Gymnasts must commit themselves early and completely to their sport.
Kristen Weber jogs to a floor exercise mat in Dynamite Gymnastics, set her glasses out of the way
and suddenly executes a back tuck—a back somersault in the air from a standing start—ending with hands in the air in the gymnast’s salute.
With a grin, she retrieves her glasses and jogs back. Gymnasts rarely walk anywhere.
In the world of competitive club gymnastics, 15-year-old Kristen is a level 8 (out of 10). She practices three to four hours daily, at least five days a week, while simultaneously competing on her school’s Scholastic Bowl team, teaching gymnastics to younger girls on Saturdays and earning A’s at the LSA. She’s also being considered for a trip to the city’s sister city in Germany.
Kristen has been in gymnastics since she was in the third grade. She started at an “itty-bitty gym” in Robinson, which closed soon afterward. After her family moved here, she took up the sport again at the YMCA before moving to Dynamite Gymnastics. She trains 16 hours a week during the school year, all the while maintaining high grades, and about 22 hours a week in the summer.
“You make do,” she said. “You take time out of sleep.”
Her ambition is to compete at the collegiate level.
SPECIFIC SKILLS
Kristen and Megan Towner, 17 are the only two level-8 competitors on the 38-member team. But Sydney Potts, 10, is coming up fast on their heels. She’s already a level 6.
To advance through competition levels, a gymnast has to master specific skills as determined by the U.S. Gymnastics Association. Beyond the 10 levels of club gymnastics is the “elite: level of national and Olympic gymnastics.
Though there are nationally ranked gymnasts in their 20s, most of the ones the public remembers best—Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci, Keri Strug—were in their teens when they made it to the elite level.
Gymnastics is something you should start doing fairly young, said head coach Brad Tubbs.
“I’ve had kids start at 11, and that’s considered late, but they pick it up real quick,” Tubbs said. “But to build it into a career, you should try to get in by at least second or third grade. We’d like them to start between (ages) 4 and 7.”
If you intend to take it as seriously as Kristen, Megan and Sydney do, you should think long and hard about it first.
“Make sure that you definitely want to do it before you start,” Kristen said. “It’s a lot of devotion, a lot of time, a lot of pressure on you to do the best you can.” Then, with a big smile, she added, “It’s great once you get into it.”
CONSTANT PRACTICE
Megan was 10 when she started training, and she made it to level 8 quickly with a lot of hard work, she said.
“You practice your routines over and over again until they’re perfect,” she said. “That way, you’re ready for competition.”
All the girls get butterflies before a competition, but that’s when the hard work at practice pays off. Once she starts a routine, Megan said, her body automatically knows what to do.
She’s also a cheerleader at MacArthur High School and class salutatorian. Being a serious gymnastics competitor doesn’t preclude having other interest, but it does require mature decision-making and priority-setting.
“This is a lifestyle, and it’s something the girls are dedicated to,” said Ken Davis, marketing director for Dynamite Gymnastics. “It’s not something you can dabble in. It’s not something you do ‘on the side.’ It’s a full-time, dedicated sport.”
Most sports have a season, Davis said, and require only a portion of the calendar year for practice and competition. Gymnastics is year-round—the conditioning and fitness required of a competitive gymnast have to be maintained constantly.
“Our girls are in top condition,” Davis said. “You have to be in this sport, or you could sustain an injury.”
Sydney’s father, Sam Potts, worries about that.
“He thinks about it when he’s watching her,” said Valerie Potts, Sydney’s mom. “I just tell her to be careful and concentrate so she can focus on what she’s doing.”
OLYMPIC DREAM
Sydney also plays the violin and, like the other girls, is a good student. She rarely has homework left to do in the evenings because she gets it done at school, she said, and is so dedicated to her sport that she practices even at home.
“I want to go the Olympics, but it’s going to take a long time,” Sydney said, drawing out the word “long” into several syllables.
All the gymnasts at Dynamite are required to keep their grades up, Tubbs said. Every grading period, the kids bring in their report cards to be photocopied and put into their files. If their grades go below Cs, they can’t compete and lose some gym time.
But that almost never happens, Davis said.
“The gymnastics causes them to be disciplined, and that’s helps with time management,” he said. “The child is the most important thing to us here. They must maintain good grades, and if they don’t we start curbing (activities) so they get their grades back up. But we’ve never had to do that. All our girls are A and B students.”
Dynamite is starting a boys’ program and within the next year, there will be a boys’ competitive team as well as a competitive cheer team, Davis said. Tryouts for the cheer team will be held in April.
Davis is new to Dynamite Gymnastics and jokes about finally being able to weak sweats to work—his last job had a suit-and-tie dress code—but it’s the kids who really make it worthwhile, he said.
“I still stand with in awe with my chin hanging down, looking at these girls and what they can do,’ he said.