Junior Level 10 gymnast finds second home at her gym
Through her passion for gymnastics, junior Amaiya Manirad has found her second family
February 9, 2022
Many people have something they are good at or a sport they have a passion for. Junior Amaiya Manirad’s is gymnastics, and she’s dedicated her life to it since a young age.
Amaiya first started the sport of gymnastics at age 6 while being initially introduced to it at a birthday party and joining Pinnacles Gymnastics’ rec classes. Now, she is on the competitive gymnastics team in Level 10, which is the highest level in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program. After Level 10, the next step is choosing a college or getting recruited by a college coach.
Amaiya has grown up in the gym while being beside her friends and teammates, as she considers them her second family.
“My favorite thing [about gymnastics] is just being able to do it with my teammates, like they’re family,” Amaiya said. “And just being able to have that bond with them, it’s really different from any other sport.”
Training as Level 10 is not only more competitive but also extremely time demanding for Amaiya, along with taking honors courses in school.
“When I first started practicing a lot it was really hard, but I just try my best to get everything done during school and seminar and study halls and stuff,” Amaiya said.
Recently, Amaiya had a phone call interview with the coach of the Yale gymnastics team, Andrew Leis. The interview was enjoyable, and Amaiya says it was a “good way to learn more about the school.”
Amaiya hopes to consider Yale as an option for now, but either way doing gymnastics in college is something she definitely wants to pursue.
Amaiya’s mother, Vanna Manirad, is one of her biggest supporters and has been with her since the start of her gymnastics journey.
“My favorite part of [it] is seeing her improve because I can look back at when she first started and see mentally how much she’s grown,” Vanna said.
Competitive gymnastics takes a lot more than just practicing, as Amaiya and her family are often driving and traveling to different states for competition meets.
“You just kind of have to look at the schedule for gymnastics and then plan your life and everything according to that,” Vanna said.
A key factor for Amaiya’s parents when beginning competitive gymnastics was to have a good relationship with Amaiya’s coaches.
“We wouldn’t have gotten this far if we didn’t have a good relationship with the coaches,” Vanna said.
One of Amaiya’s coaches, Morgan Kuchynka, was the person who discovered Amaiya at an early age and brought her into the team program at Pinnacle.
“I like to think that she feels like she has the same amount of support in the gym as she does in her own home,” Kuchynka said.
Kuchynka views Amaiya as a great gymnast, but also a great person who is always a teammate to others.
“I love Amaiya’s smile and her confidence when she’s performing something that she has been working really hard on,” Kuchynka said. “She’s also just a great teammate and cheers on others.”
According to Kuchynka, “[Amaiya] has the passion and the skill and the work ethic that have brought her to this level.”
