Kayla Hoffman was born on August 13th, 1988 in Summit, New Jersey to Richard and Helen Hoffman. Kayla began gymnastics at age of three in 1991. Her mother used to do gymnastics when she was younger. After she initially put Kayla in classes, Kayla has love it ever since! Currently, she is a NCAA gymnast training at the University of Alabama. Kayla is not the Hoffman with gymnastics talent; younger sister Emma is also a competitive gymnast!
Up until level 10, Kayla spent her years at Sunburst Gymnastics. She won the uneven bars at Level 8 State. In 2000 she qualified to the Level 9 Championships and placed 4th. In 2001 Kayla placed 3rd at the Level 10 Regional's and qualified to the Junior Olympic Nationals. At the end of the year, Kayla decided to further her gymnastics career at a different gym, Rebound Gymnastics.
Kayla was recovering from an injury in 2002. In 2003 Kayla competed at Friendship classic as a junior and placed 3rd all-around behind Maria Kryuchkova of Russia and Grace Taylor of Aiken. She missed qualifying to International Elite at Zone Meet, but Kayla changed that in 2004. In 2004, Kayla successfully passed International Elite and qualified to US National Championships. Unfortunately she got injured before the Championships and was unable to compete.
2005 is Kayla's most successful year as an International Elite. She easily passed International Elite. When Kayla went to the National Team Training Camp in February the coaches were impressed with her gymnastics and qualified her to US National Championships! Kayla used the US Classics as a tune up for the upcoming US National Championships. She placed 19th all-around. At Kayla's first US National Championships, she impressed everyone with her clean form and wonderful technique as well as her power on floor exercise and vault. She placed 8th all-around and made her first National Team.
Kayla began her 2006 season at Friendship classic in Pottsville, PA. She placed 2nd all-around right under Japan's Mayu Kurodo. Just a week after the Friendship Classic, Kayla was selected as one of two senior gymnasts to represent the USA at the weekend Kayla and her teammate Natasha Kelley, traveled to Moscow, Russia for the World Cup Event in May. Kayla qualified to two event finals on the first of competition at the World Cup. She was second on bars and 4th on floor. Unfortunately she fell on both of her events during the finals and placed seventh on both. Kayla went to US Classic in Kansas City, Missouri as a tune up for the upcoming US National Championships. She placed 10th all-around. Kayla made the Senior National Team for the second time in row after tying for 11th all-around with Jacquelyn Johnson. Kayla was selected to go to the World Selection Camp and got invited back to the second camp. Sadly, Kayla could not go to the second camp due of hamstring injury.
In 2007, Kayla decided to retire from elite gymnastics, so she could focus on getting ready for her first year at University of Alabama. Kayla and her new Alabama teammates started their season in the beginning of 2008 at Alabama vs Illinois, where Kayla finished 2nd in the all-around. Kayla helped the team to win 9 competitions throughout the season, including the South Central Regional Championships. Kayla won seven vault titles as well as six floor exercise titles. At the NCAA Championships, the Alabama gymnastics team advanced to the Super Six and finished 6th. Kayla qualified to vault finals, where she placed 5th. After Kayla's regular season was over, it showed that Kayla was No. 5 on vault, No. 33 on uneven bars, and No. 18 on floor exercise. She also earned All-American honors and was named to the inaugural SEC All-Freshman team as well as earning second team All-Sec.
Kayla continued to contribute to Alabama's success in 2009. She won vault against Florida, Oklahoma/UNC and at the Regional Championships. She won bars against Oklahoma/UNC, Stanford and at the Regional Championships.
Photos © Lloyd Smith
