What It Takes: A Profile Over Gymnast Rhegan Peace

By: Georgia Matlack

The stress, injuries, sacrifice, and disappointment are all worth it when you achieve your goals. Jenks senior, Rhegan Peace is a level 10 gymnast, which is the highest skill level. Gymnastics has been a significant part of Peace's life. It all started when she decided to switch from cheer to gymnastics at ten years old. As Peace prepares for college, she reflects back on the lessons and skills that she gained during her gymnastics career. 

“I used to do tumbling and cheer, but I always wanted to do gymnastics,” says Peace. “My mom wouldn't let me at first but then I finally got to do it. I didn't want to just tumble, I wanted to do the beam and bars and vault.”

After lots of convincing to her mother, Peace was allowed to begin gymnastics. She began gymnastics at eleven years old, which was much older than the other gymnasts, meaning Peace had to work hard to catch up to the skill level of the other gymnasts her age. However, Peace improved very quickly, especially at the beam. 

Peace's favorite event in gymnastics was the beam because it came naturally to her. While other gymnasts would be fearful of the beam, she wasn't scared of falling. Her bravery is what allowed her to succeed in gymnastics. Though Peace deserves credit for her improvements, her success wouldn't be possible without the support of her coach and teammates.

“My coach is probably the most important person in my life,” says Peace.

Peace made close friendships through gymnastics because she would spend so much time with her teammates. They had shared experiences through gymnastics that only they would understand.

“You see each other struggle, so you understand them and you have to get to know each other because you are with them so much,” says Peace. 

Peace had to sacrifice a lot of her time with friends and time away from school. Peace practiced for four hours before school, went to school for two hours, and then had to go back to the gym for five hours of practice. Some of the activities that other kids were doing, Peace missed out on. Peace wasn't able to attend the Friday football games, and wasn't able to see her school friends on the weekend due to traveling from Thursday-Monday for competitions. Even though Peace may have wished to be more available to her friends at school, she knew that the sacrifice was worth it.

“If you want something, it's going to take time and you have to put a lot of effort into it,” says Peace. “It is not always gonna come easy, but if you really want it, it will be worth it.”

Injuries are bound to happen when dedicating your life to gymnastics. Peace is no stranger to injury. She has had four elbow surgeries, torn her Achilles, and has had broken bones. 

“It's so hard on your body,” says Peace. 

Her elbow injuries and surgery was the hardest injury she dealt with, physically and mentally. Peace had the same surgery on both of her elbows due to the pounding on the arms while tumbling. Peace’s cartilage died and they had to remove it during surgery. This experience was hard for Peace, but most gymnasts understand that it's inevitable. 

“It was hard because obviously, you wanna be out there competing, but because injuries would happen so often, you almost had to learn to deal with it,” says Peace. 

Peace thinks the most important thing about gymnastics is knowing your boundaries, and knowing that it's going to take a lot but it's going to be worth it. Peace's struggle and sacrifice were just a small part of the positive experiences and successes that she had throughout her gymnastics career. Peace is proud to say that she qualified for nationals as a level ten gymnast for all four years of high school. 

“It's the highest meet that you can go to, and only so many girls get the opportunity to go,” says Peace. 

Peace has decided not to continue gymnastics in college. She is attending the University of Arkansas to major in Biology. Though when Peace reflects back on her journey, she is grateful and proud of herself for her dedication and hard work.

“My favorite thing is looking back and seeing how far I've come, especially because most kids start gymnastics when they are around two or three and I didn't start until I was eleven,” says Peace. Not only could I see, but others could see that my hard work is paying off.”