The LSU gymnastics team is building for the future, even though the 2011 season has yet to start.
The Tigers got word last Wednesday that Rheagan Courville — a senior at University High School in Baton Rouge — signed her intention to take her talents to the PMAC.
Courville had offers from a multitude of schools including Southeastern Conference foes Florida and Auburn, along with national powers Alabama and Georgia.
But the allure of staying close to home was too much to pass up.
“I narrowed it down to most of the SEC schools,” Courville said. “And then in the end, LSU, with its resources and support influenced my decision to stick with my hometown and stay where I’ve been cheering for LSU for as long as I can remember.”
Courville began taking gymnastics at age 5, and she had qualified as an elite international gymnast by the time she was 10.
On her first attempt, she ranked high enough to be a Junior Olympic Qualifier.
In 2007 she won the balance beam title at the American Classic meet and also won the all-around title at the U.S. Classic.
She spent time training in Houston with the Karolyi’s, the coaches of the USA Olympic National Team.
Now she competes with three-time national champion and former LSU gymnast Susan Jackson at Louisiana Gymnastics Training Center.
“Susan has always been one of my idols,” Courville said. “She’s been so successful in the collegiate and national field, she’s accomplished just about every goal you can accomplish in college. To be coached by her makes it even better to know what it takes and she can give me the training that I need to get exactly where she is.”
Jackson is equally as impressed with Courville.
“She is very, very talented,” Jackson said. “She’s not scared to try new skills. When you try to tell her to try new skills, she just picks it up pretty quickly. And as far as college goes, she has more experience than most of the other girls because she has done the elite scene.”
Courville was also drawn in by working under the tutelage of LSU coach D-D Breaux.
“She liked D-D’s coaching style,” said Rheagan’s mother, Bridget Courville. “She’s a little firm and really eager. But it was hard because a majority of the coaches were really nice. But she really liked D-D. And we’d been taking her to LSU meets since she was really young so she knew what it was all about.”
Though the Tigers will only have to replace one senior following this season, Jackson expects Courville to step in and make an immediate impact.
“She will be at the end of every line up and will probably be an all-arounder her freshman year,” Jackson said.
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Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]