Strivers Have Big Success with Small Team
- Share
- Tweet
- Pin
- Share
After her first competition with the Door County YMCA Strivers gymnastics team, Amelia Zoschke was immediately ready for more.
“The only thing I feel right now is wanting to compete again, and I wish I could compete tomorrow,” she had said, according to her father, Rob Zoschke.
For a program that draws participants from all over the peninsula, that’s easier said than done. Amelia must travel from Sister Bay to take part in practices at the Y’s Sturgeon Bay program center.
Rob Zoschke called it a “heartfelt and loving commitment” for his daughter and her teammates – and one that has paid off for Amelia, age 12, through earning state and national championships. Rob credits the Strivers’ coaches for the program’s success in preparing the girls for meets and keeping them focused during competition.
“You get out of [gymnastics] what you put in it,” said Nikki Pollman, director of gymnastics.
The Strivers had 12 girls on this year’s team, which Pollman called a “small group, but very successful.”
That success included state and national championships, with three national individual titles and a pair of state individual championships, along with a third-place state team finish accomplished by a team of four girls.
The Strivers compete in all four events established for girls gymnastics: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
The team also participates in two programs that USA Gymnastics sanctions for competition. One program is Xcel – developed as an alternative to offer individual flexibility to coaches and gymnasts, now with six skill levels ranging from Bronze to Sapphire – and the 10 main numbered skill levels, which are sometimes referred to as Junior Olympic, with levels 1-5 having compulsory routines in which the gymnasts all do the exact same routines in competition.
Pollman said the Xcel program – for which the team this season had eight girls compete at the Silver or Gold level –saved gymnastics at the Door County YMCA.
Pollman has more than 40 years of experience coaching gymnastics, including nine years at De Pere High School, whose teams won five consecutive state team championships, 1986-90, and six sectional titles. She said the Strivers will compete in up to 12 meets at other YMCAs in the state during an October-through-April season, when the girls are able to qualify for the state and national meets.
This summer, the Door County YMCA has run a morning gymnastics camp and is also offering afternoon skills practices four times a week as the program aims to build back up to pre-pandemic participation levels, when the squad boasted 25-30 girls.
Cally Asher, who lives in the Sevastopol School District, has two daughters – Shaylyn, 10, and Shylee, 13 – on the Strivers team.
“We love the program,” Cally Asher said. “It’s absolutely fantastic.”
The girls said they enjoy gymnastics and the camaraderie that comes with it.
“I like to learn a bunch of new skills and meet new friends,” Shylee said.
“I really love the sport,” Shaylyn said. “It’s a great sport for me.”
Sofia Duerst, whose 10-year-old daughter, Estelle, was a Level 6 gymnast this season, said she drives from Algoma to take her homeschooled daughter to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and to meets on weekends.
“She loves it,” she said. “Gymnastics is all she does.”
Sofia Duerst said her daughter, whose favorite event is the floor exercise, first got involved in gymnastics at age 4 through a private program in Kewaunee before starting with the YMCA’s program at age 6.
Sophie Duerst said the small size of the Door County YMCA’s gymnastics program makes it possible to have more one-to-one coaching than in a larger program.
“[Estelle] really loves all her coaches and how much they have helped her improve,” she said.
Top Season Accolades
At the 2022 YMCA State Gymnastics Tournament hosted by the Sheboygan YMCA, Anna Gallardo-Ibarra won a state title in the Xcel Gold all-around competition (age 14 and younger) with a score of 36.8. Her Xcel Gold teammate Amelia Zoschke won the state title on the balance beam (13 and younger), scoring an 8.9.
At the Xcel Gold team level at state, Gallardo-Ibarra, Zoschke, Shylee Asher and Alexa Jimenes-Seyfer placed third out of 14 teams.
At this year’s national tournament in Toledo, Ohio, Shaylyn Asher won the vault in the Xcel Silver’s Child Division with a score of 9.25. Zoschke won the floor-exercise title with a score of 9.5, competing as an Xcel Gold gymnast in the Junior A Division. And Gallardo-Ibarra won her title in floor exercise, competing in the Junior B Division, with a score of 9.4.
Skill Level
Striver’s name, division name
Xcel Silver
Shaylyn Asher, child
Evelynn Kelsey, junior
Keira Wesley, senior
Xcel Gold
Alexa Jimenes-Seyfer, junior
Shylee Asher, junior
Portia Hah, junior
Anna Gallardo-Ibarra, junior
Amelia Zoschke, junior A
Level 6
Estelle Duerst, child
Amira Anschutz, junior
Lauren Pratt, junior
Julia Gregory, senior
