Nicoletta Koulos

Although Nicoletta Koulos, a senior on the University of Michigan women's gymnastics team, grew up in Long Beach, Calif., it is safe to say that she was certainly raised a Michigan Wolverine.

Her older sister, Penelope, was a member of the Michigan dance team from 2012-16 and her older brother, Jack, graduated from U-M in 2020. Koulos recalls visiting the school a lot throughout her childhood and frequenting camps over the years as well.

She could never imagine attending college and doing gymnastics elsewhere and has been named one of four team captains for the upcoming 2023 season.

"My mom used to ask me, 'If you had to go to a school where you couldn't do gymnastics anymore, would you still be happy,' and my immediate answer was Michigan because I love the school," said Koulus. "I love the change of seasons. The academics, athletics, the school, the atmosphere, the campus, all of it."

Lo and behold, Koulos is in her fourth season competing for the Wolverines and has nothing but admiration for her teammates and coaches.

"I feel like they're just true friends and it's really hard to come by true friends. We really trust in each other, take care of each other and the gym is our safe place," she said. "I get to go to practice, I get to be with my sisters and we're super close. It puts us in a better mood being here. There's just such good support systems everywhere. Bev Plocki is like our second mother, our mom away from home."

Koulos' face lit up when talking about making history with some of her best friends. On April 17, 2021, Koulos and the women's gymnastics team claimed their first NCAA Championship title receiving a program-best score of 198.2500, the third-best score in NCAA Championships history. During the meet, Koulos recorded a career-best 9.9125 while competing on floor exercise.

"Nationals just gives me chills every time I think about it," she said. "I can replay that video in my head of when we won and that is something that will never be taken away from me."

For many student-athletes -- whether or not posting historic nationals results -- time management is a skill that has to be learned and developed, having to balance academics with practice and competitions. However, Koulos shared that managing her time was not a giant obstacle she had to overcome. She remembers having practice four hours a day when she was younger.

"I feel like being a gymnast, in general, we're really good with our time management," said Koulus, a two-time Academic All Big-Ten honoree. "It's just been a routine for us and how we've grown up. We don't know any different."

Her lifelong involvement with gymnastics has not only aided in time management but also inspired her choice of major and future career. Koulos decided on applied exercise science in the School of Kinesiology because she has grown up fascinated by anatomy, muscle memory and how her body works as an athlete.

During her senior year of high school, she suffered from a rare condition called Popliteal Artery Entrapment Syndrome. This condition caused a burning sensation in her calves and made participating in gymnastics extremely difficult as she was continuously misdiagnosed for more than a year. By pursuing a career in sports medicine or as a physician's assistant, she hopes to help guide young athletes through their pain and get them back to competing as soon as possible.

"I knew my body and I knew it wasn't right," Koulos said. "It was really frustrating to go a year or longer without being properly diagnosed. I don't want people to feel the way I did."

Koulos made it clear that she values having more to her life than just gymnastics and she knew that attending the University of Michigan would grant her endless opportunities and experiences to shape her personal and professional goals.

She recalls having to shadow physician assistants and nurse practitioners for a few hours before class last semester at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center.

"I would be tired, but I'd get through it," she said. "I was passionate about the experience. I wanted to see what the difference between PAs and NPs were and what the difference between clinic and hospital was. Getting up at 6 a.m. every day was definitely hard, but I remembered that the school has offered me so many opportunities and I feel like I need to take advantage of them.

In addition to all of her other commitments this semester, Koulos has volunteered as a home health aide to accumulate more patient care hours. For several weeks at night, she took care of an older, handicapped woman and did everything from clean her dishes to dress her for bed. Koulos reflected fondly on her experience with the woman. Not only did her volunteer work teach her a lot of essential skills, but she developed a close bond as well.

Alongside fellow Wolverine Brennan Callow, a senior defender on the Michigan men's soccer team, Koulos transformed a once-underutilized medical program at the Athletic Career Center into a club called Michigan Athletes Towards Careers in Healthcare.

Koulos described M.A.T.C.H. as a club that provides resources and builds relationships between current student-athletes interested in careers in healthcare with student-athlete alums who are working in those fields.

"They really understand what we are going through," she said. "We have limited hours to do our research hours and patient care hours."

Throughout the year, Koulos and her team work to give club members a well-rounded idea of what different healthcare careers look like as well as how to prepare for medical school. Last March, Koulos and Callow worked tirelessly to organize and facilitate a conference that allowed students to create connections with medical professionals, open their eyes to careers they had not considered and recognize what they bring to the table as student athletes.

Upon her graduation from Michigan in the spring, Koulos will be taking a gap year to focus on completing any remaining prerequisite courses and patient care hours before applying to PA school. More importantly, Koulos will be taking time to enjoy her family, travel, relax and take a well-deserved mental break before going back to school.