By Michelle Brutlag Hosick

The Division I Council on Wednesday extended the recruiting dead period for all Division I sports through April 15.

As gymnasts get older, they stop running into the gym with just a leotard on and start needing a gym bag to carry everything they will use for that practice. For a sport that seems like you shouldn’t need a lot, gymnasts end up keeping a lot in their gym bag, and don’t want to forget any of it! 

Not many gymnastics fans could have predicted which NCAA teams would finish in this year’s top four. With Oklahoma, LSU, UCLA, and Denver finishing the 2019 season on top, some might be wondering what next season will look like for these teams. 

The 2019 Tampa Bay Turners Invitational will commence in St. Petersburg, Florida, Jan. 18-21. Level 2-10, Elite and Xcel gymnasts will gather to show off their skills and compete in a Nastia Liukin Cup Series Official Invitational. Hosted by Tampa Bay Turners, this exciting meet will draw competitors for more than just the Florida sunshine. Here are five gymnasts to keep an eye out for.

Hosted by Brown’s Gymnastics in Las Vegas, the Lady Luck Invitational is a highly competitive meet set in a lively environment, and it always brings tons of gyms from around the country. Hosted this year from Jan. 16 - 21, 2019, fans can watch levels 9 and 10/Open (Elite) live on FloGymnastics. 

We’ve all heard the horror stories: the pop! from a too-short vault, the head-first crash from a beam dismount, the terrifying falls from a release skill on bars. But the majority of gymnastics injuries — 65–70 percent of them, in fact — aren’t dramatic; they happen from years and years of over-use.