This NCAA gymnast didn’t get handed her shot at college gymnastics. She wrestled it out of the silence. While most elite gymnasts wait on calls from recruiters, the young gymnast sat in a summer of stillness, scrolling through unanswered emails, juggling two jobs, and holding together a dream that seemed to be slipping away.

But her determination didn’t crack. It hardened. And when that long-awaited message from Kent State finally arrived, it wasn’t just a lifeline. It was a breakthrough earned through sheer grit. But it didn’t come without sacrifices.

So who are we talking about? Well, it’s none other than Anika Most. Now a sophomore at Kent State, Most’s journey to the NCAA level was anything but typical. In a candid chat on the All Things Gymnastics Podcast, she peeled back the layers of what it really took to get here. “I feel like these elite level gymnasts, like it’s, oh, who’s going to call me? Who’s going to call me?” she said. “I had, it was like crickets, honestly, almost that whole summer. I didn’t really hear back anything.” That silence didn’t deter her. 

Most wasn’t just training like an average athlete hoping for a break. She was putting in 23 to 25 hours a week in the gym. All while grinding through two jobs just to afford her gymnastics tuition. The work ethic was grueling, but purposeful. “All that I can control is how hard I work in the gym and how hard I work outside of the gym,” she said. “I just really like put myself into like giving everything I had to get on a team because I knew even if I didn’t like make it on a team, at least I knew that I did everything I couldn’t. I didn’t just quit.” And that very mindset kept her going, even when her emails to college programs went unanswered time and time again. Kent State? She’d reached out plenty. “I’m on Instagram and I look at my DMs. I’m like, oh, like Kent State. Like they have never responded to an email before. I had emailed them like consistently for a long time. They never responded,” she recalled. But that one message. The one she had waited months for, finally appeared. And it changed everything.

Anika Most’s story isn’t just one of talent or skill. It’s about what happens when you refuse to let closed doors define your ceiling. She wasn’t the top recruit with endless offers. She was the girl who refused to quit, even when the sport almost quit on her. And now, she’s not just on the team. She’s a reminder that sometimes, hard work shouts louder than pedigree. And surely enough, Most is elated while narrating her path to finally securing a college team. 

The moment that changed everything for Anika Most

Anika Most wasn’t expecting it. After months of unanswered emails and grinding through 25-hour training weeks while holding down two jobs, her shot came out of nowhere. And it hit her like a lightning bolt. One Instagram DM from Kent State flipped everything. “That was like the first contact I’d ever had with the coaches,” she recalled. “And from the start, he was like, yeah, like your gymnastics is so beautiful.” Suddenly, the silence broke into momentum. Texts turned into a scheduled visit. And then, everything moved fast.

The visit happened on June 26. Just two months before she’d be moving into the dorms. Sitting on the couches with the coaches, the moment she’d been working for finally arrived. “Ultimately he asked me, he’s like, could you see yourself being a part of this team?” she said. “And I was like, yes, I could, I could totally see myself being a part of this team.” When he followed up with the offer- would you like to be a part of this team? Her answer was instant. “Immediately like without hesitation, I was like, yes.” What happened next cemented the moment as unforgettable. 

“My mom is like, hey, she says yes, it’s a yes. And they’re like, that is the fastest yes we’ve ever gotten,” Most laughed. But behind that quick reply was the weight of everything she’d endured. “I was like holding back tears because it was like a million pounds had been lifted off my shoulders,” she said. Most concluded her sentence by saying that this feeling would easily rank among the top 10 best feelings of her lifetime.

For Anika Most, that moment wasn’t just about making a team. It was about finally being seen after years of being overlooked. It was the validation of every hour she spent working, training, and refusing to give up when no one was answering. That instant “yes” wasn’t impulsive. It was the result of a journey built on resilience. And as she stepped into her new chapter at Kent State, the weight she’d carried for so long finally gave way to something she had earned with every ounce of effort: belonging.