GRIMES, Iowa — A triple back flip has become normal for Des Moines gymnast Gage Kile. What's not so normal is the fact that he's doing it at just 16 years old.
"The day he did it, I don't believe I said anything," said Spencer Johnson, Kile's coach and the owner of Emerge Academy. "I couldn't believe it."
Kile is the only gymnast under 18 years old to successfully do a triple back flip on the floor. At first, Johnson was hesitant to let him try such a risky move and he made Kile prove that he could land the move consistently and safely.
"I did a few on the trampoline and then I was like, alright I'm going to try it on the real floor or like into the pit," Kile said. "I did a few of those and I did it on a mat into the pit and I over-rotated. I had to wait after nationals to try it, and I did it and I landed it on like the second try. I've been doing it ever since."
It takes a lot of power to pull something like that off. It's what Johnson says makes gage such a unique athlete.
"It's not something that you can really teach," Johnson said. "You can get your gymnasts strong. You can get them flexible, but to be able to handle that is very, very rare, and it certainly wouldn't have been me. But he went through all the stepping stones to do it, and now it's a big deal."
With the triple backflip down, Kile has his sights set on a new challenge.
He'll be competing at the U.S. Championships August 25 to 27, where he plans to debut a new vault with the highest difficulty of any junior gymnast in the country.
Of course, trying something new and difficult comes with some nerves.
"When you first do it, it's really scary," Kile said. "But, you just have to, like, shut your brain off and do it."
As much as Kile loves doing the big tricks, Johnson also makes sure he focuses on the small details that are crucial to his development as a gymnast.
"It's about slowing down and making sure we're saving time for all the little steps that it takes to get to those big tricks," he said.
As they saying goes, with great risk comes great reward and it's helped gage soar to unprecedented heights.