May 2, 2025/Midnight
Erie, PA- After 16 years, my athletic career has come to a close. It’s odd to phrase myself as retired, because in comparison to the stereotypical retiring grandparent from the workforce, I still have a whole career and lifetime ahead of me. The concept isn’t necessarily foreign to me; when I made the commitment to Gannon for acrobatics and tumbling, I retired from a 12 yearlong gymnastics career. Ever since I was in kindergarten, I have been an athlete. Upon reflection, the hardest thing about retiring from athletics is the fact that I don’t know who I am without athletics. Before gymnastics I was involved in other activities like soccer and ice skating, as well as being born into an incredibly sporty and active family. All I have ever known up to this new point in my life has been structured and flourished upon my story in sports.
Although my time flipping upside down for a club, for a team, or for a university has concluded, I’ve slowly realized that the passion that put me into gymnastics and acro in the first place is never ending. Passion doesn’t retire. The unfathomable joy and attributes to my character I have discovered through sports will never fade. My final season did not go “expected,” but I am incredibly proud of how I did individually, as well as how the team persevered and continued to put in the work. Not making the national championship directly after the year we lost the national final and broke records is tough to emotionally recover from. However, if anything, I was able to cherish smaller moments on the mat that I’ll never get back. I bonded with my teammates in deeper ways and made memories within the sport in new areas. I embraced the losses and have been able to look towards my next steps in leaving a legacy for the program, and my future steps as an alumnus.
It’s heartbreaking in all honesty to move on and discover who the new Megan Revell is, but it’s exciting, nonetheless. Unlike the typical retirement trope, I will not be playing bingo on Thursdays and moving to Florida for the winter months; I’ll be returning to Gannon for my master’s degree, continuing my role at The Gannon Knight, and joining the coaching staff as the graduate assistant for the acrobatics and tumbling team.
