At 4 p.m. this afternoon, family, friends, and other members of the Parker community gathered together in the Draft Gym to celebrate the signing of senior Kai Uemura to Stanford University men’s gymnastics. Uemura is the first student in the class of 2024 to commit as a student athlete and accept an athletic scholarship making this also Parker’s first signing day event of the year.
National Signing Day has traditionally been the first day a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for a collegiate sport with a school that is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Today, Uemura signed his National Letter to compete in Division 1 gymnastics with Stanford University beginning in the fall of 2024.
Uemura is an elite gymnast at Lakeshore Gymnastics Academy in Mount Prospect, Illinois. Since 2017, he has earned 15 team and individual titles for national competitions and international meets. He is a three time all around individual national champion.
At Uemura’s signing, he shared that Stanford has not only always been his dream, but his parents’ as well, and that he’s proud that he was able to make those dreams come true. He is looking forward to competing at the collegiate level and hopes that the Stanford gymnastics program will help him achieve his goal of going to the Olympics. Uemura thanked his parents, coaches, teammates, and the Parker community.
After hearing words from his coach over the past thirteen years, PE teacher and Uemura’s advisor Terry Davis, Parker Athletic Director Bobby Starks, Principal Dan Frank, and Uemura’s English teacher Mike Mahany, Uemura signed the Stanford commitment papers and put on his hat with the Cardinal block S.
