Meet the Mississippi Coast gymnast on the same path as Simone Biles. He’s 12 years old.
When he was 5 years old, Tyse Love pulled the cushions off the couch of his Arizona home and attempted to backflip onto them as his mother, Tonja Laney, looked on.
He then taught himself how to do a back walkover in kindergarten, a move that requires a high degree of flexibility. Laney’s response? “This is not normal.”
Love’s mother sat him down and showed him videos of gymnasts and asked him what he wanted to do.
After several years, a move back across the country and countless hours of driving to and from New Orleans for practice, Love has entered the USA Elite program as a tumbling prodigy.
“I’ve moved up by a lot of levels and gotten way more skills,” Love, 12, told the Sun Herald. “I’m heading on a path of hopefully going to World’s this year and making it on the future USA Team.”
Love was born in Gulfport but the family moved out to Arizona before Love began school. He started his gymnastics career out west before his potential became clear, and Laney made the decision to move the family back to the Mississippi Coast.
In Gulfport, Love began to thrive. Laney says the community atmosphere and support has done wonders for Love and his growth. Love has even heard from a four-time Olympian and part-time Gulfport resident.
“Everyone is so supportive,” Laney said. “Brittney Reese, her reaching out and just giving him words of encouragement. Telling him, ‘You got this, just keep doing what you do.’ I think that’s incredible.”
Making Youth Elite gymnast program
Love was recently hit with an overwhelming amount of support following his biggest accomplishment thus far. He traveled to Texas this month to participate in the Dallas Cup and achieved the scores necessary to officially enter the USA trampoline and tumbling Elite Program.
“At 12 years old, to be elite is really incredible,” Love said. “A lot of people don’t reach that.”
According to USA Gymnastics, the Youth Elite program is designed to identify talent and introduce younger athletes and coaches to elite training and competition, developing skills and techniques while fostering enjoyment of the sport.
It is the first of the three Elite Program stages and puts Love on a path that many of the nation’s top gymnasts have taken, including Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles.
It also makes Love eligible for international competition, the next step in the progression of his young career.
He has meets coming in Florida, Texas and Iowa that will determine if he qualifies for the international assignments. Laney said there are so few others in his age bracket with his scores that there is a strong chance Love will be competing on the world stage shortly.
If you ask Love what his goals are, he’ll struggle to choose one. Unlike many in his field, he’s already surpassed the scores of his age bracket in competitions.
The only thing preventing Love from reaching the next Elite state, Junior Elite, is the fact he is not yet 15 years old.
All that’s left for Love to do is dazzle on the tumble track and work toward joining the international team in Bulgaria for the World Championship. He doesn’t get bored from the success, though. Love is constantly looking to get better, displaying a maturity that surprises even his own coaches.
When Love handily defeated his competition at a national event, the first thing Love asked his trainers what he could improve upon when he stepped off the track.
One of his coaches, Patrick Lyell, had to tell him to focus on celebrating his gold medal and worry about fine tuning his performance later.
Love says he won’t be satisfied until he wins big on the international stage.
“I always feel like I could’ve done something better,” Love said. “Something more. I don’t know when (I’ll be satisfied), actually, maybe after a world gold medal.”
Love is working toward just that this year as his career continues on its upward trajectory, taking him to new heights and new opportunities.
This story was originally published January 30, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
