High School Senior Series

Cece Aboaf is a Level 9 gymnast at Chelsea Piers. She is a High School Senior at the Dalton School in New York City and will be attending Johns Hopkins University next fall! She’s been doing gymnastics since she was two years old, began competing at five, and started training at Chelsea Piers in 2014 when she was 10 years old. Cece’s favorite events are bars and beam. She loves working on leap series on beam and paks on bars. Cece’s always been a passionate gymnast, but also loves school. Her favorite subjects are chemistry, biology, and history. She’s really looking forward to studying public health in college and hopefully becoming a doctor. In her free time, Cece tutors underprivileged sixth and ninth graders at Street Squash, an organization that combines sports and academics for disadvantaged students to reach their full potential. Cece also planned a conference dedicated to breaking barriers for girls in technology. She also loves spending time with her teammates and hanging out with her older brother and sister.

GKC:  Can you tell us what it’s been like so far this year as a senior during the pandemic? 

CA: Being a senior during the pandemic has definitely brought a mix of perspectives, experiences, and emotions. First and foremost, I feel incredibly fortunate that my family and I have stayed healthy and safe. Additionally, I’ve heard about many students losing motivation during this period of remote schooling and struggling with their mental health. I’m really grateful that I’ve remained engaged in school and have been able to get through college essays, testing, and applications. Conversely, it’s been pretty disappointing to miss out on some senior traditions and final experiences before we graduate high school, including homecoming, dress-ups, and the bonding of my senior class. I’ve tried my best to be in good spirits throughout this time, but I’ve also recognized that it’s okay to be disappointed and frustrated.  

GKC: The music for your last floor routine was from The Hunger Games, correct? It was one of my favorite routines to watch, brilliantly choreographed by Chelsea Piers coach/choreographer Desiree Sanchez. Can you tell us a bit about the making of that routine and how it seemed to be so perfectly catered for you?

CA: The music for my last floor routine is from the sequel of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. Desiree choreographed that routine for me about three years ago, and I’ve absolutely loved it from the first day we began working on it. What I loved about the music was that it was both slow and graceful, but also crescendos to become strong and intense. I loved the music so much, which made me really excited to work on my routine to be perfect. Secondly, I’ve been working with Desiree since I was ten years old, so we’ve always had a close relationship. She knows me really well and exactly what movements look good on my body. I’ve also always loved dancing because I grew up doing ballet and Desiree always dedicated an hour or two a week to dance. When it came to creating this floor routine, the choreography process was more of a dialogue: she would give me certain movements and poses, but if they didn’t feel right, we always tweaked them or changed parts of the routine. I’ve always felt connected to this routine, and that connection made me always bring my best to each time I performed it. 

GKC: How do you manage the balance between school work and your training schedule? Is it a routine that you have become accustomed to throughout your high school years?

CA: Balancing school work and my rigorous training regimen has always been challenging, but I’ve spent years figuring out exactly what works for me. I have such a busy schedule, so I spend virtually no time procrastinating and it always makes me more productive. When I commute to and from school and gymnastics, I always do work on the train, often reading and annotating. To study for tests or quizzes, I usually print out my study guide to review on the train or walk to practice. In fact, during my midterm exams in 10th grade, I remember studying at the back of the vault runway in between my turns. I also begin studying for tests and starting lab reports or projects about a week or two in advance, depending on the size of the assignment. 

I take advantage of all of my free time, whether that be commuting around the city, free periods during school, or some additional time before gymnastics practice. However, sometimes that’s not enough, and I’ve been left with tons of work after practice ending at 9pm. So, sometimes I also have to stay awake until a little later in the night. I love gymnastics and excelling academically has always been important to me, and the price of that is a busy, intense, and, at times, an exhausting schedule.

GKC: Anyone who has been through the senior year college admissions process knows how stressful it can be. What has it been like for you so far and what are you looking for in your college experience? Will you continue gymnastics?

CA: It’s definitely been pretty stressful for me just because of how much work has to get done and how many big decisions have to be made in such a short period of time. Additionally, I didn’t get to visit many of the schools that I’m applying to, so it’s been hard to really get excited about some schools. Being a gymnast though has definitely made the process better because I’ve been able to write so many essays about gymnastics, being passionate about a non-academic activity, sacrifice, and how to respond in the face of adversity. I have quite a few school friends who have really had trouble coming up with good ideas for essays, but, for me, thanks to gymnastics, the writing process has actually been quite enjoyable. 

For my college experience, I am looking to be at a small to midsize school in a city (not New York), that’s got tons of academic and research offerings. While I would love to do gymnastics in college, some of my favorite schools actually don’t have gymnastics. The idea of getting into something new after about 15 years in this sport is really exciting. I’m thinking of trying out dance, track & field, or something I don’t even know about yet!

GKC: What has been your biggest challenge so far in your gymnastics career and how do you cope with it?

CA: The biggest challenge in gymnastics was transitioning from 10th to 11th grade for a number of reasons. That summer, about five of my closest friends quit gymnastics, I was in a new training group that I didn’t know too well, I began spending tons of time preparing for my standardized tests, I had a chronic ankle fracture, and junior year was really challenging. A huge component of adjusting to eleventh grade was becoming close friends with teammates I didn’t really know well before. The friends I made at the beginning of last year are some of my closest friends now, and I could never imagine continuing gymnastics without them. Academically, I realized that gymnastics provided an outlet for my stress and this sport allowed me to be the most productive as possible. And, similar to the school-gymnastics balance, my ankle injury was also a balancing act between pushing myself, knowing when I was in too much pain, and working on making it stronger. As I stated earlier, I love gymnastics, and responding to this challenge was all about realizing that despite the many changes, I wanted to remain dedicated to this sport.

GKC: Do you have a career path you’d like to pursue or areas of interest? 

CA: Yes, I’m really interested in science and history, and in the past year, I’ve become really interested in healthcare systems and advancing access and equity to healthcare. I want to study public health in college, do research on disparities in public health, and hopefully become a doctor. 

GKC: Did you experience a growth spurt? If so, at what age and how did it affect your gymnastics?

CA: Yes, when I was about 13 or 14 years old,  I definitely had a growth spurt. I grew really quickly, and, more than any other event, it made bars really challenging. I remember being a level eight gymnast and completely losing my kip cast handstand for a couple months because it just felt so different. I also remember just having much less energy than I had when I was 12 or younger, and my body just hurt so much more. I was so surprised that some days I would come into practice, and I would just feel so tired or my body would hurt so much that I wouldn’t be able to do my assignments on all the events. Looking back on it, I think the frustration with my body was probably the most challenging part of the growth spurt. 

GKC: How do you spend what little free time you have? Any hobbies or other things you are passionate about?

CA: I spend a lot of my free time with my family, actually. My parents like sitting down for dinner with me when I have a night off from gymnastics because we’re all usually really busy. Before the pandemic, my grandparents or cousins would come visit if I wasn’t too busy over a weekend. And, I always love talking to my siblings on facetime or hanging out with them when they’re home from college. Also, my family is actually really into politics, so I spend time reading The New Yorker or the New York Times everyday, and sometimes my family and I might campaign or make phone calls to make sure everyone gets out to vote.