The La Jolla YMCA gymnastics team capped off a stellar season in style with a first-place showing at the TeamGym Nationals June 25-27. “It was very exciting,” head coach Kristi Gorney said of the moment her team realized its accomplishment. “We all started to cry, the kids all started to cry, the coaches all started to cry.” The local YMCA sent three teams to Indianapolis for the national meet. Those squads competed against other teams in their respective levels from all over the country. It was the Level 4 team, La Jolla Gold, that took home top honors. Members of the Gold include Caitlin Sanders, Natasha House, Savannah, Lawson, Yaam Gonen, Kai Movellan, Emily Perlman, Hailey Berry and Emily Veliz. The trip to Indiana was a tremendous success for all the La Jolla teams, with a second-place finish by Level 6 and a strong performance by Level 5 to go along with the championship. Team gymnastics performances are a little different than what most people are used to seeing on television during the Olympics. Each squad consists of roughly eight members who perform an ensemble floor routine, as well as a jump event. Teams are judged as a whole, so depth of quality is much more important than any individual’s performance. Levels are in ascending order and are based on skill — not age — making Level 5 more skilled than Level 4, for example. La Jolla competitors ranged from 8 years old up to 17. Just making the team was no easy task, as tryouts were needed to whittle down the numbers to a manageable size. “A lot of our kids in our program aspire to be on the team someday,” Gorney said. “We have about 800 kids.” The YMCA team also took part in the Gymnastics for All Challenge in Indianapolis. For their exceptional performance of “Rama Lama” they were awarded gold. Although it’s made up of mostly girls, the sport is officially co-ed and La Jolla had two boys participating at nationals. The future looks bright for YMCA team gymnastics. The program has been invited to participate in the World Gymnaestrada in Switzerland next summer. For more information, call (858) 453-3483.
