When Sophia Diaz was a child, she almost quit gymnastics. The intensity of the sport overwhelmed her and she didn’t think it was sustainable in the long term. A conversation with one of her old coaches changed her mind. The coach sat her down and instilled in her a renewed faith in the sport and her abilities. This “belief” fuels Diaz every day in the gym.
As time went on, Diaz came to appreciate that gymnastics is a marathon, not a sprint. She learned to take one step at a time, to enjoy the little things as they occurred, and to develop a more systematic approach to training. Three aspects proved crucial to her success: developing a daily routine, having a good relationship with her coaches and clubmates, and setting goals for herself.
Her daily routine—which includes optimizing her sleep and daily nutrition, and having preventive physical therapy—has strengthened both her physical and mental approach to gymnastics.
Good relationships with her coaches and teammates, moreover, fuel her drive and help her find purpose every day in the gym. “The amount of support we share for each other during practice motivates me to work with the same drive and purpose, to push through the hard days in the same way as the good ones,” she said. “At the end of the day, gymnastics is a team sport and a priority for me is to aim to not let my team down.”
Finally, Diaz keeps a journal in which, before the beginning of each season, she writes down her goals for that year. This activity motivates her to take daily steps in the gym towards the achievement of her objectives. “Knowing the things I am striving for also keeps me motivated to improve and upgrade my skills consistently,” she said.
The effectiveness of Diaz’s systematic approach to gymnastics has been evident in her recent success as a level 10 athlete. In 2022, her first year as a level 10, she became Maryland state and Region 7 all-around champion, and finished third on beam and fourth in the all around at nationals. This past season, she posted career highs on all events, including a 39.225 in the all around at regionals, and won the all-around crown at nationals.
Then, in early June, she was named a five-star recruit. Diaz credits her methodical approach to the sport for such an achievement. “Becoming a five-star recruit was one of the goals that I wrote in my journal last year, but I knew that I couldn’t entirely focus on that without focusing more on advancing every day, no matter how tiny that would be,” she said. “When I got the five-star notice, of course I was ecstatic.”
When her phone started to ring on June 15th, initiating her recruiting process, Diaz used an equally structured approach in picking her favorite schools, while still keeping an open mind. Her main goal was to find a school with equally strong academics and athletics.
“I had a top five in mind, however this top five quickly changed once I had conversations with all the coaches and realized which coaches felt like reasonable fits for me,” she explained. “As those interactions went on, I made sure to ask about things that were important to me, such as [the] team atmosphere [and] culture, the education [and] athletics balance, academic resources in the program, and the depth of the gymnastics program and future prospects for a national championship.”
“I also wanted to ensure the program had coaches whose philosophies aligned with mine, who I would feel mentored and supported by and get along well with, who would push me to improve as a gymnast and as a person and professional, for my post-college gymnastics life,” she added.
On the first day of recruiting Diaz spoke with 15 schools, which helped her narrow down her initial list to seven top choices. In the next few weeks, she visited Cal, Utah, Stanford, Florida, Michigan, LSU, and UCLA.
As she came to realize that all schools offered similar opportunities, she felt both grateful and overwhelmed. “In some regards, too many visits in the fall can be very difficult to balance against one’s high school academic workload, especially when these visits require so much focus,” she explained. “In that sense, I would have narrowed my list to no more than four schools by August. I’d also consider visiting some schools on my own when possible, during the prior school year to help start the process on June 15th better informed, and maybe even with a shorter and more focused list.”
As Diaz started leaning towards a few schools, it was Michigan that continued to stick out the most. During her visit to Ann Arbor, she struck a strong bond with the coaches and the current team members. The coaching staff, she said, was “magnetic” and the team “made every effort to make me feel extra loved, wanted, and a critical part of their team [and] family right away.”
In the end, the decision felt both difficult and natural. “I found myself visiting other programs and comparing things to Michigan, and it eventually became clear that Michigan was truly the place that most felt like home,” she said.
At Michigan, Diaz hopes to help the Wolverines win another national title after their historic victory in 2021. Plus, she wishes to grow as a person and as a scholar. “As a college gymnast, I hope to grow as a human being and learn more about myself in my sport and outside of it,” she said. “A very important career goal that I want to strive for while at Michigan is working towards becoming a physician, where I can combine all I will have learned in gymnastics about proper nutrition, physical preparation, balanced conditioning, mental preparedness, the human body as a whole, and my care for others, with dedicated work in the classroom.”
As she looks back at how far she’s come in the sport, Diaz is grateful that, even in the toughest moments, she listened to the people who had her best interest at heart, including her parents, her sister Natalia, her brother Andreas, her coaches, and her teammates. Her parents, in particular, are “rock stars.” “I could go on forever about them and what a difference their tireless support has made,” she said.
What’s made her so successful in the last couple of years, Diaz believes, is the relentlessly hard work that she puts in every day at the gym. Such work has increased—not diminished—since her recent victories and accomplishments, because she feels the need to live up to the expectation that comes with being one of the best gymnasts in the class of 2025. “It is important that humility remains front and center for me,” she said. “I feel it is very important that I remain grounded in order to stay true to my ideals as a person and as a gymnast, which also helps me respect the sport at every turn.”
Her accomplishments, Diaz added, make her appreciate every small step of her gymnastics journey. “Every single morning I go into the gym knowing that I can’t take anything for granted,” she said, “that every opportunity is a privilege, and that I need to work hard every day to become the best version of myself in my sport, one tiny step after the other.”
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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