This 2024-2025 season, girls gymnastics took on a new twist as they combined with students from the University School of Milwaukee. Four girls from the University School of Milwaukee were introduced to the team. 

“I think it’s really good,” said Kristin Fraser, head coach. “I mean, [when] we started out, nobody knew each other. [Now, the gymnasts] are always really helping each other and giving each other suggestions and helpful support.”

The co-op with USM has given team members the opportunity to build connections with people from other schools and has allowed for members to participate in a wider range of skill sets. The increased range in skills and ability levels that came with the merger has helped to improve the team on a statistical level. 

“We have placed in basically every single meet,” said Caelin Henkhaus, sophomore. “Performancewise, we get much better scores.”

Beyond performance, the co-op has let the students make friends with students they wouldn’t normally have the chance to interact with. With a mix of new students and higher numbers, the team was brought closer together.

“We’ve made such good friendships, us and the USM girls,” Henkhaus said. “We’ve all formed really good bonds, and
I think they’ve made a big difference to our team in a very positive way.”

In order to get to know each other better, the gymnastics team often hosts team events as a bonding opportunity for the members. Some of these events incorporate gymnastics, while others focus on team-building.

“[One time] we had pizza and we went bowling, and then we always have a home meet where we invite parents and friends,” Fraser said. “We also celebrated our seniors that night, so it’s a little bit like a senior night. We only have one senior this year, but so it was fun to celebrate her, and then have the parents actually in here.”

This season, sole senior gymnast Inayah Khan found herself in a unique position compared to previous years.

“Being the only senior was definitely really different, especially compared to last year since we had a lot of seniors,” Khan said. “However, I’m one of the captains, so I had to take on that leadership role, and ever since I joined the team freshman year, I feel like I’ve been a leader on the team.”

Going into the season, many returning members already had plans on what to work towards. Common trends among these goals included focusing on improvement and trying new events.

“Some girls are doing all new events, and I think our team scores have been really strong—stronger than they’ve been in the last time I’ve been coaching this team,” Fraser said. “This is our strongest season. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors, they all have kind of an idea of what they want to do…some of the returning girls did like two events last year, and now they want to do three or all four. So they’ve been working towards that kind of thing all season long.”

A lot of the team’s success was projected through growth, whether that be objective or mental. Having and maintaining a good mindset is a big challenge, but, according to Henkhaus, team members have worked hard this year to achieve it.

“Last season I was really nervous and then I would really beat myself up a lot when I would fall or mess up,” Henkhaus said. “This season I’ve definitely improved a lot with my self-talk and also I haven’t fallen yet at all this entire season, so I think I’ve made some big improvements.”

The overall size of the team also saw substantial growth. In the past, gymnastics saw minimal participation, but recently saw a surge in size. 

“The team has gotten a lot bigger this year. My freshman year we had almost no people on the team, there wasn’t even a JV team,” Khan said. “This year we had a full roster, both JV and varsity, it’s definitely really cool.”

Despite the many successes, Khan also noted several challenges that came with her season.

“The most difficult thing is just processing that this is my last season,” Khan said. “There’s a lot of lasts for me, being the only senior. I also broke my ankle last year, so I wasn’t competing. [Because of that] this year has been a lot of coming back for me and I feel like that’s been pretty difficult.”

With a major competition in sight, Fraser described the steps she and the team have been taking for sectionals. The head coach also shared wishes she has as the end of the season is approaching. 

“I think we have a couple of changes to routines that we’re going to make leading up to sectionals, not a lot, just a few things that hopefully will boost their scores,” Fraser said. “But I would love for Shorewood University School to be at state. That’s my goal.”