When Canadian elite Allie Forbes was 11 years old, her oldest sister Katie went on a visit to Yale and brought her home a gymnastics cap. Forbes cherished the gift and Yale became her dream school. It was a distant dream, though—so distant that she didn’t fully grasp that she could attend Yale as a student-athlete until much later.
It was only last year, when some friends from her own province of Alberta got recruited to NCAA gymnastics teams, that Forbes decided to start her own recruiting process. She sent out her first email in March 2023, engaged in correspondence with different schools and took unofficial visits in the summer. Since she values academic excellence as much as sports—her sister is a Princeton graduate—she paid visits to the four Ivy League schools with gymnastics teams: Brown, Cornell, Penn, and Yale. Although she enjoyed them all, it was Yale where she felt most at home.
“On my official visit to Yale, in September, I instantly felt like I was part of the team, which only further strengthened my desire to attend the school,” Forbes explained. “When [head coach] Andy [Leis] offered me a spot, I said yes immediately, and could not stop smiling for the rest of the day. While it was definitely stressful at times, I could not be happier with how the recruiting process has worked out for me.”
While the “perfect balance of incredible academics and amazing gymnastics” made Yale stand out, it was the team culture that impressed Forbes the most. The coaches, she explained, “work hard to create a positive and enjoyable environment for the team. They are also genuinely invested in their athletes’ development, both as gymnasts and as individuals, and I felt a strong sense of support coming from both the coaches and the entire team. It really felt like they were not just teammates, but a close-knit family, which made me excited about the prospect of joining this incredible group of individuals.”
Given Yale’s exceptional academics, Forbes hopes that her four years of college will also help her grow as a person. “The liberal arts approach, small class sizes, residential college system, opportunities for research and internships, and the emphasis on meeting so many new people were all aspects of Yale which drew me in,” she said. “I wanted to ensure that my college experience was not only about excelling in the sport but also about personal and academic growth.”
Later this month Forbes will sign her national letter of intent as Yale’s first ever four-star recruit. Although she recognizes that “past performance is no guarantee of future results,” she’s committed to giving her all at Yale, and hopes that her accomplishments will set an example for future recruits. “I am thrilled to be bringing my gymnastics to such a great school and am also thrilled to be bringing recognition to YGT,” she said. “Being the first CGN four-star recruit at Yale is an honor, but I certainly won’t be the last, and I hope to set a positive example for future recruits.”
At Yale, Forbes wishes to contribute to the success of the team on and off the floor. At Ortona, her home club, she strives to be a team leader and hopes to bring her “leadership, support, and drive” to YGT. This past year she’s been working on new skills while perfecting some old ones. Once she gets to New Haven, she hopes to be both “a supportive teammate” and “a strong competitor.”
Forbes’ talent and passion are driven by a new mindset, which is the outcome of four difficult years. After the COVID-19 pandemic cut short the 2020 season and canceled the 2021 season entirely, Forbes had a series of injuries that prevented her from being at her best in 2022 and forced her to compete on a pulled hamstring at nationals. Then, in January 2023, she started having mental blocks on her Pak salto on bars. The blocks were so severe that at a competition that month, she failed to perform the skill entirely. “This was a beyond embarrassing and frustrating moment, especially being someone who hasn’t really struggled with mental blocks in the past,” she recalled. “To top it all off, this happened just three weeks before I was going to represent Alberta at the Canada Winter Games.”
Thanks to her coaches’ help—in particular Nikki Johnson, who’s been coaching her for the past five years—Forbes managed to overcome the unexpected challenge. At the Winter Games, she qualified to the all around, beam and floor finals, and now remembers the competition as one of the “memorable experience[s]” of her career. Later in the year, Forbes helped her province place second at nationals—a feat she will always be proud of. “Historically, Alberta has had tough competition from other provinces, so to have helped our team to the silver medal in a very tight competition was an incredible feeling, and one that I hope to relive next year,” she explained.
Her history of injuries and her recent mental blocks haven’t stopped Forbes from thriving this season. On the contrary, they have made her stronger. They were learning moments, whose lessons she hopes to continue to implement during the remainder of her club career, as well as during her four years at Yale.
“Through all the challenges I’ve faced, I’ve grown a lot both as an athlete and as a person,” she said. “These experiences have inspired me to continuously strive for better. I go into every practice and competition with a positive mindset, knowing that challenges will occur, and all I need to do is take one thing at a time, stay in the moment, and give a complete effort every day.”
“Just because it’s taking time,” she added, “[it] doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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