“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” –Gail Devers 

     

Jessica Savona is a gymnast for Louisiana State University who was previously an alternate for the Canadian Olympic Team. Savona and her sister were enrolled in gymnastics, along with soccer and swimming, at the age of 5 because they were always running around and jumping off of things. 

As the two energetic children got older, they began to get more serious about their sports: Savona with gymnastics and her sister with soccer. Savona’s coaches knew how much potential she had, and although she knew she always wanted to go to the Olympics, she only thought of the actual possibility one year before the Games.

“At Mississauga Gymnastics, there was a staircase from the upstairs entrance of the facility leading towards the gym doors,” Savona said. “On the walls of the stairwell were pictures of all of the athletes at Gymnastics Mississauga that had gone to a world competition or an Olympic games. Every single day I’d walk down those stairs and hoped and wished and dreamed of having my picture up on that old and rugged wall.” 

While training for the Games, Savona only focused on her Olympic dream. Although she knew she wanted to go, college gymnastics was not on her mind until after the Games. Everything aside from her training for the Olympics came second. She spent 30-36 hours per week training and trying to perfect her gymnastics.

All of the training meant very little schooling for her. She attended St. Martin Secondary School and Abbey Park High School, where her teachers were very understanding of her dream and the time it required to make it come true. 

After becoming an alternate for the Canadian Olympic Team, Savona began her college search. As a senior in high school, she was starting the recruiting process very late. She had also torn and had surgery on her ACL at the beginning of the year, so many universities didn’t know if she’d be able to make a come back.

While rehabbing, Savona contacted LSU head coach D-D Breaux, who immediately had faith in Savona recovering. Savona visited the school and loved it. She had other universities interested in her and her sister was at Northwestern University for soccer so she wanted to be close and be able to visit her. 

Savona said, “Plus, I loved the warm weather and the decent sized campus, the amazing girls on the team and the dedicated coaches who I would be able to have a strong athlete-coach relationship with - very important aspects for me - so LSU was/is my perfect and ideal school.” 

Savona is now at LSU trying to adjust to her new life. For NCAA Division I gymnastics, training cannot go past 20 hours. She has had to scale down her routines, as well as get used to having more schooling.  Not only that, but she is trying to get used to having so much free time. 

When asked about the differences between life in Canada and LSU, Savona said, “Just the whole 'being a college student' experience is different overall. Firstly, the weather is quite different, though both Canada and Louisiana have trouble being consistent and making up their mind on if they want rain or sun or humidity every single day. Another thing would be the amount of pride and love and respect everyone has for LSU and their athletics. I could not believe the amount of people tailgating at my first LSU football game. Words cannot describe how amazed I was. It was like hockey for Canadians, but even more love and passion was put into a college football game than a national hockey game.“ 

Anyone that has seen Jessica Savona perform on beam and floor knows that there is a Michael Jackson attribute either in the dancing or the music. Surprisingly, Savona is not an M.J. fan. When she was younger, her choreographer got a sample of his music and she learned how to moonwalk to it for fun.

“I learned in my basement in front of my mirrors at home; it was extremely embarrassing because I wasn’t very good at it for a very long time,” Savona said. It took me a year and a half to get the hang of it.” Michael Jackson and his moves have stuck with her ever since. 

Although Savona has had a rewarding career, there have been difficult times for her. Savona’s grandparents took care of her and her sister when they were children, and she recalls spending more time with them than with her own parents. Earlier this season, her grandfather passed away. 

“It was extremely hard to take,” Savona said. “I flew home to Canada, stayed with my family for four days, came back to LSU and had to try to deal with everything and get into my rhythm. I had a very hard time training for the meet and I was not emotionally ready.” 

The day of the competition, she gave her all for the team, because she said that is what her grandfather would want. She warmed up floor for fun and after, head coach D-D Breaux pulled her over and asked her if she could compete.

“Though I had some doubts, I knew I could do it for myself, my team and my grandfather,” Savona said. “So I competed and just seeing the joy and happiness in my teammates made me feel something that I’ve never felt before. Man, I love this team.” 

Though there were difficult times, Savona also has some memorable moments. They include hearing the crowd’s reaction the first time she moonwalked on beam, as well as receiving a 9.95 at the SEC Championship. She had been struggling the week before with a foot injury and doubted herself. 

 “I was lucky enough to have many of my teammates individually tell me that they believed in me and that I shouldn’t give up. That was all I needed and with that I did my job for the team,” Savona said. 

In the future, Savona plans to learn how to be happy in everything she does, inside and out of the gym, like some of her teammates. She also has hopes of trying to go to the Olympics again. She wants to make the team this time, but will pursue it only if she is happy and her body permits.

When asked what she thinks the future holds for LSU Gymnastics, she said, “Only time will tell, but I’m pretty sure after this year, LSU gymnastics will be doing some pretty great things as long as we keep fighting like Tigers.”

Watch Jessica score a 9.90 on floor at home against Arkansas:

Watch more videos of Jessica Savona