Alta athletes receive scholarships in gymnastics

They spend hours each day after school perfecting their sport. And while most of their classmates have never seen them compete, two Alta athletes have earned scholarships to attend their favorite colleges.

Summer Raymond and Baylie Divino accepted scholarship offers to attend Brigham Young University and Southern Utah University, respectively. The duo competes in gymnastics.

“It is great to see both girls get scholarships,” said Mary Wright, who coaches them at Olympus Gymnastics in Sandy. “Only about 10 percent of those trying to get on college teams make it.”

Gymnastics is not a sport offered at the high school level in Utah. Those that want to excel in the sport have to do it at clubs found outside school.

“A lot of girls do gymnastics when they are young, but then they lose interest,” Wright said. “There is a lot of peer pressure as they become teenagers to quit the rigorous training that gymnastics requires and go hang out with friends. Those that stay in it and are dedicated to it have great chances of getting scholarships. These two girls exemplify what can happen when you stick with something.”

Raymond began her gymnastics career at 2 years old while living in Chicago, Ill. Her parents needed to find a way to channel her energy.

“I was a crazy kid that did crazy things,” Raymond said. “My mom was afraid I would end up hurting myself. So she signed me up for gymnastics so I could do all my crazy things in a controlled way.”

As a toddler still in diapers, Raymond seemed to find ways to do daring things even older kids wouldn’t do.

“At 18 months old, she figured out how to push the garage door opener,” said her mother, April Raymond. “She would push the button and then run to the door, grab on and ride it up.”

April Raymond also said they would get calls from neighbors about Summer Raymond outside hanging by both hands from the basketball hoop. “We knew we had to find something to keep her busy,” she said.

Summer Raymond was enrolled in a gymnastics class and before long, she was taking as many classes as she could.

“I just wanted to wear her out, she had so much energy,” April Raymond said.

Her ability shined through in her classes and by the time she was 4 years old, she was competing with sixth-graders.

Her family moved to Draper when she was in first grade, where she found a new gymnastics club.

Summer Raymond prefers the uneven bars and the balance beam because both play to her 5-5 frame, a little taller than most gymnasts.

“I have a longer body so it is easier for me on those than the floor routine,” she said.

Gymnastics nearly wasn’t on the radar for Divino, a senior at Alta. The 5-0 athlete had tried gymnastics once when she was 3 years old, but moved on to other interests. She wanted to return when she was about 10, but her parents were leery of it.

“It was a hard decision for us,” said Kelli Divino, Baylie’s mother. “We had heard horror stories of what kids have to go through to compete in gymnastics, and we didn’t want her to do it.”

But Kelli Divino and husband Ron allowed Baylie Divino to try a class. The coach at the time told the Divino’s that Baylie would be good in the sport.

“The coach said she is really talented and she should try,” Kelli Divino said. “We agonized over it, but eventually went with it. She fell in love with the sport, and luckily none of those horror stories came true.”