Senior Spotlight: Amara Cunningham
February 21, 2023 | Gymnastics
This is the beginning of a series of senior spotlights, to tell the stories of each of the seven seniors on the 2023 GymDawg squad that have helped shape the program into what it is today.
AMARA CUNNINGHAM
A Division-I gymnastics program never seemed like an option for Amara Cunningham, much less a strong Pac-12 gym squad.
Over the course of her five years suiting up in a Washington leotard, Cunningham has been nothing but consistent in her powerful vaults and entertaining floor routines.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Earlier this season, Cunningham celebrated her 50th collegiate meet, a competition which also marked her 100th consecutive routine without a fall. She has never fallen in her career at Washington, remaining a consistent threat that has carried the Huskies through years of success on the competition floor.
Cunningham boasts a 9.925 career-high vault and a 9.950 on floor, the latter of which she has earned on three different occasions in her career. She earned her second career Pac-12 Specialist of the Week honor on Jan. 24 after tying her career-best 9.950 on her floor routine against UCLA in the opening round of home meets for the 2023 GymDawgs.
For Cunningham, as she stepped into her role as a fifth-year leader on this year's squad, she has learned to appreciate the importance of taking care of her body. As a nutrition major competing in a very labor-intensive sport, Cunningham values taking care of her body – even if that means something different in her fifth year of collegiate competition than her first.
For this reason, she enjoys training vault the most because it's quick and doesn't allow her time to let the nerves set in.
Floor, however, is Cunningham's favorite event to compete, without question. The energy of the crowd, getting the fans and her teammates involved – all make the hard work of fine-tuning choreography, tumbling, and dance moves worth it when she hits the dance floor in front of a supportive crowd.
Cunningham originally signed up for the nutrition major at UW after a course focused on carbs and calories piqued her interest, both as a student and a Division-I athlete. She takes care of her body more and more as her career goes on, now seeing the importance of hydration, rest, and nutrition much more clearly than she did her freshman year.
If she could give one piece of advice to her freshman year self, she'd say to keep pushing.
"You have a full ride scholarship to a Division-I Pac-12 school," Cunningham said [to her younger self]. "How many people get this opportunity?"
AMARA'S JOURNEY TO UW
Attending the University of Washington was not initially in the cards for Cunningham, who originally committed to do gymnastics at Temple University in Philadelphia her sophomore year of high school.
Cunningham was committed to Temple until the very end of her senior year of high school, until a coaching change at the university led her to look elsewhere for opportunities.
Washington was in need of strong vaulters at the time and the offer seemed too good to be true for her to turn down. Cunningham decided within three days to upend her life in Nyack, New York and take her gymnastics and academic career to Seattle.
And Washington has lived up to her expectations.
"I absolutely love it," Cunningham said about attending UW. "If it weren't for the rain, I could call this home for the rest of my life. I'm super happy that I came out here and got to explore another part of the country and didn't just stay in the tri-state area for the rest of my life."
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— Washington Gymnastics (@UWGymnastics) February 21, 2023
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NEXT STEPS
After growing up in New York and spending five years in rainy Seattle, Cunningham is excited to spend the next three years in physical therapy school at the University of Southern California.
And for how she will stay connected to gymnastics – Cunningham is excited to soon be living in a city close to a few Pac-12 schools that boast gymnastics program.
"One of the main reasons I chose USC is because I knew this team (UW) is going to compete near me," Cunningham said. "UCLA, Stanford, even Arizona will all be pretty close to me. I want to continue to build connections with my current teammates and future members of the team and stay around the sport in that way – by supporting the team."
Having trained and competed in gymnastics since the age of three, Cunningham is very comfortable in the gymnastics world and is excited to explore new places and new opportunities – and be outside her comfort zone.
Earlier in her career, Cunningham never could have imagined taking a fifth year to compete at Washington. She is grateful for the opportunity not only to build a new family with the current Divine 49 squad but do it alongside fellow fifth-year Brenna Brooks.
IMPACT OF THE DIVINE 49
"Brenna has been a sister to me during our time at UW," Cunningham said. "Nobody else has gone through the ups and downs of competition and teams that we have, so I think that going through those things has really made us grow together. It's really awesome that I've gotten to share another year with her."
As for the other seniors on the team, Cunningham values how each of them brings a unique perspective to leadership and teamwork that all complement the team very well.
"I look up to each and every one of them," Cunningham said, of her fellow seniors. "They're all so different, so it's amazing that we can see how different we are but still fight as one when we're in the gym."
"I'm glad I get to experience this with all the other seniors, too," Cunningham said. "I never thought I'd be here for a fifth year, so getting to be with Morgan for four years and Kennedi for two, getting to experience this with Hadley, Isa, and Ellie. I'm so grateful that I get to share another year with them."
The culture of this team is a huge part of what has made her fifth year so special.
The care, respect, and trust the Divine 49 have for one another is incomparable.
"We know that if you are hard on someone in the gym, the second you step out of the gym, it's back to normal," Cunningham said. "You're not hard on someone because you don't like them. It's because you want them to be better, and we all know that."
Cunningham is off to southern California where she is looking forward to exchanging the gloomy rain of Seattle for the sunshine of Los Angeles.
No need to worry about missing her too much – she'll be cheering in the stands for future GymDawg teams like she never left.
