Tyler Cato '24 Recruiting Profile

How has gymnastics helped you?
Gymnastics has helped me grow as a person because it has shown me leadership, and sportsmanship. On my gymnastics team I am a Team Captain which has shows me lots of leadership skills when it comes to helping my teammates and even being a role model for the younger members of my team. It had really grown my appreciation and passion for the sport being able to help my teammates in various ways. Gymnastics has also helped me learn sportsmanship. As a gymnast I have learned that at the end of the day it is all about having fun and enjoying yourself. This sport has shown me that gymnast are collectively cheering each other on and that everyone is a good sport to one another and that has helped me in life to always be positive and show sportsmanship outside of the sport.

Name one person who has inspired you and why.
An athlete that I look up to is USA team member and World medalist Fredrick Richard. I look up to him because as a black male finding someone who has the similar ethnic background to me is inspiring and shows that people like me can be successful in the sport. He is always showing his improvements and struggles through his social media accounts which shows that he is a great athlete because he recognizes mistakes and shows improvement. I also look up to my coaches Coach Chris and Coach Jesse. They both have a true love and appreciation of the sport and are amazing coaches. They help me each and everyday at practice and show me how to excel and get better. They also are very fun and energetic people who are great to be around.

Describe one adversity you have overcome.
One adversity I have overcome is my wrist and ankle injuries. About 2 years ago I injured my ankles attempting a double back off the parallel bars and injured my wrist from over use on pommel horse about a year ago. During the last couple of months I’ve recently started doing physical therapy and it has helped tremendously. My physical therapist has helped me overcome my injuries and since then I have been able to do even more skills since before the injury. This recovery process has helped me grow as an athlete and has made a huge impact on my life as well as my gymnastics.

What is your least favorite apparatus/event, and why?
My least favorite apparatus used to be Horizontal bar. I disliked high bar because of a fall I had 2 years ago at eastern nationals. I let go to late on a dismount and went over the bar and almost landed on my head and that caused a huge mental block for me over the last 2 years. Since then I have started working on overcoming this mental block by starting over with dismounts and taking it step by step. I have since then been able to overcome this fear of dismounts and I have started working release moves on high bar. I have changed my feeling about high bar making it my favorite event because of the adrenaline rush I get from flying over the bar. The feeling of flying over the bar and catching are un-describe able and it makes it feel like your slowing down time.