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HomeGymnasticsThe Multi-Talented Christian Marsh | Inside Gymnastics

The Multi-Talented Christian Marsh | Inside Gymnastics


Incredibly, Marsh has found still more ways to wow, using the NCAA granted “COVID year” to return for a fifth season in 2023, while also a first-year law student in William & Mary’s top-rated J.D. program.

Entire books have been written about how to survive the first year of law school, known as 1L, and generally considered the most difficult year of the grinding, high-pressure curriculum. That Marsh is undertaking such a daunting task while competing and training in one of the most difficult and training-intensive sports in the world is mind-blowing.

“It’s not easy, I can tell you that,” Marsh admitted. “I tell my professors that I’m a student-athlete and I’m going to be doing my best to be on time, but I might be covered in chalk or honey. I’m running to practice in between classes, splitting up my day. It’s very regimented. If I’m not in class, I’m in practice. I eat on the run. I get home, I do homework, I shower, and I go to sleep. That’s all I have time for, and then I run it back the next day. 

“I usually get asked a second time when I tell my professors I’m a student-athlete and they’re like, ‘Wait, currently?’ and I have to reaffirm,” Marsh added with a laugh. “I’m making it through, but it absolutely is a tough gig.”

Once the opportunity to do a graduate year came about, Marsh knew law school, which was always his post-grad plan, was the only option.

“I love the sport and didn’t feel like I was done,” he said. “I always intended on going to law school but was presented with the opportunity last November to stay, do a graduate program and take my fifth-year with the team. That felt like an opportunity I couldn’t turn down, but I did set limits, because I knew how difficult it would be.”

One of those limits was a single shot at the difficult LSAT, the test that determines law school admission. William & Mary requires an incredibly high LSAT score—165 is the school’s median, which is the top 8% of test takers nationwide—but to enroll this fall Marsh had just one January opportunity to take the exam.

To complicate matters further, just days before the written portion of the LSAT, Marsh found himself among hundreds of motorists stuck on I-95 by a 2022 Virginia snowstorm, as he struggled to return to school from Christmas break.

“I was trapped in my car on the highway for 21 hours,” Marsh recalls. “Boxed in by semis on all sides and absolutely alone. I had four Starbursts and half a bottle of water. Luckily, I had a blanket, because I had gone on a picnic date with my girlfriend, and she’d left it in the car.”

 The multiple-choice section testing date happened to fall on the weekend of the West Point Open, with Marsh taking the test online in his New York hotel room before rushing to the meet. “The wifi crashed twice during my exam,” he explained. “I took the test in my warm-up gear. I literally shut the laptop, picked up my gym bag, and headed to the meet.”

“Hold that thought because it gets better,” W&M coach Michael Powell added of the already improbable sequence of events. “He got up the morning of the meet and took the LSAT—he was eating his lunch on the bus on the way to the gym—and then competed all-around for the first time in his collegiate career and made finals on two events, then went back the next day and won one of them.”

Help save the program. Create viral videos. Survive a national-news-making disaster. Ace the LSAT, then balance law school and being an all-around NCAA gymnast (yes, Marsh still trains all six events). Put it all together and Marsh sounds more superhero than student-athlete. 

“It’s a challenge, but I think I’m doing all right,” he humbly concludes. “I’ve been extremely fortunate in my career to have made NCAA finals, to have an [ECAC] conference title and earn USAG honors. I’ve accomplished a lot of the goals I set for myself in gymnastics, so my main goal this season is just to have fun. 

“People see me and think, ‘He’s in law school and doing gymnastics, I didn’t even know that was possible.’,” Marsh adds. “It’s like with my videos. People see those that have never watched gymnastics before and see what we’re capable of. I want to inspire the next young gymnast, show them they can pursue athletics in college and excel academically. I want to show them what that looks like.”

Success and determination look a lot like Christian Marsh.



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