Sawyer Thomas, Gymnastics Club President

Name: Sawyer Thomas

Age: 20

Year: Junior

Hometown: Stokesdale, NC

Major(s): Environmental Sciences and International Studies

   Sawyer Thomas (pictured right) is an ambitious student and athlete who is the current President of UNCW’s Gymnastics Club.  Read on to find out Sawyer’s responsibilities as President, or if you’re curious to know more about the club!   

HC: How long have you been a gymnast?

I’ve been doing gymnastics for about 18 years.

HC: What initially drew you to want to become a gymnast?

When I was two, I started to roll around the living room and my mom was worried that I would hurt myself, so she put me in little kid classes to get some energy out of me!

HC: How did you get involved in the UNCW Gymnastics Club?

At the beginning of my freshman year, I was looking to get involved on campus and gymnastics was something that I had loved for my whole life, so I decided to try it out! Everyone was so wonderful and welcoming at practice, so I stuck with it and here we are!

HC: How long have you been the President of Gymnastics Club and what are your responsibilities?

I have been President since my second semester as a freshman (Spring 2013). My responsibilities include, but are not limited to: serving as a first point of contact for new people in the club, going to monthly meetings with our Sport Club Staff Advisor and the Sports Club Council, registering the team for competitions, clearing all travel plans with UNCW, obtaining and submitting invoices for our expenses to UNCW, and communicating with the gym that we practice at, Gymnastics Unlimited.

HC: Recently, UNCW Gymnastics hosted their very first home meet.  How did that go?

It went really well! We were overwhelmed by all of the support we received from our gym, UNCW, and other teams that participated in our meet. We hosted the United States Naval Academy, Virginia Tech, James Madison, Liberty, NC State, and Emory University. We weren’t expecting such a good turnout for our first meet, but we were pleasantly surprised!

HC: What sort of preparation did you need to do for it?

Well, first we had to find teams to come to the meet. This was very stressful at times because most schools don’t register until 2-3 weeks before the meet. So we didn’t think that anyone else was going to show up for a while. Then we had to find four women’s judges, one for each event, and one men’s judge who could facilitate all six of their events. This turned out to be the hardest part for us because most of the judges in North and South Carolina were booked that weekend. Then we had to take care of all of the little details, like rotation schedules, signs for each team to carry during the march-in ceremony, medals, and team awards. It was a lot to do, but everyone pitched in, and we somehow pulled it off!

HC: Does UNCW plan to host more home meets in the future?

Yes! We are hoping to have at least one every year, if not every semester.

HC: What’s the best thing about being a part of UNCW gymnastics?

The best part of being on this team are my teammates. They are some of my dearest friends and they are what make me look forward to going to every practice and competition. It’s also great how you make friends with gymnasts from other schools; there’s really nothing quite like club sports!

HC: Do you see yourself continuing to practice gymnastics after graduating?

No, probably not. As much as I love the sport and all of the friends I have made while doing it, my body has just about reached its limit. There also aren’t a lot of gymnastics programs for adults once you graduate from college.

HC: What’s been your favorite memory from UNCW gymnastics so far?

My favorite memory with UNCW Gymnastics is when the women’s team won 1st place at our first meet of last semester. I think it was the only time in recent club history that we actually won as a team!

HC: Where do you want to see the club go in the future?

I would love to see the team grow to 20+ active members and to have enough male competitors to be able to form a men’s team at meets.

HC: If anybody is interested in joining the club, how should they go about doing so?

They should contact me on Facebook or via email (slt1888@uncw.edu)  or join our Facebook group, UNCW Gymnastics. We practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at Gymnastics Unlimited from 7:30-9:30pm. We accept people of all skill levels and strongly encourage anyone who is interested to come out to practice!

HC: If you could super-size any animal and ride it into battle, which would you choose?

This is a hard question! I guess I would choose a hippo because they’re aggressive and huge and faster than you would expect. Plus, that’s pretty freaking awesome.

Photos courtesy of Sawyer.

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