Alyssa Goen has competed all-around in gymnastics since she started the sport at 3 years old.
However, there is no doubt what the Seymour senior’s favorite event is: floor exercise.
“My favorite event was floor, and it was also my best event because I made it to state twice,” Goen said. “My best score was 9.65.”
She set that score in a meet at Bloomington.
Goen qualified for the state finals her sophomore and junior years in floor.
“Qualifying for state is a huge accomplishment because it’s not easy,” Goen said. “The sectionals and regionals are very hard and they are getting harder for gymnastics, so I felt a lot of my hard work had gone into that, and I felt I accomplished something.”
She said that last statement goes for all the events.
“In all four events you have to be right on time for every single skill that you do, because if not you could possible mess up,” Goen said. “Practice is very important. We practice much more than other sports teams do because you have to work on four apparatuses and they consist of totally different movements and all that stuff. Official practices start in November, but we practice year-around.”
Goen began her career competing for Seymour Gymnastics Center (Girls Inc.) in club competition.
“I competed club all the way up until I started high school,” Goen said. “That helped a ton because you know that you are going to be judged, you know that 9 is a really good score on any event, and you know how to act at meets because you have to be very serious, you can’t be messing around and that definitely helps.”
Goen was the only senior on the team this season, and she said she enjoyed filling a leadership role.
“I loved competing with my team,” she said. “I’ve competed with most of these girls most of my entire life. Competing in high school is a lot of fun because I got to represent SHS, and we got to do it as a team. I was kind of like the ‘momma bear’ and they would all come up to me and ask what do I need to do here. They would ask what skills they needed in their routine, and I just directed them in the path they needed to take.
“High school gymnastics was kind of like a close, tight-knit community. I loved to see all the gymnasts from the other teams excel in their events and I loved competing with my team, and represent SHS.”
She said she enjoys watching college gymnastics on TV and is looking forward to watching gymnastics competition in the Summer Olympic Games.
In gymnastics, Goen said she feels having a good mental outlook was important.
“It takes a lot of mental toughness to get through all the stuff that you have to do and you have to be very positive throughout the meet,” Goen said. “If you do bad on your first event you don’t want that to ruin the rest of the meet for you so you’ve got to have a positive attitude throughout the whole thing.”
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Parents: Jason and Kristin Goen
Sibling: Aiden
Sports: gymnastics 4 years
Athletic awards: state qualifier two years in a row, and placing in top 10 in floor exercise at state
Organizations: National Honor Society, DARE role model
Plans after high school: attend University of Indianapolis to study sports marketing
Favorite food: Macaroni and cheese
Favorite movie: Grey’s Anatomy
Favorite musician: Ed Sheeran
Favorite athlete: Simone Biles
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Q: What’s it like attending Seymour high school?
A: “I like SHS because they are very supportive of everything that every sports team does. Sports are very recognizable. I’ve taken a few AP (advanced placement) courses and they are definitely tough, but they’ll get me ready for college.
“It’s been a ton of fun. I’ve had a great career and I’m sad to see it’s ending, but I’m excited what the future holds for me. I’ll remember all the memories I made with the team.”
Q: What do you enjoy most about home meets?
A: “Home meets are fun because a bunch of the students and a bunch of my friends would come and watch me, and they would all support us. It was definitely a different type of atmosphere than meets at (Columbus) East or Bloomington. It’s a different environment that you have to get used to.”
Q: Do dual meets prepare you for the postseason well?
A: “The two-team meets are fun because they are really laid back and they go really fast, but when you go to an invite they are more serious and it gets you more prepared for sectionals, regionals and bigger competition.”
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