From Fun to Full-Ride: Getting to Know Illini Freshman Becca Cuppy

From Fun to Full-Ride: Getting to Know Illini Freshman Becca Cuppy

From Fun to Full-Ride: Getting to Know Illini Freshman Becca Cuppy

Feb 13, 2015 by Amanda Wijangco
From Fun to Full-Ride: Getting to Know Illini Freshman Becca Cuppy

For several years, gymnast Becca Cuppy simply loved gymnastics and lived for the moment. Once she got to level 9/10, she realized that she had a strong desire to compete in collegiate gymnastics and receive a full-ride scholarship.

That dream came true, and now Cuppy is a freshman on the University of Illinois women’s gymnastics team with a full-ride scholarship.

When she found out that she was being offered a full-ride, she was ecstatic, as it was something she worked towards for years.



So far this season, Cuppy has only exhibitioned on one event, beam, during the Illini’s win against Minnesota, but enjoyed her first time out on the floor at Huff Hall.

“I felt like it was great experience to prepare me for actual competition,” she said. “I just thought it was a lot of fun.”

Along with beam, Cuppy has also been working on floor, which head coach Kim Landrus says is her signature event. In the 2014 JO National Invitation Tournament, she placed third on floor.

Before Illinois hosted Minnesota on February 7, Cuppy was seen warming up on floor in the pre-meet warmups.

“I usually just warm-up floor with them at the meets just to get another training day in,” Cuppy said. “Eventually, I think they want to exhibition me on floor. So it was just another training day, practice, what it’s like warming up with them.”

While Cuppy is currently learning the ropes of NCAA gymnastics, she’s actually learning it sooner than expected.

Cuppy signed her National Letter of Intent three months ago in November. Since committing to Illinois during her junior year of high school, graduating early to join the Illini for their 2015 season was always the plan.

“I knew that (Cuppy) really wanted to come to Illinois, and we had a situation happen in which we had a spot open for this year, so I asked her if she was interested (in graduating early), and she was,” Landrus said.

“I was like, ‘Yeah! That sounds awesome. Graduate high school earlier? Let’s go!’” Cuppy said. “Junior year, I decided I was going to graduate early, and I had to do a bunch of online classes to make up for that extra semester.”

She did admit that graduating early wasn’t easy though. The extra schoolwork was sometimes hard to manage, especially during gymnastics season, and she knew she’d miss her prom and final JO season. But ultimately, she’s pleased with her decision.

“At first, I was like, ‘Oh. I’m missing half of my senior year of high school,’” Cuppy said. “But now that I’m here, it’s great. I love it here.”

Her love for gymnastics first began around the age of 8. When the Cuppy family moved to Akeny, Iowa from Pleasant Hill, Iowa, her father enrolled her in gymnastics.

“I always liked climbing around on jungle gyms, and he used to do it when he was younger, so I just wanted to be like him,” she said.

Her dad not only started her in the sport, but he helped her achieve her dream of obtaining a full-ride scholarship to compete in collegiate gymnastics. When she began competing level 9/10, her dad recorded all of her routines at every meet she competed at. He then uploaded them to YouTube, and she sent them to college coaches.

She mostly sent her videos to schools in the Midwest, specifically Iowa and Iowa State, as an Iowa native. In addition, she tried to garner the attention of Big Ten coaches, because she “really wanted to be in the Big Ten.”



“I just really like all the schools and the depth and everything,” Cuppy said. “I just thought it was a good conference.”

And she got just what she asked for. After Landrus attended the Region 4 Championships and saw Cuppy’s YouTube videos, she offered Cuppy a full-ride to be a Fighting Illini gymnast.

“Illinois just had so much to offer,” she said. “It has such a beautiful campus and great academics and athletics. Both of those combined is really what I was looking for.”

After years of hard work in the gym and in the classroom, Cuppy is right where she wants to be, and Landrus couldn’t ask for more.

“She’s adjusting to college, and she’s doing everything we ask for,” Landrus said. “She had to overcome an injury this fall (stress fracture in foot), so now we’re just getting back into the swing of things.”

Cuppy’s collegiate career has just begun, but she already has the collegiate team mindset.

“As part of the team, I want to help them in any way I can,• make it to Nationals, be ranked in the top 10, and just be a great teammate.”