A Tribute to Kyla Ross

I was at the library yesterday, attempting to figure out my school schedule when I decided to check instagram and saw that Kyla Ross had announced her retirement.

I'm really sad about this for the fact that I love Kyla's gymnastics and have always been a big fan. To me, it is so enjoyable to watch an athlete who executes every move so cleanly and has choreographed right down to the fingertips (Tim Dagget once said this, but it's true!). Despite the fact that Kyla wasn't chucking crazy skills, her elegance and superior technique pushed her ahead of a lot of gymnasts who may have had higher start values. I wrote a post about last year, comparing Kyla to Skinner and ended by saying that I think Kyla's clean consistency will pay off in the end. And you know, it did for awhile.

Kyla had so much international success and it all started with the pinnacle of the sport, Olympic gold! From there there were world medals and national medals and other various achievements. Kyla's method of training absolutely paid off for quite awhile. Then this year happened and I think for a lot of gym fans, it was a slow realization that Kyla might not be able to hold out for Rio. It's to know fault of her own, I think her height hurt her a lot and with the extra height came other issues. After bowing out of World's selection, the writing was on the wall. Now Kyla will get to go shine at UCLA where I know she'll do great things.

So yes, like I said at first, I am sad that Kyla will not be in Rio and will never get to try for individual Olympic medals. But on the other hand, I'm happy for her. She's had an amazing career, she will always be remembered. And she got to go out on her own terms. She won't have to be like Vanessa Atler and live with not being named to the team or like certain other people (ahem) who humiliated themselves at the trials. Kyla gets to walk away from Elite gymnastics knowing that she gave it her all and left when it was her time.

I'll never forget Kyla's near perfect beam routine in the AA at last years Worlds or her 2014 floor routine that I loved so much! And getting to watch her compete live at Classics these last two years which was such an honor.

I'll miss you  in Elite gymnastics Kyla but I wish you all the best of luck at UCLA. We will all be watching and rooting for you!