Shaylah Scott's presence has been impactful in the Illinois women's gymnastics program since she was a freshman in the 2019 season. While Scott was always the person making jokes or lightening the mood, she was also a fierce competitor who cracked the lineups in her first year at Illinois.

As a freshman, she tied the eighth-best beam score in program history, scoring a 9.925 at the State of Illinois Class. The next season, she continued her success on the beam, tying that career-high while also excelling in other events. Scott won her first career vault title in her sophomore season and recorded a career-high 9.925 on her floor routine. That year she was a Second Team All-Big Ten selection.

Scott grew more into a serious leadership role during her sophomore season, being named a team captain and that followed her into the 2021 season. As one of the Illini's top performers as a junior, Scott had four consecutive meets with a floor score of 9.900, helping her team to multiple conference wins.

While Scott looked nearly perfect from an outside perspective, on the inside, she was earning these accomplishments while in immense pain. After struggling with severe hip issues for years, Scott made the decision this summer to medically retire from gymnastics.

"I've decided to step away and take care of my body so I'm able to graduate college and move on and go to law school in a healthy way," Scott said. "It was a long time coming. I've been struggling with a lot of pain in my day-to-day life. And so, we were just trying to do what was right for me in the situation. And it was a hard conversation, but I think everybody knew that it needed to happen."

In Scott's first two years at Illinois, the pain was present, but it was still manageable as she was able to safely compete at a high level. But head coach Nadalie Walsh believes all of that stress and discomfort on Scott's body caught up to her in her junior season and her quality of life was starting to suffer.

During the summer, Scott was barely training in hopes the rest would have her ready for competition in the winter. But after seeing multiple doctors and being unable to train at all, Scott had to start having those difficult conversations with Walsh and her family.

"I just really wanted her to know, first of all, that I support her and whatever her decision was, that I would not be disappointed in her to really take any stress off where I didn't want her to feel like she had to do it, because she's always done it," Walsh said. "And I think once we had that conversation that I wanted her to know that she had freedom to make the best decision for her and that I would find a new role a new way for her to still give to the program in a way that would help everybody. I think that brought her some peace, hopefully."

When Scott began thinking about the decision to medically retire, she consulted a lot of her friends and family as she was conflicted on what to do. But after everyone kept telling her to do what was best for her, Scott took a step back and decided she would have to make the final choice alone.

A couple years ago, that might've been hard for Scott. When Scott was a freshman, Walsh remembers her being very quiet and hardly ever speaking as if Scott felt "what she had to say needed to be stifled."

But as Scott's freshman year progressed, Walsh saw her open up and develop a strong, influential voice that would become a key leader of the Illini. At the same time, Scott was always uplifting her teammates and bringing fun energy into practices and competitions.

"She was always known as the funny person, she would make jokes, she would always have a slogan that she would say once a month, and kind of just someone that you could always go to and just laugh if you needed the mood lightened," Illini gymnast Mallory Mizuki said. "So that was basically her role freshman year. And then sophomore and junior year, she really stepped up in lineups, she was anchoring. And she also kept the same presence of being lighthearted and funny, but she got more serious and was able to like focus and dial in and that kind of helped everyone else follow her lead in lineups and I feel like that's what helped our team last couple years."

Finding that powerful voice while also being a person who could always see the positive helped Scott make the most difficult decision of her life. But after four months of going back and forth with doctors and her support system, Scott is ready to start a new journey.

This season Scott will still be with the team, helping coach her teammates and continuing to be a leader. With COVID-19 altering last season, Scott is excited to help out the younger gymnasts who have yet to experience a normal year.

"I definitely love being a leader to all the girls," Scott said. "And so just knowing that I'll still be able to contribute in that way and kind of guide them since we do have so many underclassmen. And then since our juniors haven't really had a normal experience, I think I'll still be able to contribute in a way that is helpful to the team."

While Scott's role keeps her close to the team, she also gets to live comfortably and focus on her future. Scott is now focused on getting into Law School as she has already taken the LSAT and is starting the application process. Scott hopes to go to a school in Chicago or back in her home state of Texas.

The rest of the Illini, including Walsh, are just as excited to see Scott's future unfold. And for now, Walsh is just happy to have her leader feeling healthier and ready to help the team to success this season.

"I love and care about my athletes as humans and people," Walsh said. "And I don't want any of them to be going through life every day, in so much agonizing pain that they're trying to pretend they don't feel it just to do gymnastics. She's had a great run, she has led this team, through the fire and through the victories, and she still can lead with wisdom. So, she's still going to be very instrumental for us. And it's time for some of the other athletes to step up and fill those shoes."