Brooklyn Kopsack
You might say the sun set on Brooklyn Kopsack’s UAA gymnastics career in Bear Valley.
Kopsack, who grew up in Palmer, started college in fall 2020 – when the team’s gym at the Alaska Airlines Center was being used for pandemic response efforts and classes were being held online. With their gymnastics training time limited, Kopsack made sure she and her fellow freshman teammates used their free time wisely.
“They all called me their Alaska tour guide,” she said.
Her teammates got to see Hatcher Pass, Whittier and Seward, and hike some of Southcentral’s finest trails – including a sunset trip up Bear Valley.
“It was such a cool experience because I got to show them the state and kind of share why it’s so great here and why I love it here,” Kopsack said. It was a unique experience for her class as they haven’t had nearly as much free time in the years since.”
Fast forward to last Labor Day weekend, when the team’s new freshmen asked the now-senior to take them on a hike. She realized they should go to Bear Valley again at sunset just as she did in 2020 with her own freshman class.
“They all were having the best time, (saying) ‘Alaska is the best thing ever!,’ so it was really cool to see that,” she said.
Those memories with her team are a silver lining of many headaches from that time. She didn’t get to cap her senior year of high school as usual, and she wasn’t able to finish out her level 10 developmental program at Palmer’s Excel Gymnastics with attempts to qualify for regionals and nationals.
The beginning of her college career brought yet another turn of events, when a phone call from Kopsack’s coach during campus move-in day delivered the news that gymnastics was one of four UAA athletic programs to be eliminated due to budget cuts.
“It just didn’t seem real,” she said.
Palmer’s Brooklyn Kopsack is the only Alaskan on the Seawolves’ squad. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Combined with COVID-related interruptions, her first semester as a college gymnast was more like “straight fundraising,” said Kopsack.
“I would say very little gymnastics, it was very much like ‘what can we do to help save this program?’,” she said, including reaching out to businesses for donations and writing letters to the university’s governing Board of Regents.
The program ended up being permanently reinstated in June 2022 after the team and supporters raised $888,000 – a sum UAA described at the time as likely record-breaking for a collegiate gymnastics team.
“Saving our program just means so much,” she said. “Other little Alaskans can strive to be on the team one day just like I did.”
Her journey as one of those little Alaskans began at the age 4 when her grandma signed her up for a month of gymnastics classes as a Christmas present after watching her practice tumbling.
“I’d do cartwheels all over the place,” she recalled. “I started (at Excel Gymnastics) and just kept with it ever since. I fell in love with the sport.”
Joining UAA’s gymnastics program was a natural progression for someone who grew up being inspired by watching UAA meets and learning from Seawolf gymnasts at camps.
“I think when I got to high school and I was finally getting to level 9 and 10 it really became like, ‘oh, this is something I could do,’” she said. “I was (Coach Robert Dabilla’s) first gymnast to really go up through the upper levels and do level 9 and level 10 and then come here, so it was really special.”
Kopsack said she considered going to college out of state, but UAA seemed like the best financial option with both the UA Scholars and Alaska Performance Scholarship programs available to her.
“And I love Alaska,” she added.
Being able to compete as part of a team has been a rewarding experience for Kopsack, who grew up in the individualized environment of competitive gymnastics. Her love for her teammates shines through when she talks about her favorite moments from her time as a Seawolf.
“We all have each other’s backs,” she said, adding that her favorite part of being on the team is the energy that radiates during meets.
“It’s so different. You go to a club meet, and it’s like, quiet,” she said. “At college, it’s very high energy, you’re screaming for each other, you get so hyped on the hype on the sidelines.”
In January 2022, Kopsack experienced her first weekend of college competition at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, which was also the first meet weekend after COVID restrictions ended. She technically scored her highest floor score that weekend – a 9.75 – in an exhibition routine, but that isn’t what made the meet memorable for Kopsack, it was the energy and support from her teammates.
“We had kind of a rougher first day on floor, and then the second day on floor we all hit our routines,” she said. “Just the moment, and making the routine, and having my team support me so much…We had made it past all the shutdowns with COVID and made it past all our fundraising.”
After finishing her kinesiology degree this spring, Kopsack said she’ll likely take a gap year before beginning a master’s program in education and eventually becoming a PE teacher.
Palmer’s Brooklyn Kopsack flashes a beaming smile on the beam. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
“My sister is a math teacher at Colony so she’s kind of inspired me to do the teaching route,” she said.
And she plans to stay involved in gymnastics to some degree, starting by coaching this summer at Excel Gymnastics as she returns to a place that’s clearly proud of their former student.
“If you’re real lucky, you might have the honor of watching some of your littles grow into some of the most accomplished role models you’ve ever met,” reads a Facebook post the gym posted about Kopsack in January, clad with green and yellow hearts in honor of the Seawolf gymnast. “We can’t get over it being your final year at (UAA) Brookie, but boy are we PROUD.”
As the sun goes down on Kopsack’s journey as a Seawolf and as a competitive gymnast, she’s aiming to stay present and soak in the waning moments.
“It’s kind of weird just because I’ve done [gymnastics] practically my whole life since I can remember,” she said. “I’m just trying to really embrace every moment, every competition, have fun with my team…not get stressed, because that’s not how I want to spend my last year.”
With the last three meets of the season quickly approaching, there is one more thing Kopsack would like to do to close out her time as a Seawolf.
“Our freshmen class this year is amazing,” she said. “Everyone’s really put in the work and it’s exciting to see the potential that we have. I really think that if we are able to do really good on each event at the same meet, we definitely can break our school record, so that’s really exciting. I would love for that to be how I finish my time here.”
UAA GYMNASTICS SCHEDULE
March 8 at UC Davis
March 10 at Sac State
March 23 MPSF Championships