CHINA GROVE — In its short seven-year existence, Carson has sent athletes to college on scholarship in football, baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball, just to name a few.
But gymnastics?
That’s one sport the school doesn’t field. But the Cougars are reveling in their first ACC recruit. Courtney Bisbe signed recently with the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Bisbe smiled when asked the reaction from her schoolmates that she is a gymnast.
“It’s like any other sport,” Bisbe said. “You start at different levels and work your way up.”
Bisbe didn’t wait until she was a teenager to get into the sport.
“When I was two years old, my parents said I had too much energy,” Bisbe said. “They said they needed to put me into something.”
That was gymnastics and slowly but surely, she took to the sport. By the time she was seven, she was competing. The top level is 10 and she reached that by her eighth-grade year.
“When I got to (Level 9 and 10) it got more challenging,” she said.
Bisbe participates in four events — bars, beam, vault and floor exercise.
“My best is the vault,” Bisbe noted. “When it comes down to competition, it’s more nerve-wracking.”
It’s also a strenuous workout regimen of five days a week. The gymnastics season lasts from January through May. Bisbe works out in High Point and it all paid off when N.C. State coach Mark Stevenson offered Bisbe a scholarship.
“The coaches in High Point knew the State coaches really well,” Bisbe said. “They came to look at me.”
N.C. State is on the rise under Stevenson. The Wolfpack finished 21-3 last season and was third in the regionals.
It was a no-brainer on whether to accept the offer.
“It was amazing when I visited,” Bisbe said.
So when Carson held a signing party recently, the average Cougar fan didn’t have to be introduced to Allison Blackwell and Kelly Dulkoski of basketball fame, or Sidney Grkman of softball fame.
But they had to be reminded there was also a gymnast in the house.
A gymnast who gives Carson it’s first ACC recruit. And it’s a load off Bisbe’s mind.
“It’s such a relief to know where I’m going,” she said. “It’s the best feeling ever.”