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It
can take many steps
to achieve a dream.
For three local gymnasts,
whose common dream is
to some day make the
Olympic team, their
journey recently took
a large step forward.
Chandler
residents Jamie Armijo
and Samantha Stephens,
along with Casa Grande's
Maria Destadio, returned
from a two-day competition
held Oct.1-3 at the
Karolyi Ranch in Houston
- the training facility
for the U.S. Olympic
team.
The TOPs
testing event, held
at the national gymnastics
center in Houston, brought
together about 3,000
gymnasts, ages 7 to
11, from throughout
the country.
Marta Karolyi
and the rest of the
national coaching staff
conducted the competition
and will invite the
top 20 gymnasts in each
TOPs age group back
to the facility to train
with the national team
in 2005.
"It
is a very, very intense
couple of days,"
Desert Lights owner
and coach Lisa Spini
said. "It's not
vacation time. The judging
is very strict. It's
a very prestigious event."
To qualify
for the national competition,
gymnasts had to advance
from a regional event.
The Desert Lights trio
competed against participants
from Arizona, California,
Nevada and Utah in the
regional event.
Armijo and
Destadio, now 11-year-olds,
both qualified for the
national team camp as
10-year-olds. Stephens,
10, competed in her
first TOPs event. Results
from the event will
not be available for
a few weeks.
"This
gives the national organization
a way to identify the
most talented young
gymnasts in the country,"
said Spini, who runs
Desert Lights with her
husband, John, who has
been the women's gymnastics
coach at ASU for the
past 25 years.
"They
can help guide them
to high-level competitions
and keep tabs on how
they are progressing."
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The
three gymnasts agreed
the judging was much more
difficult at the national
event than at the regional
level. They said they
went to the meet just
hoping to perform as well
as they can.
"We kind
of knew what to expect,"
said Armijo, who attends
Kyrene Pueblo Middle School
and was last year's Level
8 all-around state champion.
"But there were different
skills you had to do this
year that you didn't do
at the regionals."
Stephens said
the magnitude of the event
is what surprised her
the most.
"They
had three big gyms there,"
said Stephens, a fifth-grader
at Basha Elementary School,
who has competed in gymnastics
for seven years. "They
had three events of everything
going on at the same time."
Because they
average at least 20 hours
per week of training,
sometimes meeting six
times a week, the gymnasts
didn't need to add any
practice time to prepare
for the TOPs event. According
to Spini, they focused
more on their skills and
strengthening their routines.
"This
is what I love to do,"
Armijo said. "Maybe
it seems like a lot of
work, but I can't wait
to get here everyday.
Sometimes it's hard, but
once you get here you
have so much fun."
Destadio couldn't
fit in any more practice
time if she wanted to.
The Casa Grande Middle
School student does most
of her homework on the
drive to Chandler every
day, works out for up
to four hours, then sleeps
or finished her homework
on the way home, arriving
around 8:45 p.m.
"Sometimes
the days seems really
long, but I love this,"
Destadio said. "I
just wanted to do my best
and that's all you can
ask for."
In the 7-8-year-old
division, gymnasts do
not qualify for a national
event, but are awarded
medal status for their
regional performances.
Chandler's
Arianna Ruth, 7, earned
a gold medal at the regional
event and Alegra Garcia,
8, was a silver medalist. |
