Former U.S. Junior National Team gymnast and three-time UCLA All-American
Sophina DeJesus is a former elite artistic gymnast, professional dancer, and actress. She was a member of the 2009 U.S. National Team and competed at three USA Championships, placing ninth in the all-around at the 2009 championships. That year, she represented the United States at the Junior Japan International, where she won gold on floor exercise and finished fourth in the all-around.
DeJesus later became a contender for the 2012 Olympic team, but a back injury forced her to withdraw from elite competition. After the injury, she returned to school full time before beginning her collegiate gymnastics career.
DeJesus competed for the UCLA Bruins from 2013 through 2016 and earned three All-America honors on the uneven bars. She recorded career-high scores of 9.975 on both bars and balance beam and 9.950 on floor exercise. In 2016, her season-opening floor routine against Utah combined collegiate gymnastics with hip-hop choreography and earned a score of 9.925. The performance received an estimated 40 million online views before she appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which brought additional attention to the routine.
Before her collegiate career, DeJesus worked professionally as a dancer and actress. She appeared on the children's television series Hip Hop Harry, toured twice with Macy's Passport, and performed in videos for Missy Elliott and Disney. Her dance crew, Mix 5, also won first place at Hip Hop International. DeJesus studied sociology at UCLA while continuing to combine her backgrounds in gymnastics, dance, and performance.
Gymnastics has its own dense vocabulary, and nobody hands new parents a glossary on day one. The terms parents hear most at a meet, sorted by scoring, levels, and skills, so you can follow along instead of guessing.
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Vault takes about two seconds from the gymnast's hands hitting the table to landing on the mat. What the vault table actually is, how Yurchenko-family vaults work, how scoring builds, and the safety questions worth asking a gym.
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Kip, cast, clear hip, flyaway — bars has a language of its own. What the grips are for, what the foundational skills actually involve, how the event is scored, and the wrist-injury pattern parents should understand.
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The beam is four inches wide, and that number changes everything. What a routine has to include, how scoring and falls work, why beam fear is normal and manageable, and the safety basics families should know.
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A floor routine has to hit required acrobatic and dance elements, cover the whole mat, and land inside 90 seconds. How the routine is built, why the music is scored, and what tumbling safety actually looks like.
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You've been given a session time and a note to arrive 45 minutes early — and nothing else. Here's how meet day is structured from check-in through awards, what to pack, and the spectator rules that catch first-time gymnastics parents off guard.
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Most parents pick up gymnastics levels in fragments at pickup, without knowing whether Level 4 is a beginner's step or a serious commitment. This guide lays out all three systems side by side — the Development Program's Levels 1–10, the Xcel track, and the Elite pipeline — using USA Gymnastics' program rules.
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A clean-looking routine can score lower than one with a visible hop on the landing. This guide explains the 10.0 start-value system used at local meets, the elite D-score and E-score system, and the deductions that separate a 9-something from an 8-something.
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Neither track is the junior-varsity version of the other. Here's what actually separates Xcel from the Development Program in USA Gymnastics' terms — and how to weigh your gymnast's strengths, your family's calendar, and routine-building flexibility before choosing.
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Most parents come to youth gymnastics facing a sign-up sheet full of terms like Xcel, compulsory, and Level 3, with no way to tell which ones matter for a beginner. This guide defines each one, covers weekly hours, cost, and safety, and gives you the questions to ask a gym before you commit.
Aug 12, 2026