Thursday, 4/24/97 No Regrets Winning the national championship a
bittersweet farewell for graduating Bruins
By Rachel Kelley Daily Bruin Contributor Winning the national
championship title marked the conclusion of four UCLA gymnasts’
collegiate careers. Although the road to victory was at times
bittersweet, none of the senior gymnasts, Leah Homma, Amy Smith,
Carmen Tausend, nor Anne Dixon, has any regret regarding their
career. For four years these athletes trained three-to-four hours a
day, five days a week and spent all of winter quarter and half of
spring travelling across the nation for weekend competitions. They
watched what they ate, had no chance to attend professors’
afternoon office hours, and didn’t get to spend much time with
friends outside of the gymnastics family. "We gave up little
things, but you learn to take things into perspective and ask
yourself ‘what is going to take me where I need to go,’ " Smith
said. All of them agree that their gymnastics careers more than
enhanced their college experiences, despite injuries, despite
having to redshirt a year "because of a little tiny rule put in the
books for football," and despite forgoing any opportunities to
party from Pac-10s on. "When you love what you do, sacrifices
really don’t feel like sacrifices," Tausend said. These four
national champions will take away from the sport of gymnastics much
more than a bagful of tricks which they hope to use in their lives.
They have learned lifelong skills such as time management and
teamwork which Tausend considers to be a very valuable asset. "For
us, our team was much more than gymnasts," Tausend said. "It was
the counselors, the tutors and the coaches all working together.
When you give for one another, it makes it all come together." Not
all of their careers were fairy-tale material with picture-perfect
endings, but, for at least one senior, there was never a terrible
moment. "Even though coming in fifth (at nationals) my freshman
year and fourth (at nationals) my sophomore year was a little bit
of a disappointment, we still accomplished a lot," Homma said.
"None of it was a waste. It certainly wasn’t a waste for Dixon,
whose one and only appearance at nationals (she missed the other
appearances due to injury) was her sophomore year, where her
individual efforts on the bars helped the team to its fifth-place
finish. "I hurt my knee during warm-ups, but I told them (coaches)
that I was fine and I competed anyway. That was my most memorable
moment," Dixon said. Although for Homma, Smith, Tausend, and Dixon
their competitive gymnastics careers are now history, they aren’t
ready to give up the sport altogether. "I can’t imagine it
(gymnastics) not being a part of my life. It would be impossible
for me to stop cold turkey. I’ve been doing it (gymnastics) for
longer than some of my teammates have been alive," Homma laughed.
Smith agrees. "I’m certainly not going to be a stranger in there,"
Smith said of the gym which has become her home away from home.
"I’ll just take it one day at a time." JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
Amy Smith is one of four graduating seniors who will say goodbye to
the Bruin gymnastics team after this season. SUSIE MING HWA
CHU/Daily Bruin Senior Leah Homma endured numerous trials great and
small on behalf of her extended family, the women’s gymnastics
team.