After the 2025 season, gymnastics will no longer be offered as a Kansas State High School Activity Association-sanctioned sport. This decision followed the Sunflower League’s decision to cut the sport. With 12 out of 14 schools that offer gymnastics being Sunflower League Schools, KSHAA decided to discontinue it as well.
Due to the lack of participating schools, KSHAA Assistant Executive Director Sarah Smith, who oversees gymnastics, said the sport would be “sunset” or no longer be sanctioned following the Sunflower League’s decision.
“The threshold to conduct a KSHSAA Championship is 24 schools, so girls’ gymnastics has been under that threshold for quite a while.”
After finding out that gymnastics would no longer be a sanctioned sport, freshman Harper Huston said that she was very upset because of the role that gymnastics has played throughout her life.
“I will be very sad to see it go because I am no longer doing gymnastics for a club, and with gymnastics being removed from high schools, I will no longer have that as an option to be able to continue doing the sport that has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Huston said.
Huston said that another effect of this decision will be potentially losing the bonds she’s formed with her teammates, which were especially strong because of the small team size.
“The girls on the team will be losing the way they chose to get involved with the school. With the team being as small as it is, the connections we’ve made with each other have become very strong,” Huston said. “The team as a whole is a lot more closely knit than if the team were larger, so when the thing that brought us together goes away, some of those connections may be lost.”
Although there is currently no plan to continue with the sport in a club-style approach similar to flag football, Huston said she would still participate if offered in that way.
“I would absolutely still participate in gymnastics even if it weren’t a sanctioned sport,” Huston said. “I absolutely love gymnastics, and any opportunity to be able to continue doing it, I would gladly take without hesitation.”
