Wilton High School junior Camryn “Cammy” Pennucci has earned a rare honor in the gymnastics world: officially having a balance beam skill named after her.
The recognition came after Pennucci competed at the 2025 Women’s Development Program National Championships which took place in Salt Lake City, UT on May 9-11.
After Pennucci’s performance at nationals caused a bit of a social media sensation among gymnastics enthusiasts, GOOD Morning Wilton reached out to Pennucci for all the details.
As a first year qualifier to compete at the elite Level 10 (Pennucci was a two-time Level 9 balance beam champion for the Eastern region), she said she felt honored just to be competing, noting this was the first year she qualified to compete at the elite Level 10.
“Nationals is really cool, because it’s really the top of the lot — like it’s all the top gymnasts,” she said. “Everyone there is so talented, I was just super excited to just be there.”
While she may not have left with a medal this time, Pennucci certainly left her mark. Her balance beam routine featured a “ring jump half” which will now be known in gymnastics circles as “the Pennucci.”
The skill begins with a split leap in which the gymnast’s back leg bends up while her head bends back toward her pointed toe to form a ring, before adding a half turn before landing.
A basic ring jump may not be a remarkable feat, but adding the half turn and doing it on a balance beam — sideways — certainly is.
“I used to compete a normal ring jump on the beam — without turning at all — which is a skill that a lot of people do. And then one day over the summer, my coach was like, what if we were to add a half [turn]?” Pennucci recalled. “And I was like, that would be kind of crazy!”
“I never really expected for it to go anywhere, but then we just started working it on the floor, and eventually I brought it up to the low beam, and then finally I brought it up to the high beam,” Pennucci continued. “I was like, oh, this is real. I’m actually doing this.”
Pennucci worked to master the skill for months.
“The plan was, if I qualified for nationals, that we were going to bring it back for nationals,” she said. “So that’s what we did, and it ended up working out well.”
Earning credit for the move in a competition like nationals seems almost as complex as the move itself. Not only does a gymnast need the courage to attempt such a difficult skill, she must execute it with enough precision to earn credit for it. In the sport’s scoring rules, the Pennucci is rated an E skill, among the more difficult beam moves.
Pennucci’s longtime coach, Laurie DeFrancesco, the owner and head coach at Arena Gymnastics in Stamford, explained how the naming process worked.
“In order for it to be named ‘the Pennucci’ in the USA Gymnastics Code of Points, Cammy had to submit a description and video of the jump to the USA Gymnastics Technical Committe prior to the Level 10 National Championships,” she wrote in an email to GMW. “Cammy had to be the first and only athlete to perform the skill at the National Championships well enough to meet the technical requirements of the skill.”
Another gymnast had also attempted the move, but did not successfully execute it in competition. Pennucci did.
“I had to make sure when I competed it, that my head was back enough and that my back leg was high enough in order to get credit for the skill,” Pennucci explained. “So luckily, it was, and on the Monday after I competed, [gymnastics officials] had a big meeting with a bunch of the judges, and they reviewed the video, and eventually decided that I did get credit, and that’s how I got it named after me.”
“My coach got the news, and then she texted my mom and I, and that’s how I found out,” she said. “It’s been kind of crazy.”
By then, her performance had gone viral. In addition to sparking the social media buzz, Pennucci also caught the attention of several college coaches at the competition. She hopes to continue her gymnastics career at the collegiate level, though she’s not sure exactly when she will showcase her eponymous move next.
“My season for this year is over, so my next meet is actually next December. I am hoping to do gymnastics in college, so maybe someday in college I’ll get to compete it,” she mused. “[That] would be so exciting, but as of right now, I’m just kind of taking it one step at a time.”
“I’m just so happy I got to be there, and just super honored to have this skill named after me,” Pennucci said. “It’s something I could not have ever imagined happening.”
Her coach is optimistic about Pennucci’s future, but also knows she’s already made a lasting impact on the sport.
“I couldn’t be happier for Cammy, and I look forward to seeing where she will go to continue her gymnastics career after high school,” DeFrancesco wrote. “The ring jump half will be listed as ‘the Pennucci’ in the USA Gymnastics Code of Points forevermore!”