His Own Take: How Sam Phillips Is An Inspiration On and Off the Competition Floor

By Nate Salsman

A Change of Scenery 

This year Sam Phillips transferred from Nebraska to Illinois. This decision came off a successful career at Nebraska which included becoming an All-American, being on first team All-Big Ten in 2022, and medaling individually at Big Ten Championships. After many ups and downs battling through injuries during his five years at Nebraska, Phillips wanted to fulfill as much eligibility as he could use. When looking to take his sixth year, Phillips originally wanted to stick with what he knew at Nebraska.

“My first choice was Nebraska,” Phillips said. “I wanted to stay there and be a part of the team, and it had been my home for five years, and I wasn’t ready to go. But he [Nebraska head coach Chuck Chmelka] was like, there’s no space. So I was like, ‘Okay, I’m entering the portal’.” 

Two things can be true at once for Phillips, he may miss being at Nebraska, but is also loving being an Illinois athlete. Transferring to Illinois was an easy decision. 

“Right when I messaged Dan [Ribeiro], and I was on the phone with him, he just kind of welcomed me with open arms and showed a willingness to work with me and maximize my value for my last year, and really take me in and provide me that space to complete my year,” Phillips said. 

Transferring schools forced Phillips to be open to change. He was now going to be working with a new coaching staff and brand new teammates, which can be intimidating for a seasoned athlete. However, Phillips was excited for new opportunities and experiences. 

“I definitely approached it with a sense of like, okay, I’m opening myself up to just a ton of new experiences, and I’m gonna just dive head first into the water and just take in everything,” Phillips said. “It was definitely exciting getting to experience a new team, a new way of life, a new system. More just like organizational things, like scheduling, buying into the program, planning, structure and workouts, all that stuff. So that was great to see.”

Doing Things His Own Way

Phillips has long been known as a gymnast who brings a different flare and pizzazz to men’s gymnastics. He typically demonstrates a level of artistry on floor exercise that many gymnastics fans enjoy. This is a skill that has come naturally to Phillips and has only increased as he has gotten more comfortable with who he is as a person. 

“At first, it kind of just came naturally,” Phillips said. “My sophomore year on my floor, I did a transition that was like the aerial with the full turn, and then I started doing the full turn in my routine. And so that was kind of the start. And then my junior year in life, I started becoming more comfortable with myself and my sexuality, and I think that started to show on the gym floor, because when you’re yourself, when you are confident with who you are. That’s when you’re usually more confident on the competition floor.”

Phillips believes the more work that he did working on himself outside of the gym, helped him improve who he was as a gymnast.

“So I think naturally, I just started to feel more comfortable within myself, who I was, as  a queer man, and that kind of just showed on the competition floor. And I started to really own that. And as I was owning myself, I was owning my gymnastics,” Phillips said. 

Each year Phillips has become more well known for showcasing his personality on the competition floor. He’s able to use floor exercise as a stage and brings a performance by incorporating transitions between tumbling passes and crowning himself as a celebration for a strong routine. Phillips’s goal is to change people’s stigmas and assumptions. 

“A teammate came up to me, and his grandpa was like, ‘Sam, does this thing he looks so hard hitting and masculine, then he’ll switch it up and kind of do something flamboyant or extravagant,’” Phillips said. “And my teammate was like, ‘yeah, that’s kind of what he does.’ And he was like, ‘I like it. It’s cool. It’s interesting.’ That’s what I want.” 

Being an Activist off the Competition Floor

In 2024, Phillips was a student athlete ambassador at the 2024 Athlete Ally Action  Awards. Being an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights is important to Phillips. Feeling unsupported by his teammates is something Phillips has had to struggle through in the past. He hopes with better education, all athletes will be supported. 

“Being able to be comfortable around your teammates was the hard part for me,” Phillips said. “It was like balancing friendship and setting boundaries and kind of being forced to be friends with people who don’t agree with my lifestyle, or don’t even agree with me as a person. And so, a big thing for me is inclusion and education and making sure people know the history behind remarks, words, microaggressions and bigoted statements.”

Phillips understands the importance of bringing awareness to the LGBTQIA+ community and wants all types of athletes to be comfortable in their own skin. 

“I’m not talking about just queer,” Phillips said. “I’m talking about, you can be a straight white Christian male and still feel a little hesitant to be yourself. Inclusion is truly for everyone, and I really value that. I want everyone, no matter who you are, on a team, to feel like you can be included and ask questions and be treated with respect and kindness and feel valued as a person beyond anything else.”

Phillips has done extensive work advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community. At Illinois he has joined leadership teams that organize events such as open table talks that discuss the importance of inclusion. These talks give space for people to talk about their own experiences, whether that be as a queer person or an ally.

More to Accomplish

Despite the success Phillips has already had in his career, he still has big goals to accomplish in his sixth year as a collegiate athlete. Illinois was recently ranked fifth in the preseason coaches poll and they are setting big goals for the upcoming season. This includes winning both the BIG 10 Championships and the NCAA National title. Individually, Phillips is working toward becoming an All-American again, winning medals at the BIG 10 Championships and becoming BIG 10 champion on high bar. In order to reach his goals, he has upgraded and made routine changes on almost every event. These changes include a triple connection on highbar, new floor passes, a handspring double front on vault and many others. One of the ways Illinois strengths as a team is by pushing themselves internally. With the new four up four count format in men’s gymnastics, lineup time is limited. This has teammates pushing each other and is only helping to elevate Illinois’s gymnastics.

Being an Inspiration

Through his gymnastics career, Phillips has had to learn many life lessons and has a message for his former self or younger athletes to not compare themselves to others. 

“Oftentimes those comparisons are wrong anyways,” Phillips said. “Focus on just doing the best gymnastics you can and just being yourself in the gym and on the competition floor and I guarantee you it will work out.” 

As Phillips looks to the end of his college career he hopes that he has inspired people to be their most authentic selves on and off the competition floor. Growing up, Phillips did not see many openly gay athletes in gymnastics. He cites the lack of representation is what provoked him to showcase his authentic self and hopes this has helped younger gymnasts in their athletics journey. 

Catch Phillips and Illinois in their debut meet at the Windy City Invitational on January 18.

Photo Credit: Kevin Snyder, Illinois Athletics

For More

Breaking Down the Men’s Code of Points

Men’s NCAA Coaches Address Changes

For our Men’s NCAA Preview Part 1, Click Here

For our Men’s NCAA Preview Part 2, Click Here!

Why Paul Juda Is Ready for 2025!

Brody Malone to Compete in 2025!

Four Up, Four Count. John Roethlisberger’s Take!