'Why can't I do that?' Men on balance beam. Women on rings. In one gymnastics group, anything goes

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brody Penn tried every sport as a kid. He started with gymnastics, but his parents worried the gym was too far away. So they signed him up for baseball and soccer, only to have a familiar scene play out over and over.

The games would start, and Penn would inevitably find himself turning cartwheels.

“My family was like, ‘You know what? Maybe you should just be in gymnastics,'" said Penn, now a student at Ohio State. “And so I went back to gymnastics.”

More specifically, Penn went back to men's gymnastics. He competed as a Level 10 in the USA Gymnastics system in high school, one step short of elite.

Penn just didn't find happiness. Not true happiness anyway. Asked what drew him to the sport in the first place, Penn doesn't talk about pommel horse or parallel bars — two of the six men's apparatuses — but floor routines set to music, a staple on the women's side.

“It's about artistry, it's about emotion," he said. “I couldn't stop watching it."

He just couldn't do it. Sure, there were times when Penn would hop on the balance beam during practice, but only when his coach's head was turned. Why?

“It was always sort of like a forbidden thing,” he said.

It's not in the National Intercollegiate Association of Gymnastics Clubs, which has taken the sport's gender norms and practically erased them. The NAIGC gives its athletes the freedom to compete in whatever discipline they want.

For Penn, now a member of the Ohio State University Club Gymnastics Team, that meant the opportunity to lean into the things that made him fall in love with the sport in the first place. He's hardly the only one. The NAIGC offers “Unified Artistic Gymnastics,” which lets athletes compete in any event they like, a la carte style.

Want to do men's floor exercise and uneven bars? Sure. Still rings and balance beam? Go for it.

Nearly a quarter of the over 1,700 competitors who participated in the NAIGC's 2025 national competition in Pittsburgh this month tried at least one UAG event. Nearly 100 gave “the decathlon” — performing all six men's disciplines and all four women's disciplines — a shot.

During the all-around or individual events at nationals, the athletes are eligible for awards based on whichever gender group they registered under (women's-plus or men's-plus), their skill level, and whether they're part of a college or community team.

It's not that way in the decathlon and the omnithon — which are the 10 artistic events plus trampoline and tumbling. In those events, athletes compete against everyone else at their level, regardless of gender identity.

“It's pretty beautiful, really,” said Penn, who took first in the decathlon in the open/advanced group at nationals. “It's a great vibe.”

It's also, in a way, a great equalizer.

Julia Sharpe had two brothers who did men’s gymnastics growing up. She joined the gym on the women's side and had plenty of success. But it was kind of boring. Sharpe started experimenting with men's events during what the MIT club gymnastics team called “switch day" more than a decade ago. She was hooked.

“The men actually have variety,” said Sharpe, who finished third in the decathlon at nationals behind Penn and just ahead of her husband, Nate. “There's all these different things that they get to do. Rings and parallel bars are just completely different. I just thought it would be cool to try those other things."

Now, a full 10 years-plus into competing while also teaching men's and women's gymnastics to beginners, Sharpe has learned that while there are some events in which cisgender men may have a potential advantage because of their body composition — like say, still rings, which requires significant upper-body strength — there are also events in which a man's body might struggle.

Sharpe pointed out that in the lower level of NAIGC men's artistic gymnastics events, the women are “destroying the men” in part because the women typically come to the men's events with an established background in the sport; most novice men are typically completely new to it.

During nationals, for example, the highest score on pommel horse in the development group was an athlete from the women's-plus division.

The vast majority of NAIGC athletes don't compete to win, but to explore and experiment. Some of the loudest cheers during nationals came when an athlete competed on an event that didn't necessarily align with a gender norm.

Morgan Kessler, a student at Texas State University, has bounced around the sport. He reached Level 10 in men's gymnastics before reaching elite in trampoline and tumbling. He's returned to artistic gymnastics as a college student, but on his terms, which is exactly the point the NAIGC is trying to make.

“It's just a really inclusive environment,” Kessler said after an impressive women's floor exercise routine in which he mixed powerful tumbling with dance elements that allowed him to showcase his more creative side. “Whether you're out on the floor competing with the women's floor team or men's, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. Everyone is going to cheer for you.”

The only thing most athletes who spoke to the AP agree on is that pretty much nobody wants to do the pommel horse, the event that gymnast-turned-“Dancing With The Stars” winner Stephen Nedoroscik drilled to help the U.S. men win a team bronze at the Paris Olympics last summer.

“Pommel horse is the devil,” said Fay Malay, a member of the Jurassic Gymnastics club who competes in women's artistic gymnastics but hopes to give the decathlon a shot one day. “And then whoever invented that, like, hated men and everybody else. But mostly men.”

There is another piece to this. Men's gymnastics has struggled to gain traction in the U.S. for years, and the number of NCAA Division I programs is dwindling. There are obvious reasons — most notably the lack of community gyms that even have men's equipment — but also an underlying one: the way the sport can be perceived.

Penn says he's been through his “fair share” of harassment. Find a social media account showcasing a man doing what is considered a “women's” event and you don't have to scroll down too far before the trolls come out. Asked if it bothers him, Penn shrugged.

“That says more about their character than mine,” he said.

Eric Petersen does not fit the profile of someone who would be open to hopping up on the balance beam. He competed for the Air Force Academy men's team 30 years ago, then took a decadelong break before getting back into the sport.

The married father of two teenagers admits the kid who suited up for the Falcons would never have thought one day he'd be saluting women's floor exercise judges.

Yet there Petersen was, rocking multicolored leggings and a shirt that read “Kenough” while “I'm Just Ken” from the blockbuster movie “Barbie" blared over the speakers and everyone nearby roared with delight as he competed his floor routine for the final time.

Petersen will put together another one with new music and a new theme for next season, when he will be 50. He has no plans on “retiring.” Why would he? Gymnastics has never been more fun in part because it's never been more open.

“All that stuff, the idea that men do this and women do that and never the ‘twain shall meet,' it's all arbitrary," he said. “It's made up. Why are we self-selecting out of it? I'm just a guy right? Why can't I do that? Why can't we do that? Why does it have to be that way? It doesn't.”

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Ten Harder, of Boston University Gymnastics Club in Boston, dismounts the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Raiden Hung, of Jurassic Gymnastics in Boston, competes on the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Julia Sharpe, left, of the MIT Gymnastic Club of Boston, finishes her warm up before competing in the floor exercise at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Raiden Hung, center, of Jurassic Gymnastics from Boston, to compete on the balance beam with teammates Eric Petersen, left, and Fay Malay at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Brody Penn of Ohio State Club Gymnastics team puts chalk on his feet before warming up on the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Brody Penn of Ohio State Club Gymnastics team competes on the uneven bars at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Julia Sharpe, of the MIT Gymnastic Club of Boston, competes on the parallel bars at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Brody Penn of Ohio State Club Gymnastics team warms up on the balance beam at the 2025 NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's 2026 budget plan would slash non-defense domestic spending by $163 billion while increasing expenditures on national security, according to White House statements Friday.

The plan shows a desire to crack down on diversity programs and initiatives to address climate change. But it doesn't include details about what Trump wants on income taxes, tariffs, entitlement programs or the budget deficit — a sign of the challenge confronting the president when he's promising to cut taxes and repay the federal debt without doing major damage to economic growth.

Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the upcoming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trump's return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican president's second-term pursuits, alongside his party in Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the plan showed fiscal discipline given the problems of persistently high budget deficits. The budget released on Friday did not, in fact, include a forecast on government borrowing.

“President Trump’s plan ensures every federal taxpayer dollar spent is used to serve the American people, not a bloated bureaucracy or partisan pet projects,” Johnson said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the cuts could ultimately be more extreme than what the administration has proposed, noting that the budget doesn't provide funding levels for programs such as Head Start.

“President Trump has made his priorities clear as day: he wants to outright defund programs that help working Americans while he shovels massive tax breaks at billionaires like himself and raises taxes on middle-class Americans with his reckless tariffs," Murray said.

The budget seeks to cut discretionary spending by a total of 7.6% next year, but includes a 13% increase in national security spending.

The State Department and international programs would lose 84% of their money and receive $9.6 billion, a cut that reflects the existing efforts by adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The Housing and Urban Development Department would get a $33.6 billion cut, while the Health and Human Service Department would receive $33.3 trillion less and the Education Department's spending would be reduced by $12 billion.

The Defense Department would get an additional $113.3 billion and Homeland Security would receive $42.3 billion more.

The IRS and FBI would lose money, while the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program would be ended. There would be $980 million less for college students in work-study programs, as well as similarly sized cuts for adult education and instruction for learning English.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would lose nearly $3.6 billion under the plan, while the National Institutes of Health would face a steep cut of almost $18 billion. The budget would eliminate more than $15 billion for infrastructure-related programs tied to climate change and $1.3 billion from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The White House budget plan arrives as Trump has unilaterally imposed what could hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases in the form of tariffs, setting off a trade war that has consumers, CEOs and foreign leaders worried about a possible economic downturn.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, provided contours of a so-called skinny version of topline numbers only regarding discretionary spending. Administration officials said a fuller budget will come soon with plans to address the drivers of the annual deficit.

The nation's estimated $7 trillion-plus federal budget has been growing steadily, with annual deficits fast approaching $2 trillion and the annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion. That's thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code that reduced revenues and the climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, largely to cover the nation's health needs as people age. The nation's debt load, at $36 trillion, is ballooning.

Democrats are prepared to assail Trump's budget as further evidence that the Republican administration is intent on gutting government programs that Americans depend on.

Congress is already deep into the slog of drafting of Trump's big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered funds for the administration's mass deportation effort — a package that, unlike the budget plan, would carry the force of law.

But deep differences remain among the Republicans, who are trying to pass that big bill over the objections of Democrats.

"We are awaiting some final calculations on a few of the tax components, and we expect to be able to complete that work on a very aggressive schedule,” Johnson said.

It's Congress, under its constitutional powers, that decides the spending plans, approves the bills that authorize federal programs and funds them through the appropriations process. Often, that system breaks down, forcing lawmakers to pass stopgap spending bills to keep the government funded and avoid federal shutdowns.

Vought is also expected on Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead as the Trump administration presses its case to Congress for funds.

Among the more skilled conservative budget hands in Washington, Vought has charted a career toward this moment. He served during the first Trump administration in the same role and, for Project 2025, wrote an extensive chapter about the remaking of the federal government.

Vought has separately been preparing a $9 billion package that would gut current 2025 funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which involves the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to cease funding for PBS and NPR.

Vought has said that package of so-called budget rescissions would be a first of potentially more, as the Trump administration tests the appetite in Congress for lawmakers to go on record and vote to roll back the money.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks as President Donald Trump, right, listens during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of N.Y., second from right, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of N.Y., right, arrive with other House and Senate Democrats for an event to mark 100 days of President Donald Trump's term on the steps of the Senate on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

FILE - President Donald Trump listens as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought speaks during an event on "transparency in Federal guidance and enforcement" in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Oct. 9, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)