Nina Ballou, a junior at West Boca High School, is doing what she always wanted to do, become a highly profiled gymnast.
The five-star gymnast, who is ranked the fourth-highest recruit in the nation, has committed to LSU (Louisiana State University) on a full-ride athletic scholarship. She chose the Tigers over Florida, UCLA, and Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is the reigning NCAA women’s gymnastics champion (six total championships in program history) and UCLA has the third-most championships of all-time with seven.
“I have family in Louisiana,” Ballou said. “I’ve always loved LSU since I was very little. I’ve been to their gymnastics camp basically since I was nine years old. It’s always felt like home to me. I wouldn’t say it was the easiest decision; I didn’t know 100% right away. Looking back at everything I’ve seen, I knew LSU was the right fit for me. I think I can do a lot of good things there for the program.”
Gymnastics has been intertwined with Ballou’s life since the age of two. Since the age of three, Ballou has been going to American Twisters Gymnastics located in Coconut Creek. Her hard work has obviously paid off as she is a three-time National Champion and three-time National team member.
MUST-WATCH:
West Boca’s own Nina Ballou, a 5-star gymnast, does multiple “hat fakes”, eventually putting on an LSU hat, where she’ll commit.
Welcome to Baton Rouge, @_ninasymone_! pic.twitter.com/h01qtcdaN2
— Isaac Edelman (@IsaacEdelman) October 18, 2023
Ballou took an interesting approach to her official visits.
“I went four weekends in a row so it was easy for me to compare all of them.”
Ballou compared the gymnastics recruiting process to football.
“The colleges can start calling you June 15th after you finish your sophomore year of high school. The entire summer between your sophomore and junior year… you are having calls almost every single day with colleges that are interested in you. They ultimately will have FaceTime calls with your family members. They’ll show you presentations about what the campus is like. If you feel like you’ve made a good connection with all of them and they really like you, they will set up an official visit for the fall. Those start August 1st; that’s when they can start speaking to you in-person.”
LSU has never won a national championship, but that’s actually why Ballou is so motivated to get to work in Baton Rouge.
“A lot of people have asked me ‘why would you choose LSU because they have never won’. I think it’s because I want to help win them their first national championship; that’s definitely a goal in the future.”
Another thing that stood out about LSU was their ability to get their female athletes NIL (Name Image Likeness) deals. From Livvy Dunne (gymnastics) to Angel Reese (women’s basketball), LSU has been getting a ton of attraction.
“NIL is such a big thing in colleges,” Ballou excitedly said. “Honestly, females in college right now are kind of running the show, especially at LSU. You have Livvy Dunne, Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, and Hailey Van Lith. Those are kind of like the frontrunners in college sports and I feel like I can add on to that.”
Dunne and Reese are two of the top 10 NIL earners in the entire country. Sports Illustrated even had a special issue on “why LSU women’s program rules the new college sports economy.”
Johnson made it clear in an LSU press conference that “you wanna be a superstar, come to LSU.”
The landscape of college sports has truly changed since NIL became a thing. Marketing yourself is a crucial part of being a student athlete, and Ballou is ready to do just that.
“There’s people at LSU that know what it’s like to create an image on social media and get the brand deals. It’s (the support system) going to be a big asset in helping create a brand for me.”
Ballou has a humble perspective on inspiration.
“I don’t have one specific person that I look up to, however, I love my teammates and their work ethic because it keeps me motivated during practice and competitions to always try my best. We are all very supportive of each other, which I think makes our American Twisters team so special, so I would say that they inspire me every day.”
Ballou will graduate West Boca High School in 2025. After that, she’ll head off on her college journey where she’ll travel over 850 miles from Boca Raton to Baton Rouge. And she’ll fulfill her early life’s dream.
