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Severna Park’s Ronni Binstock is exceling with Western Michigan’s gymnastics team, but that success is a byproduct of years of training. She began doing gymnastics at 2 years old with “Mommy and Me” classes in the area and fell in love with gymnastics at an early age.
“I had a high-energy level as a child and my parents enrolled me in gymnastics and diving classes,” Binstock said.
Her childhood featured long days as she had diving practice at 6:00am in Montgomery County and had gymnastics practice after school in Millersville.
“I have amazing parents, with my mom taking me to all of these practices and both of them supporting me every step of the way,” Binstock said.
Binstock reminisced about her mom always having snacks or meals for all of those trips and remembers the stops at Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast on the way to school from diving practice.
Her schedule was getting filled with her commitments to both sports and she knew she had to make a tough decision on which sport she wanted to concentrate on as she reached high school.
“I chose gymnastics as I liked it more and could show my personality better,” Binstock said. “Plus, I got tired of being in the water.”
During the regional and national meets with Docksiders in Millersville, Binstock received outstanding exposure for her dynamic skills and began to be recruited for several major colleges.
“Rutgers, Temple and Michigan State were recruiting me as well, but it was on my visit to Western Michigan that convinced me to accept the scholarship there,” Binstock said. “Western Michigan had a great team culture and the gymnasts really supported one another, so I knew I could thrive there.”
Binstock competes in all gymnastic components for the team: vault, uneven bar, balance beam and floor exercises. She injured her shoulder over the summer, so she doesn’t compete in the uneven bars this year. However, Binstock loves the floor exercises the best because she can show her “sassy” personality with each performance.
She recently received a high score of 9.875 in one meet in January and consistently scores well for the Broncos gymnastics team.
Her weekly schedule of being a student-athlete is daunting as she has practice five days a week plus weightlifting, not to mention the weekend meets and dual meets. If she has any time to relax, she watches movies and hangs out with teammates who live in the same apartment complex.
Binstock is also a great student. She carried a 3.5 GPA and made the Academic All MAC (Mid-American Conference) in 2021. She is a sports management major with a minor in marketing.
Binstock grew up in Olde Severna Park and misses the Severn River, her family and dog, but wishes to travel after college and see different parts of the United States.
With her drive, work ethic and energetic personality, Binstock is destined to be successful in any challenge that awaits her.
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