In 2015, Simone Biles shared a tweet with a Vine link featuring a nine-year-old girl who had gone viral for doing a standing backflip with a twist. Simone gushed, “Im in awe.{perfect}😱😍👯some1 help me find this cutie. I wanna meet her, so she could teach me a thing or two #goals.“ Today, that very girl is training and competing shoulder to shoulder with none other than Simone Biles herself, and her name? Joscelyn Roberson.

At just six years old, Joscelyn began her journey in gymnastics and has steadily climbed up the ranks. Now, at 18, she has already been a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2023 World Championships and holds an impressive four Pan American Championships under her belt. As we watch her aim for the Paris Olympics podium and head to the Olympic trials, let’s also take a peek into her background and get to know more about her support system—her family.

Joscelyn Roberson’s most supportive family

According to Texarkana Parent Magazine, Joscelyn Roberson’s journey in gymnastics is backed by a deeply supportive family, each playing a unique role in her success. Her parents, Jeffrey, and Ashley Roberson, along with her siblings, Jami and Jackson, are her biggest fans and cheerleaders. Jeffrey Roberson, Joscelyn’s father, was an athlete himself, though in a different sport—baseball.

Despite not having a background in gymnastics, he’s dived headfirst into supporting his daughter. You’ll often find him on YouTube, looking up gymnastics terms and techniques to keep up with his daughter’s enthusiastic updates about her training. Ashley Roberson, Joscelyn’s mother, is deeply involved in managing the balance between Joscelyn’s rigorous training schedule and her education, as well as her mental and physical well-being.

She’s learned to cope with the emotional rollercoaster of Joscelyn’s training, choosing to attend competitions rather than practices to avoid the stress of seeing her daughter take falls. Ashley has also been proactive in tackling issues like body image and social media safety. Despite the demands of Joscelyn’s rigorous training schedule, her siblings—both students at Texas High School—are her biggest fans.

The family makes sure to create shared memories, never doing anything big without everyone there. “We don’t want to create family memories unless we can all be there,” Ashley once shared, showing their closeness. As we reflect on this supportive and nurturing environment for Joscelyn Roberson, her parents have also shared some fascinating insights about what it’s like to raise a world champion.

Roberson’s parents open up about the unique challenges of raising a gymnast daughter

Despite training with names like Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, and others at the World Champions Centre owned by Biles’ parents, Ashley and Jeff Roberson have strived to keep Joscelyn Roberson grounded. They have opened up about the unique challenges of raising a gymnast daughter, emphasizing the importance of family unity, body positivity, and normalcy.

Ashley and Jeff work hard to keep Joscelyn grounded, balancing her gymnastics success with normal kid duties like doing the dishes. Her mother once joked, “She might be an Olympian one day, but today she’s still going to do the trash.” Heading into the Olympic trials, Joscelyn is set to compete against some of the biggest names in American gymnastics, all vying for a spot in the Paris Olympics.

As fans cross their fingers, hoping she earns her well-deserved place on the roster, it’s truly heartwarming to see the incredible efforts and hard work the Roberson family has put in to nurture and support her dreams. What do you think about their inspiring family dynamic? Share your thoughts in the comments below!