Illinois has approximately 650 student-athletes, and senior Emmalise Nock is one of the many Illini showcasing her talents on the big stage. Despite never thinking she would transfer, she entered the transfer portal to find a new home for her final year of collegiate gymnastics. Nock dove into the best parts of her new home as a part of Illinois women’s gymnastics (8-12, 3-6).
“(The best part) … all of the love and support we get from the community and all of the other teams,” Nock said. “Being an Illini is just such an amazing experience because you’ve made it possible to make all these connections with people … It’s just a lot of fun, and you get to make so many friends and have these awesome connections for stuff you want to do outside of your sport or even outside of school. It’s nice to have all of this love and support from all these outsiders plus the athletes inside of Illinois.”
New community, new home
Even as the new kid on the block, Nock was not a rookie to collegiate athletics. She spent three years as a Northern Illinois Husky (5-11, 2-3). This gave her plenty of knowledge and experience that her new team recognizes.
“They really value what I have to say, especially since I’ve completed three years of college already,” Nock said. “A lot of the girls, if they have questions, they still even come up to me and ask them. Even though I’m kind of new here, they still value what I have to say, and it’s nice to be a part of a gymnastics community that’s like that.”
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Nock said her previous institution lacked a welcoming, team-oriented community. Part of her reason to transfer was to find a school that would bring her love of the sport back.
“Illinois really stuck out to me because it really valued having you grow as a person and then having that lead into building as a team,” Nock said. “You go through the sport just as a team and not as an individual. So once I started visiting Illinois and seeing what they were all about, I just felt like this is where I wanted to be for my last year of gymnastics, and I could tell that they were super dedicated to helping me grow that world for gymnastics again and finding the place that I could call home.”
Defining identity
One of the yearly traditions for the women’s gymnastics program is to host an “I AM” meet. The meet embodies each athlete’s meaning about who they are.
Everyone will have their own interpretation of “I am,” and it means different things to different people. Nock shared what “I am” means to her.
“‘I AM’ kind of relates to my identity and who I am as a person,” Nock said. “I dissect it as something that’s really important to me … I am fearless because going through life with fear makes it so you can’t accomplish the things you want to accomplish in life. But if you look at fear and you conquer it head on, then you’ll be able to pursue your goals and live a longer and happier life.”
On Sunday, Illinois will compete against Northern Illinois for its annual “I AM” meet at Huff Hall at 1 p.m. Even on a new team, Nock said there is no bad blood between her and the Huskies.
“I’m excited because I get to see my old teammates and especially the class I was super close to for the past three years of my college career,” Nock said. “It’s really personal to me because we get to compete together one last time, and it’s a very memorable moment that I’m looking forward (to).”
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