University Park, Pa.- One night during the last weekend of August in 2018, Penn State women's gymnastics junior Erynne Allen stayed up late and played pool with some of her new teammates at a team retreat.
The retreat was held at Camp Woodward, a campground about 45 minutes away from State College, Pennsylvania. Allen, who transferred from Kentucky last year, had met her Penn State teammates and coaching staff before this retreat at team meetings, but this was the first time she spent an extended amount of time with them.
While Allen and the team spent most of the weekend doing team building exercises and challenges like a ropes course and a ninja warrior challenge, the evenings were reserved for the team to connect on a personal level.
The athletes and coaching staff spilt up so each group could spend time getting to know each other. Allen and a few of her teammates hung out during this time playing pool and sharing jokes about being from different parts of the country, which allowed them to connect personally.
"It just kind of showed me that it doesn't really matter where you came from we're just a family no matter what, so I just really felt like I immediately was gonna fit in because we were all so different," Allen said.
However, even before Allen went on the retreat and felt that family environment with Penn State, she had been learning about the program and school.
Allen had been following Penn State throughout her transfer process on social media and on college gymnastics news websites. When Allen visited Penn State's campus with her family last year she became even more interested in the school.
"When I visited I just got the family feel and it really just felt like somewhere that I could be successful and happy and my parents felt the same as soon as we got on campus," Allen said.
Once Allen transferred to Penn State and joined the program, she got to see more of the campus and its atmosphere.
Allen walked into a Dunkin' Donuts one day in State College and saw a picture of Beaver Stadium filled to capacity inside the restaurant. Although Allen had been introduced to Penn State football, the picture of Beaver Stadium showed her its impact on the community.
"I really just felt like this sense of unity," Allen said. "The stories they'd tell me when we were walking around campus and some of the traditions like I never really knew that much about Penn State but coming and seeing this huge family that you could be a part of was just amazing to me."
When Allen was four years old and growing up in Georgia, she would attend Georgia Gymdog meets at the University of Georgia in Athens. Allen would watch the gymnasts compete and knew she wanted to do that when she got older.
After only competing in one exhibition at Kentucky in two years, Allen competed in Penn State's lineup on bars against Utah to start the season. Before saluting the judge at the meet, Allen looked around and took in the moment.
"Wow I finally made it like I finally am the person that four-year-old me wanted to be so bad," Allen said. "I really don't take it for granted like every time I salute the judge. I am just thankful to even be wearing a college leotard and competing for an amazing team."
Although she has competed in all of Penn State's meets this season, Allen still watches videos of her routines in disbelief from the past week's meet on Mondays.
This season Allen has competed first in Penn State's bars lineup and set the tone for the team in the event. Leading off on bars is a challenge according to Penn State head coach Sarah Brown, who said the event tends to be risky and where more falls happen compared to other events.
However, Allen has met that challenge and her performance at this past weekend's meet against Illinois in Champaign was a prime example.
"She led off with a 9.800, that's a career-high for her," Brown said. "That's a huge leadoff score and her ability to do that on the road it kind of allows after that first routine I think everyone to kind of take a deep breath. It's a lot of pressure on her and she's handled it beautifully."
In addition to her success on bars this season, Allen has also provided the team with leadership.
"I think because she works so hard people listen to her because she is putting in the numbers, she's putting in the time so when she says 'Hey you need to make sure you're doing that right' or raises that standard people listen," Brown said.
Allen has had success this season at Penn State and with the support of her coaches, she can continue to develop as a gymnast and leader.
"I feel like I'm a different gymnast just because I trust and believe in myself more because of what the coaches have invested in me," Allen said. "I feel like this is kind of the year of me just believing in myself and just finishing the season knowing that I gave it all that I had."
