Rotation 1 - Vault - University of Arkansas Gymnastics The Summer Olympics kicked off in July and, as a result, we thought it would be appropriate to share the stories of some of our gymnasts here at the University of Arkansas. Through the testimonies of Jensen Scalzo, Emma Kelley, and Kiara Gianfagna we can see how the Lord is truly working in and through the Gymbacks. Much like a NCAA gymnastics meet we decided to run a full rotation for this newsletter. We hope that, like the vault, this first section launches you into the rest of the rotation where you can see how God is at work.

“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mark 5:19

Rotation 2 - Uneven Bars - Jensen Scalzo

Jensen is a sophomore from Parkland, Florida. She committed to the University of Arkansas as a freshman in high school, but, because her first year in Fayetteville was the COVID year, it wasn’t shaping up to be everything she hoped it would be. Jensen was battling some personal things at the same time she was attempting to navigate the pandemic in her first year away from home. In that first year COVID prevented her from going home for Thanksgiving and they were only permitted a single day for Christmas. For someone from Florida that meant half of that day was spent traveling to and from home. She knew that pressing into Jesus Christ was the only way she would make it through. Jensen leaned heavily on Catelyn Orel, who led the gymnastics team Bible study, for spiritual guidance. Catelyn initially got plugged into FCA while attending the University of Nebraska where she was discipled by Robbie Trent. Catelyn faithfully continued at the University of Arkansas what the Lord stirred in her at the University of Nebraska. Jensen regularly attended the team Bible study alongside the 10-11 others that participated where she was able to find a faith community within her team. She connected with Kiara Gianfagna who has been a huge influence in her life.

Perhaps one of Jensen’s biggest struggles during her first year in Fayetteville came from the rules implemented by the NCAA during the early stages of the pandemic which prevented student-athletes from hanging out with anyone they didn’t live with or practice with. Jensen is super social and the walls being constructed between her and other people was a tough pill to swallow. She was, however, able to grow very close with one of her roommates, Emma Kelley, during that time. Jensen did not have FCA when she was in high school, but she knew it was something she wanted available to her when she got to college thanks to her brother, Nick Scalzo, a quarterback at the University of Kentucky, who is involved with FCA at UK. Jensen was able to get connected with Alex and Cortez McCraney so that she could plug in early. She loves how open and everyone is and nobody is scared to speak. She said it’s like a “trust bubble”.

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:16

Rotation 3 - Floor - Emma Kelley

Emma is currently a sophomore gymnast at the University of Arkansas. We asked Emma to share how the Lord is currently at work in her life and through the Razorback gymnastics team. In order to do that we have to turn back the clock a little bit. Emma’s mother, Mary Lou Retton, was the all-around gold medalist in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, her oldest sister was an acrobatics and tumbling student-athlete at Baylor, and her next oldest sister was on the gymnastics team at LSU. Gymnastics is in the Kelley family DNA and Emma is no different. In 8th grade Emma attended a gymnastics camp in Baton Rouge, LA where she was offered a full ride to LSU. She committed right then and there. The next year Emma injured herself while attempting a front-half on the beam and went through full ankle reconstruction surgery which sidelined her for almost 9 months. Upon returning to the floor she tore her UCL and broke two vertebrae in her back. Emma was devastated. She was asking: “Why can’t I stay healthy? Why would the Lord put me through this? How will this affect my future?” One day during her senior year in high school her dad called her while she was out and told her LSU head coach D-D Breaux and then assistant coach Jay Clark were had showed up to their house unannounced and that she should come home as soon as possible. D-D and Jay told Emma that they would be rescinding their scholarship offer.

Emma had been committed to LSU for over 3 years only to have it taken away from her less than a year before she would be arriving on campus. The future she had envisioned for herself was gone, but Emma wasn’t ready to quit. She started campaigning for herself on social media, hoping, praying she would have the opportunity to continue her gymnastics career. Just as she was ready to give up, she received an invitation from Jordyn Wieber to visit Fayetteville. Emma went home with a scholarship offer from the University of Arkansas. Emma has grown so much in her faith upon arriving in Fayetteville. She knows God has her here for a reason. She always participated in the gymnastics team huddle, started attending New Life Church, and is plugged into FCA. Over the summer she brought one of her teammates along with her to an FCA huddle where we talked about Jesus calling the first disciples. After the huddle her teammate broke down and confessed to Emma that she felt distant from the Lord, but that He was weighing heavy on her heart and was calling her back to Him. The two of them prayed together that the Lord would continue to captivate them and draw them nearer to Him. Emma is doing all that she can to faithfully follow and be obedient to Jesus. She wants to live and grow in her faith alongside her teammates as well as her friends who aren’t student-athletes at the University of Arkansas. She has felt the Lord leading her to share her faith with her friends who don’t know the Lord or are distant from Him. She loves the community she has within the team. From day one everyone was welcoming and inviting and made their team a safe place to grow!

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

Rotation 4 - The Beam - Kiara Gianfagna

Kiara is a junior from Brownsburg, Indiana who found her way to Fayetteville after the University of Arkansas asked her to graduate high school early to get a jump start on her collegiate career. Kiara was looking for a college that was geographically beautiful and felt like home. She wanted to be comfortable and know she’d be taken care of. Despite being 600 miles from home, Fayetteville seemed to check all the boxes and has been the place Kiara has called home for the last 2 years. Like many student-athletes that head off to college, one of Kiara’s fears prior to leaving home was feeling homesick. Over the last couple years she has certainly missed her family, but she has never crossed the line into truly feeling homesick. For her it was about getting plugged in early and often and staying consistent with her commitments. Early during her freshman year she found herself regularly attending Cross Church and C3, participating in the gymnastics team Bible study, and, as soon as we arrived, plugged into FCA. Kiara has and continues to seek out places where she can grow in her faith. The gymnastics team Bible study was led by assistant coach Catelyn Orel. Kiara leaned on Catelyn as a spiritual and personal leader during her first two years at the U of A. In July of 2021 Catelyn was hired as the new head gymnastics coach at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. As excited as everyone on the team was for Catelyn, it left a vacant leadership role and questions started to arise in regards to who would step into that position. Two of Kiara’s teammates, Emma and Jensen, both approached her about being that leader. Kiara put it before the Lord in prayer and the Lord called her to take over that position!

Kiara has seen the Lord move in and through the gymnastics team. The fact that so many people from so many different walks of life who are at different stages in their faith journey can still gather with, confide in, and lean on each other is what makes their team huddle so beautiful. Kiara started a personal project over the summer she calls “Diving Deeper”. The inspiration came after going on a vacation with two of her roommates during which time they found themselves in some deep theological conversations. One of her friends started asking some really challenging questions about God and the Bible that Kiara felt unequipped to answer at that moment. In addition to not knowing the answers, she also knew her friends weren’t the only ones seeking the answer to those questions. Kiara has always had a great passion for her faith, she loves the Lord, loves serving, but where she felt like she had room to grow was getting deeper into the Word. Her friends asking her these pressing questions did not shake Kiara’s confidence, but inspired her to dive deeper into scripture. Her goal is to be able to address those challenging questions from a statistical, logical, and scriptural perspective. Through Diving Deeper Kiara hopes to not only provide answers to the tough questions, but equip other believers with the resources to address those questions with their friends in addition to strengthening her relationship with the Lord.

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