It isn’t news that young gymnasts train harder, stronger, and more hours than athletes of the same age in most other sports. It comes with the territory, and it comes with the love for the sport. While most little gymnasts have trouble deciding on which leotard they’re going to wear to practice, they somehow never ask questions about five hour practices or working through bloody hands, Sever’s, and Osgood Schlatter’s. When you are a little gymnast, the visualization of wearing your country's colors on an international podium with a gold medal draped around your neck is enough motivation to wipe out the doubt and press on.

I know this because I was a little gymnast. My passion for this sport never wavered as a child, even as my body failed me and I forgot what it was like to wake up without soreness. I started my journey as a five-year-old little girl who wanted to be like her big sister, who was in a tumbling class at the time. Now I am a 25 year old who has transitioned from a gymnast into an artist, using the same God given talent that I’ve had since I put on my tiny, little leotard for the first time.

My name is Abigail Schmidt (formerly Abigail Adams), and I am currently an artist, more specifically a flyer, for Cirque Du Soleil. I am currently traveling South America on tour with a show named Corteo. In August, I will be transferring shows to O, a show that is permanently based at The Bellagio in Las Vegas. As a flyer, I am able to use my seventeen years of gymnastics experience on a daily basis. The basics of spatial and body awareness, physical strength, and gymnastics techniques are natural after so many years as a gymnast, so making the change over to circus arts has been a rejuvenating way to continue to use and explore my talent. I am also able to use my passion for creativity and art as an onstage performer!

When I was five years old, I started my career at Flips Gymnastics in The Woodlands, Texas. After a couple family moves for my dad’s job, I ended up at Cypress Academy of Gymnastics in Cypress, Texas, a gym recommended to my mom by a judge at a level 4 gymnastics meet. I competed levels 6 through international elite for Cypress Academy before receiving an NCAA scholarship to the University of Maryland. As a Terp, I competed in the all-around for four years, except for the occasional times I was taken out of beam for my inconsistencies! After I graduated from Maryland with an English degree, two EAGL all-around champion titles and, ironically, two EAGL beam champion titles, I put away my chalky, spitty grips, married my college sweetheart and former Maryland lacrosse player, and moved to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

My journey began in the same manner as most little girls, but unfortunately, most gymnastics careers don’t make it this far. I never did stand on a podium wearing red, white, and blue as I had once dreamt, but this sport has given me many gifts and has taken me to the ends of the earth, quite literally!

I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences at Cirque Du Soleil as an acrobat and former gymnast. I’m excited to share an inside perspective on how I ended up working for Cirque Du Soleil, what my daily life entails, specifics on training and the transition from gymnast to artist, and other inside scoops! When most gymnasts retire from the sport, it’s difficult to know where to start or how to find a passion for something new like they’ve had for gymnastics. Cirque Du Soleil is just one of the many opportunities that gymnasts have outside of the sport, and I’ll be here at Gymnastike to share mine!


Watch Abigail in Corteo below: 

video via YouTube user saltimbanki2000


Make sure to check back soon for Abigail's next blog!