Allen, Texas gymnast committed to Oklahoma Sep. 26, giving the Sooners two pledges in the 2025 recruiting class
Kamila Pawlak performs a floor exercise during the 2023 USA Gymnastics Women’s National Development Program National Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Photo by John Cheng)
Douglas Miles, For The Crimson Captain
ALLEN, Texas – For Kamila Pawlak, 2022 was the year everything came together.
Sure, the No. 1-ranked gymnast in the Class of 2025 by College Gym News had experienced success by that point, evidenced by her 2021 Texas State Gymnastics Championship.
But as the constant search for perfection produced unwanted stressors, a change in mindset combined with an uptick in maturity transformed the occasional triumph into a year of dominance.
The end result? A scholarship offer from the reigning dynasty in women’s gymnastics, the six-time national champion Oklahoma Sooners.
“I fell back on the training that I was doing,” said Pawlak, who competes for Metroplex Gymnastics (Allen, Texas) and committed to Oklahoma Sep. 26. “Just staying calm. … I just let go of the worries and just tried to do what I know how to do. Not overthink about it too much.”
Pawlak’s 2022 breakthrough began in February of that year at the prestigious Nastia Liukin Cup, where only 12 Level-10 female gymnasts — the highest level in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program — at both the junior level (up through age 15) and senior level (ages 16-18) can qualify.
Not only did Pawlak qualify, she won the all-around juniors title by placing in the top four in three different events (uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise), plus a win in the vault.
“I just went into the meet having no expectations,” Pawlak said. “I just wanted to do better than I did the last year. I was calm the whole time and the results just happened.”
Kamila Pawlak, center, celebrates her juniors championship with her Metroplex Gymnastics coaches, from left, Brian Gemberling, Anna Pawlak, Kambri Hoffman and Nikki McElroy, after the 2022 Nastia Liukin Cup at Frisco, Texas on Feb. 25, 2022. (Photo submitted)
Pawlak’s four coaches at Metroplex — Brian Gemberling (bars), Kambri Hoffman (floor), Nikki McElroy (beam) and Anna Pawlak (bars, vault), her mother — seemed to absorb the anxious energy that Kamila had brushed aside as they watched in amazement as their pupil had the performance of her life.
“Nastia Cup was when I saw a shift in Kamila,” Hoffman said. “She seemed just focused. She seemed calm. We had never seen her focused the way she was at that competition. It was just warm up, get up. There were no nerves.”
Kamila Pawlak vaults her way to the juniors championship at the 2022 Nastia Liukin Cup at Frisco, Texas on Feb. 25, 2022. (Photo by John Cheng)
No matter the skill level of the gymnast or the intricacies of their routine, nerves must be mastered in the biggest moments. As Pawlak closed in on the Nastia juniors championship, Hoffman made a satisfying revelation.
“We were watching her and it was, ‘Oh, she is going to do this,’” Hoffman said. “’She is going to make this happen.’ That was when I was, ‘I think she figured out how to compete.’”
“A VERY COOL MOMENT TO SEE HOW FAR I HAD COME”
And compete she did. The following month, she won the second of her three-straight Texas state titles. Then it was the first of two regional crowns, which spanned the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.
From there, it was on to the Women’s Development Program National Championships, where Pawlak placed second in her division and overcame her biggest obstacle by winning the one event that had been her most difficult … the beam.
“It was definitely a very cool moment to see how far I had come,” said Pawlak, a two-time member of the Development Program National Team. “It did help my confidence through the rest of the meet.”
“She took herself from an area where it wasn’t her favorite event and she struggled with it and worked so hard,” McElroy added. “That she got to have the biggest victory.”
A natural tumbler, Pawlak discovered from an early age that both the floor exercise and even the vault felt very natural to her, while bars and beam took much longer to master.
Kamila Pawlak competes in the floor exercise at the 2023 USA Gymnastics Women’s National Development Program National Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Photo by John Cheng)
While improvement on bars was more the result of diligent practices and the accumulation of enhanced skills, the beam required something deeper. Similar to the level of focus necessary to cast aside nerves, conquering the beam required a fresh, new mindset
“Back then, I would just think, ‘don’t fall,’” Pawlak said. “Instead of going through my words and being confident in myself. It is something that helped a lot.”
For Pawlak, “going through my words” is a form of mental choreography where key words are assigned for each skill and each part of the routine. Instead of allowing her mind to be distracted by the intensity of the moment or the spectators in attendance, Pawlak would diligently stay on task by repeating phrases such as “tight legs,” “push through” or “square hips” as she worked through the beam routine.
The tactical strategy proved to be the final ingredient to a fantastic recipe for Pawlak’s all-around event successes.
”The great thing about her is she holds herself to a high standard everywhere,” McElroy said. “So she continually strives for excellence. She has gotten herself to a point where all four events are really strong.”
“SHE TREATS ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE”
You could definitely say that Kamila Pawlak and her older sister, Natalia, were born into the sport of gymnastics.
Their mother, Anna Pawlak, was a decorated gymnast in her own right as a representative of the Polish National Team, where she competed throughout Europe as a youth.
Anna emigrated to the United States from Poland after accepting a full-ride scholarship offer to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. It was there that she met her future husband, Bart Pawlak, a fellow native of Krakow, Poland.
”The plan was to compete in college and go back to Poland,” Anna said with a laugh. “But I met my husband and never went back.”
Kamila Pawlak, left, and her mother, Anna Pawlak celebrate her juniors championship at the 2022 Nastia Liukin Cup at Frisco, Texas on Feb. 25, 2022. (Photo submitted)
Anna began coaching gymnastics in 1999 and she and Bart soon started a family in Mesa, Ariz., where Natalia and Kamila were born three years apart. When Natalia was five years old and Kamila was two, the family relocated to San Antonio, Texas.
It was in San Antonio where Kamila’s interest in gymnastics began through Anna’s role as a coach with Aerial Athletics.
“She was always at the gym, so I would always be at the gym,” Kamila said. “I just fell in love with the sport.”
After nine years in San Antonio, the family resettled in Melissa, Texas, and Anna and the girls found Metroplex in nearby Allen.
At Metroplex, Anna coaches vaults for all Level-9 and Level-10 gymnasts, runs the conditioning program and also assists with coaching athletes on bars.
“She is amazing,” McElroy said. “She really brings a lot to the whole program. … She is one of the most organized, prepared coaches that I have ever met.”
“One might think that having a mother as your coach could create a more difficult or even more lenient dynamic. Not in this case. To all of the Metroplex students, even Kamila, she’s just “Coach Anna.”
“She treats me like everyone else,” Kamila said.
SHE’S NO. 1!
It was easy for Kamila to envision a future in collegiate gymnastics.
Metroplex often welcomes college scouts and coaches to its facility to observe practices as many of its former students have gone on to compete in college. Sometimes a scout would come to observe everyone, while other times it was to specifically see Kamila.
“I’d get really nervous, but I felt like it made my training day go well,” Kamila said. “I could show off.”
Among the observers would be coaches and scouts from the University of Oklahoma, who were able to visit with the Metroplex staff and discuss Kamila’s attributes.
“They like her style and her consistency and her performance,” McElroy said. “Something that stands out for Kamila is her form. She is very crisp and clean. And her attention to detail (stood out to them).”
Kamila also got a first-hand look at the college recruiting process through the experiences of Natalia, who committed to the University of Pittsburgh during the summer of 2018 following completion of the eighth grade.
A year later, the NCAA updated its rules to push the date that colleges could begin contact with a prospective gymnast to June 15 before their junior year of high school. It was a change that was roundly applauded by the youth coaching fraternity.
“Even at 16, we try to stay in communication with the kids, constantly making sure they are not feeling pressured to commit to a school,” Hoffman said. “We want to make sure that they really want to be there. Because they’re still young. So we try to stay really involved in the situation in supporting them as well as answering any questions they have.”
This past June, it was Kamila’s turn to begin a process she had imagined since age 10. Six days before colleges were allowed to contact her, College Gym News released their rankings for the Class of 2025.
Pawlak was No. 1.
“THEY WERE ALL SCREAMING”
A flurry of official visits were set up to Alabama (Sep. 1-3), Oklahoma (Sep. 8-10), Florida (Sep. 15-17) and Utah (Sep. 22-24). Alabama presented an intriguing option for Kamila to unite with Natalia, who transferred from Pittsburgh in July.
Kamila had long been interested in the Crimson Tide and Alabama was already on her list of attractive schools to visit before she ever had a hint that Natalia planned to transfer. Ultimately, Kamila elected to chart her own course.
“I never expected to compete on a team with her,” Kamila said. “There would be good and bad things about being on the same program. … We would have to compete against each other for the lineup and I wouldn’t want to take her spot. She would be a senior while I would be a freshman. I didn’t want her to feel like she would have to take care of me and watch over me. And I kind of wanted to have my own experience.”
Kamila Pawlak, left, and her older sister, Natalia Pawlak smile at the 2022 Texas Prime Meet gymnastics competition in Coppell, Texas. Natalia is a sophomore at Alabama, while Kamila will join the Oklahoma Sooners in the fall of 2025. (Photo submitted)
Kamila found her “own experience” at Oklahoma, where she participated in standard official visit activities like campus tours and photo sessions. But what set the Sooners apart was a Saturday morning gymnastics banquet before that evening’s football game against SMU. At the banquet, Oklahoma’s 2014 national championship women’s gymnastics team – the first of six title teams under Coach K.J. Kindler – was honored.
Every single gymnast from the 2014 team was present.
“I thought that was very cool and it showed something about that program,” Pawlak said. “That every gymnast came back.”
Pawlak was joined on the visit by fellow recruits Charlotte Booth, Mackenzie Estep and Ella Murphy. At the Sunday conclusion to the visit, the Oklahoma coaching staff met with Kamila, Bart and Anna and offered Kamila a full-ride scholarship. Kamila exited the Oklahoma visit feeling “pretty sure I wanted to go there.”
“As soon as I walked on campus, I felt (like) home and it felt right,” Pawlak said. “And I just love the coaches and how they do everything. Just creating that program and to be part of that legacy, it’s a good fit.”
While Pawlak resisted the urge to commit and followed through with visits to both Florida and Utah, Murphy (Frisco, Texas) became Oklahoma’s first 2025 commitment on Sep. 21.
On Sep. 26 – two days after returning from Utah – Pawlak called the Oklahoma staff and informed them that she was accepting its offer, as well.
“They were all screaming,” Pawlak said with a smile.
Kamila Pawlak poses with the University of Oklahoma’s six women’s gymnastics national championship trophies during her official on-campus visit on Sep. 8, 2023. (Photo submitted)
With her decision made, Pawlak can now focus on the final two seasons with Metroplex. She is excited to watch as the Oklahoma program transitions from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, where she anticipates even more coverage and exposure for the athletes, program and sport.
But above all, she knows there can be no letup in preparation nor mindset if she plans to be ready to contribute in the fall of 2025.
“I just want to keep continuing to grow as a person and gymnast and keep learning new skills,” Pawlak said. “Just keep growing.”
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