Five days every week. At least four hours each day. This is the life of men’s gymnastics. This has been the life of Taylor Styer, junior, since age 2.

Recently, Styer qualified for the Junior Olympics in multiple events for a fourth straight year. He finished 3rd all around, and 1st in Rings.

“It is a two-day competition and brings out a lot of college scouts to check out the top talent,” Styer said. “It is so much fun and is like a celebration of all the hard work everyone has put in all year.”

Such dedication does not come without its negatives: trying to balance school and training.

“It’s really hard, but I just try to stay organized and get everything done in a timely manner,” Styer said.

Besides organization and time management, Styer said there are other keys to being successful in gymnastics: most importantly, a good work ethic.

“I train four hours a day for four days of the week and on Saturdays it can be for over five hours,” Styer said. “There’s six events in gymnastics, and then with that we also have intense strength and conditioning.”

Styer’s ability to practice and compete in these events has been limited due to a long-lasting knee injury.

“It’s really hard to be in the gym and see everyone doing everything,” Styer said. “This year was the hardest year for me of my gymnastics career. I only had about four weeks of training, while others have had four months.”

Despite his knee troubles, Styer won a national championship in the rings event at level 9 and placed fifth at level 10, the highest level.

“Taylor is a naturally talented athlete who takes the sport seriously,” Donny Spradling, Styer’s coach for the past three years at St. Louis Gymnastics Centre, said. “He is always driven to perform the most difficult skills at the highest level of competition.”

Spradling said Styer’s ability to handle his ongoing injury is one of his greatest strengths and it hasn’t stopped him from continuing to work.

Much like Spradling, Paula Styer, Taylor’s mother, recognized the knee injury as a significant challenge and it led her to challenge the district policy requiring two semesters of gym class.

“We didn’t want him running up and down bleachers due to his knees,” Paula said. “With over 21 hours per week at the gym practicing, we were able to convince the district to classify him as Home School Gym.”

Paula said changing Taylor’s gym classification was all part of being a supportive parent.

“Both my husband and myself support him as any parent would do,” said Paula. “We also emotionally and mentally support him when he exceeds and also when he falls.”

Despite all of her support, Paula said Taylor still faces challenges, especially with public misconceptions of men’s gymnastics.

“Male gymnastics is often misunderstood as a girls sport when actually it is the basis for all sports,” Paula said. “Some of the new kids didn’t understand that.”

Taylor said he agreed that public perception of the sport is flawed.

“I think you should just watch it and see all the upper body strength it really takes to do all these skills and how I don’t really think it’s either a girls sport or a guy’s sport,” Taylor said. “It’s just a really fun sport to do.”

Despite his injury and misconceptions, Taylor said he still loves the sport.

“I know that if I think back to everything I’ve accomplished and how much I still can accomplish in the future, that’s what keeps me going and keeps me from giving all this up,” Taylor said.