days, lasting close to 9 hours long. On Feb. 15, the York-hi sat down with Maya Moran, a junior and varsity gymnast, and asked her what a day in the life of a gymnast is like.
Maya Moran, junior, swings on the uneven bars at one of her meets.
TIY: What time do you normally wake up on a competition day?
Maya: It differs. Anywhere between 6:30-9. Depends on the day and when the meet begins. I eventually get up and then realize I have a competition so I scramble to get ready. I’m not usually the fastest in the morning. Afterwards, I get in my leotard and warm up gear and then I eat breakfast.
TIY: What do you eat for breakfast?
M: A bagel. I can’t eat a lot before competition or else I’ll throw up while competing. Genuinely.
TIY: Once you get to the competition, how do you normally get into the mindset to compete?
M: I usually take it easy and try not to worry too much about how it’s gonna go, cause you really can’t let your mind take over. Eventually that leads to mental blocks and you might mess up your routine and hurt yourself. Then I stretch, warm up and I’m ready to compete!
TIY: As a team, how do you get ready to compete?
M: We warm up together, stay with each other for the anthem and then throughout the entire meet we cheer each other on. It really helps us to keep each other going.
TIY: I heard the team goes ghost hunting before meets. What’s that?
The girls gymnastics team yells out their pre-meet chant before they begin to perform.
M: Gotta catch them all.
TIY: Alright. During the competition how do you normally stay energetic with other team members?
M: Talk, joke, and try to keep it light. We don’t usually talk to other competitors from other teams because it keeps us focused on the goal. I know a lot of people from other schools, so sometimes I’ll just go chat with them after the meet or in between events, but not very often.
TIY: After competing, what happens?
M: We reflect on the competition: what we did well or could have done better. Sometimes we’ll go out for food as a team because none of us have really had the chance to eat anything at that point in the day, so were all pretty hungry. Then we all go back home, and I sleep for about a day!
We thank Maya for letting us interview her and cannot wait to see the girls gymnastics team compete in their next season!
Madeleine DeGrace is a senior on staff. This is her fourth year in a journalism class, and she loves it. She is editor in chief of the 100 year yearbook...
