As a boisterous 8-year-old, Cienna Rydman took up gymnastics as an outlet for her energy, she said. But she stayed with the sport because of the young role models she looked up to.
When she first enrolled in beginner classes at the Lakewood YMCA, she caught glimpses of YMCA team athletes practicing more advanced skills. “I want to someday be up there,” she remembered thinking.
Now, 10 years later, she is.
This month, YMCA of the USA honored Rydman as an Outstanding Athlete, a prestigious national award and $2,000 scholarship bestowed on two high school seniors who demonstrate academic excellence, character and commitment to their communities through YMCA gymnastics. It’s a well-deserved honor, Rydman’s coaches said. She has trained for thousands of hours, integrates feedback immediately, mentors younger athletes and is the first to help her teammates when they need it, her coaches said. Those attributes reflect the values of the YMCA, they said, and will continue to serve the Millikan High School graduating senior as she continues her athletic and academic careers in college.
One of her first coaches was her mother, Cherie Rydman, who after years of competing and coaching, couldn’t just watch from the sidelines and began helping her daughters hone their athleticism. “I’ve seen a ton of different gymnasts, and some just get it, and skills just come,” she said, adding, “Cienna just works for it.”
In 2021, a new coach stepped into the Lakewood YMCA and saw that work ethic in Rydman. “Give me someone who’s a hard worker over someone who’s just naturally talented, and you’re going to see their growth,” said George Cobb, who coached Rydman for the last five years.
Cobb introduced new drills and conditioning programs, a novel coaching style and environment, Rydman said. “He knew what he was talking about, and I completely trusted him,” she said. Under Cobb, Rydman said her improvement skyrocketed.
She was forced to adapt to a new approach and put herself out there, she said, and those characteristics became integrated into her personality. As a gymnast, “you’re competing by yourself on a four-inch piece of wood,” she said. The poise and confidence she mastered performing in front of an audience has shaped her as a person, she said.
She has led chants at football games and interviewed the mayor at City Hall, she said. “I probably would never have done these things if it weren’t for the sport,” she said.
In early July, Rydman traveled with her team to compete at the YMCA National Gymnastics Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina — a “bittersweet” culmination of her high school gymnastics career, she said.
Before the championship began, Rydman attended a reception honoring the competing high school seniors. There, event organizers announced that one of the Outstanding Athlete Award recipients had participated in YMCA gymnastics for 10 years and was competing in her seventh national championship. Rydman registered that those numbers matched her own. “There’s actually no way,” she remembered thinking.
When the announcer said the award recipient would attend Manhattan University to pursue public service and compete on the acrobatics and tumbling team, Rydman knew it was her.
“I’ve watched all these amazing seniors get the scholarships in all the previous nationals, and to be up there was insane,” she said. “It felt surreal.”
Now, Rydman is training for a new sport: Acrobatics and tumbling, which combines gymnastics and competitive cheerleading, recognized as a championship NCAA sport for the first time in spring 2027. At Manhattan University, Rydman will be “a founding member of this team,” Cobb said. “She’s going to take to this team exactly what she’s had here: She’s going to be a teammate. She’s going to be a leader,” he said.