Junior Creslyn Brose is an All-American gymnast who dreams of eventually being an actress. (UK Athletics Photo)
Creslyn Brose is coming off a sophomore season that saw her score a perfect 10 on floor exercise during Kentucky’s Senior Night, was the NCAA Pennsylvania Regional floor champion and finished 15th at the national championships to earn All-American honors.
Now she’s hoping for an even better junior season as she also inherits a bigger leadership role for coach Tim Garrison.
“I set goals for myself. I think we all do because it is important so you can keep reaching for something. I feel like if I don’t set a goal, I am just going to stay static. I set different goals for different events each year depending on what I am striving for. I didn’t quite achieve last year all I wanted,” Brose, a North Carolina native, said.
Brose doesn’t publicly share her goals but says they are “nothing crazy.” Instead, it might be to focus more on her form and focus more on her cues during matches.
“On floor, my goal is to always have fun out there. I try not to put too much pressure on myself because I know what I can do. I’ve proved it to myself in the gym and out of the gym, so I just want to have fun on floor,” Brose said. “I try to keep realistic goals. I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I get a little frustrated if there is something I can’t achieve. I try to make slightly smaller goals and if that is something that I achieve, then that’s awesome. My goal is more set on maybe keeping a more positive mindset throughout my routine. If I achieved that and didn’t get the score I wanted, I’m proud of myself for achieving my goal.”
Former teammate Hailey Davis calls Brose a “showstopper” on floor.
“From the minute that I met her, I knew that she just had a special personality about her that needed to be seen. This girl belongs on Broadway because she has just a stage presence that you don’t come by very often,” Dailey said.
That “stage presence” will be needed in Brose’s professional aspirations because her dream is to be an actress. She’s minoring in theater at Kentucky.
“I love my acting classes. They’re awesome, definitely a little different and definitely a little weird sometimes, but I love it. My dream is to be an actress, and I would love to do it right out of college,” Brose said.
She was homeschooled until seventh grade and then the schools she attended did not have theater.
“I have never done any acting, so I really don’t know what really built this dream for me but I have had it since I was 6 years old. I came to college and saw acting classes were available. so I thought why not try it to see if I really want to do this,” the Kentucky junior said. “I have loved it so much and now know acting is something I definitely want to pursue.”
Brose won’t deny that she enjoys maybe “showing off” a bit during her floor exercise when her full personality is on display.
“I love floor because you do get to show your personality but also play a character, which I love. That’s kind of where I think it started that I wanted to do acting because it corresponds to you performing in front of people on floor and I love that,” Brose said. “There are people I know here and there in the acting world, which is really cool, and I will probably reach out to them right before I graduate to get an idea for what I might be able to do.
“I definitely want to network in that area of my life and it is something I would love to do right now but I just can’t because of our competition season and practice schedules. I don’t want to take away from what I am doing gymnastics-wise because I think we have a team that can have a great season and I definitely want to do my part.”
