Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994 TAG: 9407070071
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By CHRIS KING SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Christine Diffell and Mary Beth Umberger, while perfecting their craft in obscurity since no local schools offer gymnastics programs, are having fun and winning championships. Both captured state championships during events sanctioned by the United States Gymnastics Federation last month.
Christine, a 12-year-old from Blacksburg, won state titles on the beam, in floor exercise, on the bars and in all-around at a state meet in Arlington. Mary Beth, an 8-year-old from Newport, captured a state crown in floor exercise at Martinsville.
"I was excited about winning," Mary Beth said. Even though she won a championship in floor exercise, she admitted her favorite event is "the bars, because they're more acrobatic."
Most people identify gymnastics with the Olympics, but the reality of the sport lies not in Olympic glory, but in years of grinding practice in clubs across the country. Christine and Mary Beth work out four days a week because they love a sport that most Americans pay attention to only once every four years.
The girls train at the Roanoke Academy of Gymnastics, the only gymnastics facility in the area. Their only opportunity for improvement in the sport will be through the club; local high schools stopped offering gymnastics in the late '80s.
"I was in dance and Girl Scouts, but I quit [dance] because I would rather do gymnastics," said Christine, who has been the top all-around performer in five of six meets this year.
Gymnastics is definitely her first love. "I like competition, but practice is my favorite part," she said.
Coming off their state championship performances, the girls will continue practicing to get better - not for rewards, but strictly for enjoyment.
"People think only of the Olympics," said Beth Umberger, Mary Beth's mother, "but that is not what it is about."
After capturing state crowns, the girls move up to level eight on the gymnastics rating scale of one to 10. Anyone performing above level 10 is an Olympic caliber - or Elite - gymnast. The step up in class will mean a more demanding training schedule that will require 14 hours a week in the gym.
"I have to work harder," Christine said. "The kids I'm competing with have been in it a lot longer, but it's pretty exciting. I'll have to work harder to get where they are."
Mary Beth, too, is looking forward to the next level. "I can do ... bigger skills," she said.
The two got their start in gymnastics by attending recreational classes. Mary Beth attended her first class at age 4. When her mother returned to pick her up from that first session, her daughter was not outside at the appointed meeting place, but inside, doing pull-ups for the class instructors.
"She seemed to have good coordination and upper body strength," Beth Umberger said. "The coaches said she needed to be placed in a competitive program."
At 8 years old, Mary Beth, a rising fourth-grader Eastern Elementary School, will be the youngest person ever to compete at level eight for the Roanoke Academy.
"I feel [gymnastics] helps Mary Beth. Right now, she lives and breathes it. It helps with her concentration and focus," her mother said. "It makes her very disciplined."
When she's not training in gymnastics, Mary Beth said she practices on the trampoline.
Christine's ascension through the gymnastic ranks has been meteoric. Unlike most gymnasts, who begin practicing at a very young age, she did not start until she had reached the ripe old age of 11. The late start allowed her only one year of practice before this year's state championships. Before then, she focused her attention mainly on her schoolwork and Girl Scouting.
"My friends say I'm a homeworkaholic," Christine said.
Like Mary Beth, Christine, a sixth-grader at Blacksburg Middle School, showed her talent early on during recreational classes.
"[The class instructors] told us she needed to be at the competitive level, and she really wanted to do it," said Cathy Diffell, Christine's mother. "We decided we would give it a year and see how it went, and she has done great."
"I think she will be able to overcome [the late start]," said the girls' coach, Sharon Ford. "She is very determined and a hard worker. She is strong both mentally and physically."
In addition to the hard work required by the kids, the families of aspiring young gymnasts are also required to make considerable sacrifices, both in time and money. In an attempt to reduce the amount of time each family spends traveling - about eight hours a week - the Umbergers and the Diffells carpool. Beth Umberger estimated that it costs about $3,000 a year for Mary Beth to practice, compete and travel.
While the financial sacrifice may seem steep, it is not an issue for either family, as long as their daughters are having fun. Both insist there is no pressure on their daughters to stick with the sport or achieve Olympic status to justify the time and money spent.
"I have tried to talk her into other things," Cathy Diffell said. "But this is what she wants to do, and that's fine."
by CNB