The statement “Kids Say the Darndest Things” remains true about most things in life, even college gymnastics! In this series, we will take a different aspect of college gymnastics, from skills to leotards and everything in between, and have kids react. It’s Kids Say the Darndest Things…about College Gymnastics!
For this edition, we pulled out some of the leotards we judged and asked the kids to score them similarly to our Leotard Rankings. Each leotard was ranked out of 10 points in the categories of design, sparkle, and school spirit, and all of the scores were averaged together to create the score for each category. Have ideas for what we should ask kids next? Leave a comment to let us know!
NOTE: Names and ages of children have been changed to protect their identities. Proper permission was obtained to post quotes from those involved. No additional editing outside of correcting grammar has been done.
Clemson: 8.000
Design: 8.200/10; Sparkle: 8.200/10; School Spirit: 7.800/10
Kayla, age 8: I like that it’s the design of a tiger. I like all the gems. I like the colors.
Brooke, age 9: I like it a lot, especially the upper back and how it’s just kind of like a circle but not really. But for this one, I give it like a 6/10 since I love the colors and how it looks like a tiger.
Erin, age 10: OOO I LOVE THIS ONE! I love the colors and the design. I love tigers, they are my favorite animals and love the sparkle too. I would wear this to the university if I went there.
Greg, age 9: I say I love it! I guess they’re the Tigers or something because of the stripes
Aaron, age 7: It looks like the Frosted Flakes cereal box but the lines are purple and sparkly.
Minnesota: 7.900
Design: 7.800/10; Sparkle: 9.200/10; School Spirit: 6.800/10
Tina, age 12: OMG! I love this one! The pattern is unique, it stands out a lot but not too much. I have never seen this color before but I like it. The sparkle is a 9/10 because it has a lot of sparkle and it shines!
Chris, age 10: This is my favorite one! I love the details and sparkle!!! It really represents the college.
Naomi, age 12: She ate down on her 1’s and 2’s period! If I could wear that, I most definitely would because she ate so bad!!!
Carlos, age 10: It is crazy good looking! The Alabama logo on the back is great and the single sleeve is amazing. It also sparkles very much with…I don’t know if those are small diamonds or what but they’re everywhere. It’s a great outfit in my opinion!
Stanford: 6.700
Design: 6.700/10; Sparkle: 7.400/10; School Spirit: 6.100/10
Anna, age 10: It says “fear the tree” [and] you better fear that tree because he can tear you down.
Timothy, age 8: I don’t like it at all. The tree looks mad, but if the tree were happy it would be a good one to wear during Christmas.
Bailey, age 10: I love the Christmas tree on the shirt and the black really complements the tree. The sparkle on the leotard has a nice pattern. The fact that the tree has an angry face is just funny.
Sam, age 11: The little tree mascot is really cute, and I love the sparkle that surrounds it!! This at least has to be my second favorite. The “fear the tree” is really nice, but I don’t think no one is really gonna be scared of a little tree.
Luke, age 12: W [for the] Beverly Hills Christmas Trees!! But for real I don’t have an opinion on this.
Arkansas: 6.700
Design: 6.300/10; Sparkle: 6.000/10; School Spirit: 7.700/10
Cassie, age 10: It’s just not my type. It’s kind of ugly. The colors are pretty, but it needs more sparkle. The back is pretty.
Michael, age 11: It needs to cover more skin. The glitter should be all the way down it and not just at the top. It could show more spirit by saying Arkansas Razorbacks or something other than just the hog.
Tyler, age 10: It’s alright. They could’ve done better, but it’s cool. I wouldn’t wear it though.
Ashley, age 9: They need to fix the part where their leg shows. They probably need to add a zipper on the back of it.
Oregon State: 5.800
Design: 5.600/10; Sparkle: 5.000/10; School Spirit: 6.800/10
Brad, age 10: Why are there bucked teeth on the leotard? I like the white and the orange. She was not playing with y’all, she got down to business.
Cara, age 10: I’m sorry but the beaver messed it up…like the beaver just ruined it. Overall the colors are really pretty and they go together really well.
Lilly, age 11: I hate how the animal thing ruins the leotard. Maybe if it was on the back, it would look better I think?
Gage, age 10: Well, I don’t like the colors and the animal on it. The pattern could change to something else but keep the colors because I do like the white color on the leotard.
Nick, age 7: I like the white and orange. It reminds me of my orange and white Hot Wheels.
LIU: 4.800
Design: 4.800/10; Sparkle: 4.700/10; School Spirit: 4.900/10
Jasmine, age 9: See, it’s very pinkish, and I don’t like pink that much. It doesn’t sparkle that much, but it does sparkle some.
Lacey, age 10: I like that it has the breast cancer sign. It is really nice of them to do that. I am not really a big fan of pink, but I think that it would be cool with green or camouflage green sharks.
Hannah, age 9: I HATE that thing. It is ugly. It is (horrendous) “urendes”.
Noah, age 8: I don’t like it because it’s pink and it looks like a real-life Barbie doll.
Paul, age 11: No comment.
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Article by the editors of College Gym News
How did the LSU Tiger one only get 7.8 out of 10 on school spirit? What more could they have done (maybe a yellow/purple tiger?).
Also you all should do a story on the most uniquely designed leo’s and maybe some of the history who designed it, why the school chose it.
I would love more leotard rankings from children in the future because this was just great. 😀 I’m going to have to show my 11 year old daughter these and see what she thinks (Though I already know her Clemson opinion because we saw them in person at TWU this season. Safe to say she was not a fan.). These kids have OPINIONS on leos, y’all!