Desert Lights Gymnastics

News Spotlights

Young gymnasts taste Olympic-style meet

Chandler Connection
by John Mahnke

Photo (U. Frank Williams Jr.) Caption - Claire Hom (from left), 7, Alegra Garcia, 8, Arianna Ruth, 7, and Stefani Catour, 8, who train at Desert Lights Gymnastics in Chandler, recently competed in a regional meet in Houston. Hom and Catour are Ahwatukee Foothils residents.

  They are only 7 and 8 years old, but they know their gymnastics. They know how to tumble, how to perform a handstand on the balance beam, fly with ease on the uneven parallel bars, and flex their tiny muscles doing pull-ups and leg lifts.
  Know what else? They know what they want to accomplish.
  "The Olympics," was the response from the gymnastics quartet at the Desert Lights Gymnastics center in Chandler when asked what they wanted to do when they grew to be "older" gymnasts.
  "When I'm old and I'm like 18, I want to be in the Olympics," said Stefani Catour, a student at Kyrene de la Sierra Elementary School.
  Catour, along with fellow Ahwatukee Foothils resident Claire Hom, recently competed at a regional event as part of the national TOPs program in Houston. At the regional event, Catour and Hom competed against gymnasts from Arizona, California, nevada and Utah.

  The national event was held at the Karolyi Ranch under the direction of Marta Karolyi, the U.S. women's national coach, and her staff. Her husband, Bela, is responsible for molding Olympic champions Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Dominique Moceanu.
  The 7- and 8-year-olds are assigned medal status based on their regional testing. They will have to wait another year before being eligible for a chance to be invited back to a weeklong camp conducted by Karolyi and her staff, which is reserved for gymnasts 9 and older that place in the top 5 percent at the national event.
  Catour grabbed a gold medal in the 8-year-old division and Hom earned a silver medal in the 7-year-old competition.

   "It's a very prestigious event," said Lisa Spini, owner and one of the instructors at Desert Lights.
  A pair of Chandler youngsters, Arianna Ruth, 7, and Alegra Garcia, 8, also medaled with a gold and silver, respectively.
   "These kids have exceptional talent," Spini said. "They can perform some very difficult routines."
  Although the foursome are only 7 and 8, they can perform exercises such as round-offs with back handsrpings and aerial cartwheels.
  "The bars are my favorite," Hom said. "I just like doing it. I like the floor, too. I don't like doing the 20-minute run."
   All the girls agreed with Hom's distaste for the cardiovascular portion of the day's workout. However, they were all smiles when talking about gymnastics as a whole.

  "We do lots of fun stuff," Catour said. "I like the back handsprings the best."
  Spini said the girls practice at least three days a week, three hours per day.
  "They were all in our preschool program an dshowed the talent to get into what we call our Hot Shots," said Spini, whose center instructs about 1,000 kids. "We look for kids who have raw ability and who want to move into competitive gymnastics. Not all kids want to compete, which is fine. We have gymnasts here for all different reasons."
  Hom has a specific reason to continue with her gymnastics.
   "I want to be like Carly Patterson," Hom said about the U.S. gymnast who captured the all-around gold medal at the summers Olympic Games. "I want to be on a Wheaties box."