Taylor Penzien continues to lead gymnastics following injury

Senior gymnast Taylor Penzien has been forced to take on a different role in her final season at Southeast Missouri State. She suffered a major injury to her right foot last season and now is limited to participating in only two events. Penzien also is the only senior on the gymnastics team, which gives her more leadership responsibilities.

Can you describe your injury and the effect it's had on your playing career?

I was an all-around athlete my freshman and sophomore years, and then junior year in November I was doing a jump on the floor and tore all of the ligaments in my right ankle. Then I just let it heal and only competed on bars and beam last year. So I went ahead and got the whole thing fixed over the summer, and coming back knowing I would never do floor again was upsetting, but it made me change my way of leadership. I learned that I had to be a leader in a different way. It's not just about showing how hard I work on floor and vault or my work ethic, but also being a vocal leader and helping the girls mentally.

What are some characteristics you look for in a leader such as yourself?

Positivity, coming into the gym and putting whatever bad day you had aside and coming in focused, knowing this is the job that has to get done now, and bringing the team together as a whole.

One is always looking out for the team instead of just yourself, and putting the team's goals ahead of your own.

What are some ways you could improve as a leader for this team?

Usually in a senior class there's more than just one, so you'll always have one who is a leader with their work ethic and they just show it. Then there's always another who's the vocal leader. Being the only senior, it's hard to play all of those different leadership roles. I think I kinda show my leadership more and I'm not very vocal about it, so I think that I'm good at showing my work ethic and working hard, but I don't vocalize it enough. I'm not telling the team exactly what to do, and I think the juniors have really stepped up in that way. They help me a lot in bringing the team together and talking to them.

What kind of advice would you give the juniors for their senior year?

Really just take it all in and become friends. Not just teammates, be really good friends with all of the girls on the team, it makes a huge difference. Just getting the team together outside of the gym and getting to know everyone on a personal level makes such a big difference, it brings the team way closer. And have fun with it, this is the last year you're going to be doing anything like this, you're never going to get the feeling of butterflies and the nerves of competition. You're never gonna get that again, so really realize that and take the chance to put it all out there.​

Who have been some of your mentors, both in and out of the gym?

Definitely my dad, he's talked me through a lot this year. I've had trouble, I've missed home, and just being the only senior really is hard. So I'll talk to him and he always has really good advice. He's always texting me quotes in the morning and stuff like that. He's helped me a lot.

Kristi, our head coach, I've gotten really close with her this year. Our relationship has really developed to where it's like two adults actually talking now, it's not like she's my coach and I'm afraid of her. We've talked a lot more this year about what I can do to be a better leader, and how I can help the team and what we can do; she asks for my opinions.

Also Ashley Thomas on the team, she's a junior, and she's a big role model to me even though she's younger. She's very positive in the gym. She's always bringing the smiles and always cheering and bringing us together. I know she's gonna be a great leader next year.

What are you most proud of with this team?

In the beginning of the year, the first meet, we had a few mishaps. We had Alyssa [Tucker] get hurt the day before the meet. Then we had Olivia [Vincent] get hurt, which was a total fluke. And then Chelsi [Hamilton] tore her achilles on the second weekend. Those were all draining, Alyssa was an all-arounder so we're like, "How are we supposed to fill those shoes?" Chelsi was coming back from an injury and both her and Olivia were supposed to do floor and vault. So that was kinda scary, and everyone was like, "What are we gonna do now?"

I thought after those first two weekends the freshmen and sophomores really stepped up. I know some of them didn't think they'd be competing in the events that they had to be in, but everyone stepped up and did their job. It showed everyone on this team is capable of doing something.