“When I hear the word gymnastics no matter where it is, it makes me excited. People are talking about this sport and appreciating this sport,” senior gymnast Tamyra Singletary said. 

Singletary is undoubtedly the Simone Biles of the varsity gymnastics team. Leading the team to three consecutive county championship victories during her high school career as well as the North II Sectional Championship — the Raiders’ first time winning a sectional title since 1993. 

Singletary began her gymnastics career at age five, training at Surgent’s Elite School of Gymnastics located in Westfield. She started competing at age eleven with the Surgent’s club team and still competes there during her offseason from high school gymnastics. For Singletary, her love for the sport grew through the years and time she gave to it. 

“At first gymnastics was just ‘Oh this sport is cool, I love it. I’ll just do it once a week for an hour,’” Singletary said. “Then this love for the sport grew to instead of once a week it grew to like 10 hours, 15, and now 20. It’s taught me so much and taught me how to keep pushing and how to be strong mentally and physically.” 

Working under pressure is something athletes of all calibers must do. But the pressure is heightened when messing up can lead to – not only failure – injury. Mindset will make or break an athlete’s performance. Singletary approaches her competitions with a dedication to herself over everything. 

“I tell myself that I’m not competing for anyone. I’m not competing for a trophy or a title. I’m just competing for myself and when I compete for myself, all that falls into place: trophies, titles, people, everything,” Singletary said.

As her high school