Tonya Paulsson thought she had her future set. She planned to compete on the elite stage for Sweden and complete her education there. When former California head coaches Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell initially reached out to her through Instagram DM, she told them just that: she had her plan and wasn’t interested in pursuing NCAA gymnastics. But then a knee surgery that temporarily left her unable to do gymnastics led her to reconsider her options.
“I had a dream that I came to Cal, and I competed, and I woke up, and I got a text from Justin [Howell],” she said.
That dream and text came two years after Howell had initially reached out. He was just reaching out to check in, but Paulsson and her mother thought that it was a sign. Paulsson committed to California that fall, just a few months following the Golden Bears’ record-setting second-place finish at NCAA championships.
The summer before she was set to start her collegiate career she got a phone call from the Howell’s saying that they had an offer they had to take and would be leaving the program. The news was hard to hear as Paulsson really liked the coaching staff. Ultimately, her initial decision to go to California was not for the coaching staff alone, but also included the academics and the school as a whole. She decided to follow through with her initial commitment.
Her official visit painted a pretty clear picture of what to expect once she arrived on campus, but there was still a little culture shock in the move to a college town in the United States. In Sweden, Paulsson is used to people being more individualized and closed off. When she arrived at California, one of the first things that surprised her was how open and friendly everyone was.
The college culture in the United States is also very unique. Schools often have spirited chants and traditions, and Paulsson admitted that she still doesn’t understand any of them. To her they are all still weird. This carries over to gymnastics, too, where the gymnasts cheer for each other in the gym. Paulsson shared that the first week of practice left her tired just from cheering for her teammates. When she had to practice her own routine, she found that the cheering from her teammates helped her through it.
Paulsson was always known for her superb technique while competing on the international elite stage. Her toe point on bars and amazing height on her double pike on floor always left fans wanting more. Those details made the gymnastics transition easier, but there are still several differences between the NCAA and elite level. With her collegiate bars routine has proven easier since it is only a third of her elite routine, but floor she still considers hard.
The biggest difference in an event has been beam. “Beam I feel more pressure here, because when I fall and I’m alone, it’s just me. But here, my team is counting on me… so beam, I’d say harder, not the skills, just the mental part of it.”
During her first collegiate meet at Washington, Paulsson just wanted to have fun and experience it. She had seen videos of NCAA gymnastics, but had not experienced the environment herself. The meet was in front of a record crowd, and she could feel the energy.
From week one, Paulsson’s technique showed up in her routines and in the scores she was receiving from judges. Over the course of the season, she has become one of the top collegiate bars workers and all arounders. She’s had all this success while managing an ongoing back injury.
In the lead-up to regionals, Paulsson went a week without doing gymnastics because of the injury and didn’t know if she was going to be able to compete. She went in for warm-ups on Thursday to see if she was able to do her gymnastics. She had a self-described “rough meet” and wishes she could have been better to help her team, but you would not have known from watching the meet. Going into Saturday, the plan is to focus on recovery with hopes of putting together a better meet for her team.
While at this writing we don’t know when her collegiate season will be over—Paulsson could qualify to NCAAs with her team or as an individual—we do know that it won’t be the last we see of her this year. Paulsson plans to go to Asian Championships in June, and hopefully the World Championships and Asian Games in the fall.
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Article by Alyssa Van Auker
