Bridget's Bio
Bridget Dean was born on December 2, 1998 in Cape Coral, Florida. She began her gymnastics career in 2006 at the Venice YMCA in Southwest Florida. Dean quickly demonstrated exceptional athleticism competing in her first Level 4 meet just several months later.
Dean's family moved to Lee County in June of 2006 where she began training at Gymnastic World of Fort Myers. She was placed on a fast track that allowed her to progress from Level 5 to 7 in just nine months. At the 2007 Level 7 State Championships, Dean won third place in the All Around, and was a gold medalist on the balance beam.
At the 2008 Level 8 State Championships, Dean placed first All Around in her age bracket. Her score placed her third among the 180 contestants and earned her spot on the Florida team. In order to qualify for the Florida team, her score regardless of age had to place her among the top eight contestants. Approximately 90 athletes qualified to compete at the Region 8 Championship meet.
Dean also qualified for the 2008 USA Gymnastics National TOPs team. TOPs is a Talent Opportunity Program for female gymnasts ages seven to 11 and their coaches. During the summer, gymnasts are evaluated on physical abilities at the state or regional level. From the more than 2,400 participants, 300 gymnasts qualified to participate in the National TOPs testing. From here approximately 60 gymnasts will make up the TOPs National Team. This is the second straight year that Dean has been named to the National team.
In December 2008, Dean and her coach, Katie McGinley, attended a training camp in Houston, Texas, at Karolyi's Gymnastics, home of well-known gymnastics coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi. The Karolyis coached Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskal, Kerri Strug and many other World and Olympic champions.
Dean qualified for USA Gymnastics pre-elite status during a two-step HOPES testing process conducted in December 2008 and February 2009. HOPES is a USA Gymnastics pre-elite program. Elite status is gymnastics highest designation and the one carried by Olympians. Dean is now eligible to compete in Challenge Meets which determine the national pre-elite training squads each year.
In addition, Dean moved to Orlando Metro to train under Jeff Woods.