Every teenager is different. Starting an after school activity is normal for every child, but it’s rare for them to stick with the same activity. With Oliver, gymnastics has been a part of his everyday life since he was eight years old. Oliver has had a hectic year, focusing on school and balancing gymnastics at the same time.
Oliver has roamed the halls of Sentinel High School since he was a freshman. During his junior year, Oliver and his parents decided to move to Colorado while he began to attend Missoula County’s online schooling program.
Oliver was born in Missoula, Montana, and he has two older siblings that have challenged him his entire life; from his older brother tormenting him and trying to get him to wrestle ever since he was a kid, to the sarcastic remarks from his older sister that are still ongoing. The Collins family is a very active family when they’re not busy with school, work, or appointments. Oliver’s mom, Bethany Collins, often posts on social media about their many adventures of rafting, hiking, skiing, or visiting new places. The kids do goofy poses, looking nothing but comfortable in the pictures.
The house is very chaotic when it comes to family dinners during holidays. The family dinners are usually filled with joking and sarcastic remarks, while the three Collins kids try to rile up their parents. Usually, Fredy, Oliver’s older brother, and Oliver are trying to hurt one another. It doesn’t matter if it’s them snapping towels at one another, rough housing, or pretending that they are professional boxers; they’ll always find a way to mess with one another or with their mom. I’ve witnessed this plenty of times, my sister and I laughing to ourselves after seeing the chaos of our family dinners.
In the Collins’ household, there is never a dull moment; middle fingers are being thrown around, the two boys are always flexing around the house, and the two oldest siblings causing trouble, with the youngest following in their footsteps.
In the 2024 school year, Oliver usually had his airpods in his ears during all of his classes, math especially. He was usually picking at his hands or bouncing his leg while he was seated, listening to Future.
He is a quiet kid at first, but when he starts talking, a sassy or sarcastic remark escapes his mouth that makes everyone laugh. He’s a funny individual who always makes people laugh.
Oliver has made a commitment to something that he’s loved since childhood: gymnastics. He’s driven to be the best in the sport, keeping a goal oriented mindset. Gymnastics is looked at as a ‘girl’ sport, but Oliver is wanting to change that; he also gave me a ‘brief’ history lesson on the difference.
“Even though men and women share two events, it’s an entirely different sport. Women’s gymnastics is more leg focused [while] men are more upper body. Men also have six events and women only have four.”
Oliver is one of the kids that actually enjoys what he’s doing. He enjoys the endless possibilities that gymnastics gives him and the work that comes with it. He keeps his love for working, while always looking for another opportunity to learn something new and to make himself better.
“There’s always another thing to work for.” – Oliver Collins
Oliver has committed a lot of time to his training, believing that the sport will always be a part of him. He mentioned that gymnastics is a commitment and you have to give up a lot of things if you want to be accepted to a college with 25+ hours of training per week.
When he was still living in Missoula, Oliver’s schedule was different everyday when it came to after school hours. However, in Colorado, he officially developed a routine when it comes to his life. He begins his day around six in the morning, getting up and ready to immediately start his drive to the gymnasium, where he stays for the following two hours. After his practice, he begins to pack up and head home; then, he starts making his breakfast and gets ready for online school around 10:30 am. He spends his time doing his school work until two in the afternoon, when he takes a break to find a snack or get lunch.
Oliver heads back to the gymnasium for his second round of practice, when he’s done eating and his school work; he usually stays around or after 5 pm at the gym. Although he used to coach other students last year in Missoula, this year he decided to focus more on his routines, and developing and practicing new skills for competition. He said that he just cannot manage school, practice, and a job. Despite giving it up, Oliver still likes to coach, and misses his time coaching others, “I just like to help people and watch them learn new stuff”.
His day ends with completing classwork and hanging out with his parents or with his older sister.
Oliver still spends time with his teammates; spending a night with them during the weekend, or going with them to hangout. They’ve gone to plenty of places; lakes, water parks, Top Golfs or randomly walking places. They play friendly poker every Saturday and will sometimes have a UFC fight or boxing event playing on the TV.
Oliver has had his fair share of challenges and setbacks. He was born with a birth defect where his back wasn’t fully developed, and being an athlete triggered a problem with his muscles that led him to nothing but pain. Oliver fractured his back while doing the activity he loved, getting a fracture in L-4 and L-5 with his S1 joint fused. He underwent two surgeries, and halfway through his road to recovery, the screws were starting to exit back out of the bone, so the surgeons had to go back in and replace the old screws with better ones. He had nine months filled with recovering, and added physical therapy to his already busy schedule.
His ankle has also been injured for over a year. He tore a tendon and sprained it in three different spots after falling while competing his floor routine. Oliver has been working his way up the steps of the levels. He’s already at level 10: the highest level in the JO Program (Junior Olympics).
Oliver has already been making efforts for his future, taking up any opportunity that a college gives him. He’s been signing up for camps and accepting any chance he gets to improve himself as an athlete. In 2024, he practiced with the gymnastics team of University of Minnesota and stayed to train with them for four days. He got to tour the college campus, train with the other teammates, and hangout with many of the students that are attending the University of Minnesota.
Oliver also visited Ohio State for a high school gymnastics camp. He got to meet the coaches and the current members of the teamnand he also got to tour the gym. Oliver stated that the coaches who work for Ohio State were really nice to him, welcomed him with open arms, and gave him tips on how to improve his techniques on each event.
In July of 2024, the now senior headed down to Nebraska, thankful for the opportunity he had to stay in the college dorms with fellow teams. They all trained at the university’s gymnasium and are forever grateful for the college experience.
Oliver said, “I’m super excited to go [to the camps] because I’ll get to see some friends for a while and I get to spend time with the team. It’ll be a fun bonding experience. The camps are about more than just scouting athletes, they want to help the nation as a whole. If I’m not actively making new skills, I’m still learning new things about the sport and techniques.”
Oliver is still uncertain about his future, but he is deeply considering taking a gap year after he graduates to further his commitment to gymnastics and get some more offers for collegiate gymnastics. He plans to get his personal training certification before going to college to study kinesiology.
Oliver has also been keeping up with social media like any other teenager. He’s been updating his followers on every new trick he has accomplished or just what he’s done at practice. He’s also furthering his support of other gymnasts that he sees at all the competitions. On his Instagram page, olivercollins_recruitment, he has been posting his fellow peers’ videos on his story, telling people about their accomplishments, and encouraging people to follow his friends’ pages.
Oliver is always up for new challenges, wanting to accomplish anything that comes his way. He’s already accomplished one goal that other gymnasts have: going to nationals. Not only did he go to nationals, but he placed 3rd on the national highbar during the 2024 Nationals, something that many athletes can only wish to do.
Oliver truly believed he would make it to Nationals again when Regionals were approaching, and he was right. Oliver is competing at Nationals currently. Oliver has a list of goals and has been checking them off ever since. So far, he competed in an international team in Galveston, Texas. He has medals from every competition event this season, and he qualified to regionals as one of the top spots. One of his top goals is still getting a national medal.
Oliver will be heading back to Missoula to graduate with his fellow Spartans after doing Missoula’s online schooling program in Colorado to focus on his future career. He is glad to be heading back to his old friends, moving back to his hometown; and I’m happy too because I finally get to graduate with my cousin.
Oliver isn’t just a gymnast, even though his life revolved around the sport. Saying he won’t stop until he’s either fallen out of love with the sport or if his body won’t let him continue. Oliver is just a teenager who has accomplished many goals, but he keeps being himself during his busy schedule. When I asked if I could write about him, he responded with, “Are you gonna write about how I’m the best cousin?”. The teenager most likely had a smirk on his face, thinking that he is the funniest person in the world.
