Collegiate athletes already have a difficult time transitioning to a new level of competition, one usually much tougher than their previous level. But for a walk-on, it’s infinitely harder as they fight for a spot on the team and work to prove they’re capable of competing at the collegiate level, let alone in a Division I program. A former walk-on, sophomore Ava Jordan not only proved why she deserves a spot on the Michigan women’s gymnastics team, but she has excelled by winning Team Newcomer of the Year and notching a season best in her debut.
Gymnastics has been a foundational part of Jordan’s upbringing and it all started with her mom, Destinee Jordan, who was a gymnast until college. So naturally, gymnastics got passed down to her children.
“We put all three of our daughters (in gymnastics),” Destinee told The Michigan Daily. “We recognize the importance of discipline and strength and flexibility, and honestly, know that if you start off in those foundational skills that you’ll be able to transition to any sport pretty easily because gymnastics is very challenging.”
While gymnastics was what Ava started with at three years old, she also tried her hand in other sports. About two years after starting gymnastics, she started playing soccer, and then in middle school she picked up volleyball.
“We encourage them to do both an individual sport and to try a team sport,” Destinee said. “We feel like it’s important you get different value basis from team sports than you do from individual sports.”
Throughout her formative years, Ava reaped the benefits of both team and individual sport experiences. She developed her discipline through her frequent training for each sport and balancing her daily schedules with all her commitments. Yet, through and through, gymnastics was the one constant sport she stuck with. And, ultimately, while she learned valuable lessons of discipline from being a part of a team elsewhere, Ava made a firm decision in seventh grade regarding which sport she truly wanted to pursue.
“She tried out, she made the team, and then she got the schedule and saw that for the 12 weeks of the volleyball season that it would conflict quite a bit with gymnastics training,” Destinee said. “She was like, ‘No, not going to do it. Can you tell the coach I can’t do it because of gymnastics?’ ”
In that moment, Ava made a choice that would change her life for years to come. And in doing so, she set herself a goal that would allow her to compete at top-level collegiate programs.
“Sometime around middle school, when we moved from Ann Arbor to Milwaukee and then to Indianapolis, Ava knew at that point that she wanted to pursue college gymnastics,” Destinee said. “And she also knew that to be able to do Division I gymnastics, she probably should be a level 10 by freshman year of high school.”
While Ava was determined to be at the highest level by the time she entered high school, that dream she wanted to achieve with her dedication also came with some unwanted attention, sometimes even discouraging attitudes, from other teammates.
“We were all kind of on different levels,” Ava told The Daily. “Which sometimes made training a little bit harder. We would have some teammates that didn’t necessarily understand why we were putting in so many reps or working so hard to get upgraded skills because they didn’t understand the level that we wanted to take the sport. And sometimes that was hard because it felt like I was in it with myself, and I just had to keep myself going in those moments.”
Despite all of this, Ava pushed through and put the work in relying on her family’s support and not letting the outside noise cloud her end goal. Yet, when she finally became a Wolverine, an air of uncertainty still surrounded her journey.
“Ava embraced the role coming in as a walk-on and knowing that she had to, for lack of better words, prove herself, and I won’t even say prove herself to the coaches,” Destinee said. “I think for Ava, it was more about proving to herself that she deserved to be there.”
While Ava grappled with this uncertainty of college gymnastics as a walk-on, she leaned on her family’s support and wisdom. After all, she came from a multi-sport family with parents who once had a taste for what she was feeling, and they always taught Ava the value of both accomplishments and setbacks.
“Both of my parents always talk about how progress is not linear, how you’re on this journey and there’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, and that’s just part of it,” Ava said. “You have to learn to embrace both sides of that. … I think that’s been something that’s definitely helped me, especially since I started recruiting in high school, and since I’ve been in college gymnastics, that little bit of advice has carried me a long way.”
Now a few years removed from club gymnastics where there were only a handful of teammates that put in as much discipline to consistently practice, Ava has transitioned into a completely different environment, one where everyone around her holds a central goal and motivates each other. Ava’s new teammates showed her that while gymnastics is focused on one’s performance, she doesn’t need to feel isolated because of her drive to succeed — because everyone around her shares it, too.
“Being at Michigan now, the difference in having a bunch of girls on a team who all have the same goal, and we all want to compete at the highest level that we can and compete at the best level that we can,” Ava said. “So I think that has been a huge transition for me, but in a good way, because now I feel like I’m being pushed every day by my teammates, and getting to watch them succeed right right beside me is very motivational, and it really keeps me going and makes me want to keep pushing myself so that I can be better for the team.”
And it’s through Ava’s drive to succeed that she’s reached new heights.
During her first year at Michigan, Ava made her debut on Jan. 12, 2024 at home against Stanford. While Sierra Brooks stole the spotlight that night with her all-around performance of 39.850, Ava posted a 9.850 on vault. What made Ava’s vault even more special is that she was in the leadoff spot and it was her season best. That stellar debut performance earned her a spot in the vault lineup. She would later go on to be in the leadoff spot twice and competed in the vault rotation in every meet except for the NCAA Regional.
And then during her sophomore year, she went on to break her season best from her freshman year on vault twice, once at Michigan State and then at Rutgers, setting a new best of 9.875. She also went on to compete in uneven bars during her sophomore year where she set a then career best of 9.875 at home against Nebraska.
As Ava continues her gymnastics career at Michigan, the values that she learned from her parents and past experiences are embodied in her performances. Through countless hours of practice with her teammates, and the improvements she continues to make, Ava has demonstrated that discipline and progress can allow you to reach new heights.
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