Dear Younger Me - Sierra Brooks
The Leave Your Mark Series invites current and former college athletes to address their former selves to provide advice, comfort, or anything else they feel may be important for up-and-coming generations to consider when determining their college athletic goals.
To read the entire Leave Your Mark Series, head over to www.athletestoathletes.com
Below is a letter written by current Michigan Gymnast Sierra Brooks, addressing her former self and discussing the aspects of her athletics career she wishes she would have focused on more during her road to college.
Hi Sierra. It’s you, just in January of 2023 … yes, at 21 years old.
I know that you’re in your first season of level 10 right now, which is as intimidating as it gets. To this day, I don’t know anyone who felt overly confident in their first year of level 10 because it’s simply different.
Since you don’t want to go the elite route, it’s where you stay for the next 7 years – and it’s going to be so much fun!
Each year you’ll get a little bit better, gain more confidence, meet more people, and grow into the leader that you are today.
Outside of the gym, you’re also in your first year of middle school. So a lot of change is happening right now which can be uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, being resilient in the uncomfortableness will be incredibly helpful in about 8 years with the COVID-19 pandemic.
School and gym will continue to keep you busy for the years to come, which is perfect because you go crazy (or more so drive mom crazy) when you have too much time on your hands.
Even though you thrive when every minute of the day is planned, it’s still important to slow down sometimes.
Go to your high school football games, meet new people, and don’t rush life. Before you know it, you’ll be committed to the University of Michigan and so eager to get there that you’ll graduate from high school a year early. I know you would never have suspected that…..surprise!
You will struggle with that decision.
Something about that anticipated HS graduation year of “2020” adds to the difficult decision, as you always thought it was a cool-sounding year to graduate and enjoyed it being an even number. However, you’ll be pretty content with 2019 once you hear about good ole’ 2020.
To give you a quick overview, you commit to Michigan at 16 and go on to win JO nationals, graduate high school, and start at Michigan in 2019.
You became the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in ‘20, a member of Michigan Gymnastics’ 1st ever NCAA Championship Title in ‘21, and a 13x All-American by ‘22.
These accomplishments will be incredible memories that you will have down the line, but they are not the most important.
On paper, they seem so cool, impressive, and exciting, but in reality, the real value comes from what you learned in order to accomplish them and after accomplishing them.
There is a lot to be excited about, yet my biggest messages for you are below. They’re written to meet you where you are in life and set you up for success and increased perspective down the road.
#1. Recruiting is unique for everyone. It’s intricate, time-consuming, and hard, even if your experience feels rather smooth.
Lucky for you, your recruiting process will be pretty dang smooth. You’ll see Michigan on TV once and from there, the rest is history. I mean, there’s going to be a lot of calls, college coach visits at Aspire, and letters in the mail, but you’ll always have your heart set on Michigan and it’ll work out.
Although this is the case for you, you’ll soon learn this isn’t the case for everyone.
Scholarships can get pulled, athletes can transfer, or injuries can persist. Keep this in mind as you come across other athletes and coaches.
It will make you a lot more grateful for the situation you’re in and make those harder days not feel quite as hard. It’s such a blessing to be able to compete for your dream school as often as you will, so try not to get too used to it to the point where you forget where it all started.
#2. It’s easy to admire collegiate gymnastics when you’re not there, but don’t rush JOs. You’ll miss them, even when college gymnastics is incredible.
You’ll miss Coach Nick tons. He is the coach you have now and will have until you leave for college (from 7-17 years of age).
He’s going to set goals for you that you’ll initially think are unrealistic or impossible, but just wait a few years. He calls you “Peanut” and sees your potential before you see it in yourself. He’ll also make you never want to listen to country music ever again, but that’s okay, you get over that pretty quickly. I hear that he lets the girls train to music that isn’t country nowadays – must be nice.
You’ll also miss Carly, Brandon, Eliza, and so many more coaches you crossed paths with. The little ones too. You’ll miss the little girls who will try not to stare too obviously while you practice, even though you’ll know they asked to get to practice early to watch.
There are a lot of seemingly small things that happen in club that you won’t get back once you’re in college.
You’ll miss your baby brother coming to awards and holding the team banner or trophy, or just sitting right on the floor with the team.
Don’t get me wrong, college gymnastics is the best. The team atmosphere and pure excitement to compete will make you so happy, but there will always be some sense of nostalgia that will never go away.
You’re going to miss Region 5, JO Nationals, and even regionals.
Yes, regionals. The meet that gives you a terrible attitude for the entire week leading up to the competition. If you can, I’d warn mom and dad about this now if you get the chance. The minute that meet is over and you’re in the back getting your new Region 5 suitcase, you’ll be back to your normal sweet self again.
Soak in all of these moments because they will contribute so much to who you become. Also, you’re going to miss Aspire even more when you move to Tennessee – you’ll see.
College summers are quick as it is, but there will become a point where you don’t get to train in Illinois like you always loved doing. Hug those teammates and coaches as tight as you can.
#3. You’re more than a gymnast. Gymnastics-related awards and accomplishments are amazing, but at the end of the day, you want to be a good person who helps others. Relationships matter.
Earlier in this letter, I listed off some of the awards and accomplishments you’ll get by the time you’re 21. They are super cool and impressive, but it’s important to learn as early as possible that they aren’t everything.
Yes, awards, praise, and winning can be motivating. They can help you keep pushing during practice when all you want to do is be done. But those awards won’t single-handedly make you a better person.
They won’t make you a better leader.
They won’t help you make better friendships.
They won’t make you happy forever.
As dad always says, everything is temporary and this is even more true as an athlete. You could have the meet of your life on a Friday and then proceed to have one that makes you question how you even got recruited the following weekend.
Things happen. The good and the bad.
As an athlete, we spend our early lives self-identifying with our sport or team. It’s simply second nature.
Heads-up….one day, you will be done with competitive gymnastics. You will have to move on and get a big girl job, potentially leave Ann Arbor, and continue to grow as a person. You will no longer have the structure of gymnastics to keep you structured and sane anymore or the team group chat that was always one push away.
But you will have people.
You will have the support and love of the people you worked to get to know, help, and learn from over your entire career. These people don’t go away because they understand you beneath the surface of being “a gymnast”. They saw your hard work in and outside of the gym, or how you went the extra mile to help someone else out when you didn’t have to.
So I encourage you to think about what you want to be known for when it comes to an end. Yes, you can be known for your gymnastics and your impressive dismount off bars, but you’ll find more value when you’re known for your character.
To be clear, this is by no means encouraging you to disassociate or distance yourself from your sport, but rather learn to have a healthy relationship with it.
Find hobbies outside of athletics and things you like to do because you’ll have something to lean on down the road. I mean, who knows, you could still end up in the gymnastics world in some capacity in the future, but you just don’t know.
And as I said early, since you’re always planning ahead, that’s just something I would do based on what I’ve learned in the 21 years I’ve been alive.
Just know I’m proud of you!
Keep kicking butt in the gym and continue to push yourself and your teammates. You’re one of the youngest level 10s in the gym right now, which can be intimidating and hard, but it’ll definitely be worth it. You’ll grow into a better leader because of your experiences and also meet your best friends along the way. You’ll also start leading some insanely hard cardio for conditioning that you’ll surprisingly miss.
Keep smiling because before you know it, you’ll be screaming “Yes!” after every stuck landing you compete. You’ll see.
Also – Download the app Todoist and call mom whenever you’re stressed. Thank me later.
Love you,
Sierra
