Not even a full year into her NCAA career, Tonya Paulsson’s debut has been anything but quiet: four ACC honors, five ACC Newcomer of the Week awards, the 2026 ACC Newcomer of the Year award, and becoming the first freshman in the ACC to win the Conference Championship all-around title. Paulsson’s arrival to Cal comes during a tumultuous year for the Bears, marked by the loss of their esteemed head coaches, Justin Howell and Elisabeth Crandall-Howell, a graduating senior class that regularly anchored lineups, and two incoming commits who switched commitments as a result of Howell-Crandall’s move to Clemson.
Amid the team’s changes this season, Paulsson is proud of the consistent progress she and her teammates have made each week. After her career-high 39.500 performance after week nine, she found herself ranked in the top 25 nationally. ”It shows I’ve been working hard consistently in the gym,’’ Paulsson said regarding her career best performance. ”Obviously you can have a good meet, but I feel like both my own scores and the team’s scores are going up a little bit every week, and so it shows that we are working hard.’’
One of the biggest challenges has been the non-stop action week after week. Cal doesn’t have a bye week scheduled, and the Bears have had only two home meets in the nearly three months of competition. Traveling nearly every weekend is already brutal for most people, and it adds extra layers of stress when you have to juggle training, competing, and studying at one of the most prestigious universities in a new country.
While Paulsson is enjoying the experience, she admits it takes a lot of energy to get all of it done. ”It’s been constantly competing since January 2nd, and so that’s been a bit of a ‘wow’,’’ Paulsson said. ‘’It feels like it’s going on forever, but I enjoy it. I’m just thankful that I get to do this, because I know a lot of girls out there who would do anything to be where I am, so I try to enjoy all of it.’’
With the addition of NCAA gymnastics in the United States, Paulsson has experience competing for teams in three different countries. Different training environments have given Paulsson insights in different gymnastics cultures. ”In Sweden, we’re not used to talking about ourselves. We don’t really cheer for each other either, not that we don’t want to, but it’s just not what you do. You focus on yourself and be quiet,’’ Paulsson said.
After parting ways with the Swedish federation, Paulsson recently began competing under the Taiwanese flag, and chose to represent her mother’s country, leading the Taiwanese team to a fourth-place finish at last year’s Asian Championships. In Taiwan, Paulsson found the environment even quieter than in Sweden, giving her time to focus before heading into a very loud, extroverted new training environment in the American college gymnastics scene. ‘’I took advantage of training in Taiwan for six months and just being quiet and inside my head, before I knew I was going to come to America and just letting it all out.’’
The elite and college stages have different demands; one demands individual excellence, the other demands athletes to be strong team players. ”I’ve never had a team before, so it’s way different when I’m on the beam and there are 15 girls screaming at me like, ‘let’s go!’, ‘you got this!’,’’ Paulsson said. ”In the beginning I wasn’t used to it, but now I feel like I’m helping my team out.’’
Paulsson says adaptability is important, especially heading into the summer elite season, where she intends to compete at the Asian Championships, Asian Games, and then the World Championships later in the fall.
In the meantime, Paulsson is adjusting to her life in America. Her first time in the States was during her official visit to Berkeley. Since then she has been able to enjoy the warmth of the California sun, the variety of international cuisines in the Bay area, and the challenge of taking college courses in English as she works to complete a degree in legal studies.
”I think the hardest part is everything is in English and I’m not used to that,” Paulsson said. ”Like, I’m used to speaking Swedish every day, and now I have to write long essays in another language. That’s hard, but I think I’m getting better and I’m doing my best.’’
Paulsson chose to major in legal studies after being inspired by Harvey Specter in the American legal drama Suits. ”I think it’s interesting and I want to be a lawyer,” Paulsson said. ”My mom told me that because I have a very good memory, I could remember anything that I read in class. The teacher would ask a question, and I would be like ‘Oh yeah, that’s on page 79.’’’
There will be challenges on the road ahead, but with an Olympic bid, three more years of college ahead, Paulsson is just getting started.
