Gianna Ruffing: A Blooming Star and a Heart for Giving

Driven by a heart for everyone, Maryland gymnast Gianna Ruffing is building on her own story while helping others write their own. As much time and effort as she puts into her own competitions on the mat, she spends even more giving back to her community and her sport.

“I've learned that I'm a very empathetic person,” Ruffing said. “I truly care about each and every person, and I never want anybody to feel left out or hurt. Being able to be that person that can make somebody's life just a little bit better is everything to me.”

During the 2026 gymnastics season, her talent and confidence on the floor have grown immensely. She’s emerged as a role model for young gymnasts while representing the culture that Maryland gymnastics prides itself on.

“One of our favorite things about Gianna is that she's doing a great job gymnastically, but she's so much more than that,” head coach Brett Nelligan said. “We always say at Maryland that we want to recruit good gymnasts, but great people, and Gianna really exemplifies that. She's a star in the gym on the weekend, but she's a star in the classroom, in the community, and in giving back to others.”

Ruffing has been a pillar of Maryland’s efforts on the uneven bars and the floor exercise this season, making a huge impact for her Terps in her junior season and soaking up every chance she gets to compete with her teammates.

“I am honestly having the time of my life,” Ruffing said. “This team culture is the best I've ever experienced, and these truly are my best friends. Being able to go and compete bars with my best friends and having a team truly be so excited for each and every person has been amazing. Being able to make more of an impact this year has meant the world to me.”

“We're so proud of her,” Nelligan said. “She's really feeling comfortable in her own skin and becoming a leader on the team, and it's coming through in her performance. She's having a breakout season. The bars lineup, especially, is a spot where we rely on her heavily. She's also had great performances on the floor this year, so we're just proud of her steps forward that she's taken this year. Her confidence is there, she's enjoying what she's doing, and it's coming through in her competition.”

She’s a shining star in College Park this season, but her focus is rarely on herself. Ruffing has dedicated countless hours to working with people around her, often centered around building their confidence and supplying them with tools to succeed in all facets of life. 

In high school, she spent time working with Cradles to Crayons in Boston, where she helped collect clothing and school supplies to make sure every kid has what they need to excel in the classroom and at home. She collected donations for nearly a month outside of both her club gym and her high school before dropping all of the items off to help lift up children of Massachusetts.

The gymnastics community is one built on connection and community. Consequently, it attracts the best people and characters that college athletics has to offer, especially at Maryland.

“One of the main pillars of our program is gratitude,” Nelligan said. “We always try to remind ourselves of all the great things that we have, and all the opportunities we have to be at a top-25 academic university and on a top-25 gymnastics team with all the great facilities and equipment and apparel, travel, and meals. What keeps us grateful is that we recognize that there are people out in the community that don't have some of the things that we take as luxuries, so we always want to give back and make sure that we kind of appreciate what we have. The best way to do that is by giving to others.”

Ruffing is one of many Terps to dedicate her time off the mat to helping others. Working with her teammates and other athletes creates bonds and uplifts the Maryland program and the impact it has in College Park. 

“We love helping out in any way we can, and being able to do it together just makes it such a better experience,” Ruffing said. “Having fun, making jokes, just playing around, also like giving back to the community that gives so much to us is awesome.”

Ruffing also spent time in high school working with the Special Olympics, an event that allowed her to touch several lives and grow the sport.

“Every Saturday after practice, we all stayed back and volunteered as coaches for Special Olympic athletes,” Ruffing said. “We helped them develop basic athletic skills while also encouraging their confidence and enjoyment in sports, because they don't necessarily always have the opportunity to participate in sports like we do.”

She helped gymnastics continue to be an inclusive sport, built around encouragement and confidence. Ruffing learned a lot about herself as a volunteer coach, specifically about the kind of person she wants to be, and how she wants to use her kind heart to build others up.

“That experience taught me a lot about patience, adaptability and reinforcing how important encouragement can be to somebody that doesn't necessarily have the most confidence in themselves,” Ruffing said. “Helping these athletes and kids grow and gain confidence was so rewarding.”

Her heart for giving back stems from a family of giving and sacrifice. Ruffing’s mom is a former gymnast, and knew what it took to balance gymnastics, everyday life, and community service. Ruffing’s parents raised her to put others above herself, creating a pair of role models for Ruffing to aspire to replicate.

“Both my mom and my dad are the most amazing people, and they've always shown me and given me the best opportunities,” Ruffing said. “They’ve sacrificed so much. Seeing my parents be such great role models for me, and always being so kind to others, has really helped me want to give back in the same way they did for me.”

Ruffing’s also spent time as an activities coordinator in assisted living facilities, where she was able to help others find their balances of competitiveness and creativity, managing Thanksgiving turkey events, crafts, and various games, including a basketball toss. 

“I'd honestly say I enjoyed being an activities coordinator the most,” Ruffing said. “I'm a very creative and crafty person, so being able to lead those activities and crafts for an assisted living facility was super fun for me. Being able to make some of these days a little brighter was awesome, and seeing the elderly be able to maybe go back to their younger days and be able to play sports again, or have that competitive side is really fun to watch.”

Her balance extends beyond gymnastics. She earned All-Big Ten academic honors in 2025 while pursuing a kinesiology degree and finding time to lift up her community.

“It's a learning curve,” Ruffing said. “It’s definitely something that I’ve learned throughout my time here. I feel like I finally got it down in my third year, just being able to organize everything and get stuff done. I'm more of a morning person, so I get stuff done in the morning and then focus more on my athletics later on in the day.”

She doesn’t want to stray far from her own competitive side, sparking a dream of selling medical devices post-college. Her desire to help others and provide life-changing care mixed with the rush of competitive sales, will put the kinesiology degree she’s chasing to great use. 

“I did an internship with Maryland Made, working in physical therapy,” Ruffing said. “That's always what I thought I wanted to do. But being a student-athlete, I'm extremely competitive, so I wanted to combine the physical therapy, sports medicine field with my competitive side. So just being able to combine both business and sports medicine, I feel like that's the perfect avenue for me.”

She’s still a junior and has plenty of time left on the mat, competing for her Terps and changing lives in College Park. 

“I mentor club gymnasts and do choreography around here,” Ruffing said. “Being able to use that experience is really meaningful to me. It's helped me develop communication and mentorship skills because every athlete learns differently and has different needs and requires different types of support when it comes to learning gymnastics and social skills.”

“One of the most rewarding parts is when I see those gymnasts come back to XFINITY Center and watch me compete and share updates on their own seasons and how their floor routines are going,” Ruffing said. “Seeing how much of an impact I had on their experience in the sport makes it incredibly fulfilling and has reinforced how important mentorship and being a role model to these athletes can be.”