"I love gymnastics and I wasn't competing"- Paige Anastasi points to UCLA’s deep roster while revealing reasons for Clemson move

The Clemson Tigers' newest addition Paige Anastasi recently discussed why she left the UCLA Bruins' gymnastics team. Anastasi joined the Bruins as a freshman in the 2023-24 season, representing them for two years. The gymnast joined in from her high school, Lawrence Academy. She also trained in club gymnastics with Brestyan’s Gymnastics prior to her move to UCLA.

Paige Anastasi competed for the Bruins this year, recording impressive performances on vault at the NCAA Regional Second Round and scoring a 9.725 on her Yurchenko 1.5. Anastasi also performed on the floor exhibition at Maryland with a score of 9.700 which marked her first performance of the year. She was part of the squad that managed to earn the Big Ten Championships and a runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships.

In a video she uploaded on her YouTube channel, Anastasi explained why she left the Bruins to join the Tigers. (2:37 onwards)

"I sat down with my coaches and through the whole year, I honestly was thinking about entering the portal because of multiple reasons. Number one, I'm very healthy. I love gymnastics and I wasn't competing, plain and simple. You guys saw at the competitions, online or in person that I wasn't in lineups and that was simply because I was with a very talented team. Olympians, former elite gymnasts, people with past experiences and whether I deserved to be in line-ups or not was not my choice."

"Number two, I'm not even doing a major that I want to do. And honestly number three, I wasn't very happy. It may have seemed like I was happy online, that's the point of social media, to make it look like everything is perfect. But generally most of the time, I wasn't. Going to practice was just wasn't what I wanted to do most days. Overall, I was just not my best self and I wasn't putting my best self forward."

Anastasi will be joining the Clemson Tigers in hopes of more playing time and studying for a major of her liking.

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Paige Anastasi on move to Clemson Tigers: "Stepping into this next chapter with confidence"

Still taken from Paige Anastasi's Instagram (Source: @paige_anastasi/Instagram)

Paige Anastasi took to social media to announce her move to the Clemson Tigers.

In a post shared on Instagram, Anastasi wrote:

"Taking this leap and leaving behind everything I’ve known wasn’t easy, but I’m stepping into this next chapter with confidence and no regrets."

Paige Anastasi will be joining alongside other top prospects such as Molly Brinkman, Celeste Field, and Brooke Pierson who are all part of the class of 2025.