Northoftampa: Gymnast's injury turns into lucky break

Gymnast's injury turns into lucky break

Forced by a broken foot to concentrate on a single event, Lindsay Beddow turned adversity into opportunity - and a top finish in regional competition.

By TERRY JONES

WESTCHASE -- Though she is a great overall gymnast, Lindsay Beddow spent four months last year practicing a single event, the uneven parallel bars.

With her broken foot in a cast, it was the only exercise she could manage without great risk of more serious injury. The vault, balance beam and floor exercise would have to wait.

But that extra concentration helped the 17-year-old Westchase resident take a top 15 overall finish in the Southeast U.S. regional competition last year.

Last weekend, after an injury-free year of training, she took first overall in the same competition, held in Fort Lauderdale, including a first in uneven bars.

Her skills have impressed a number of college coaches around the country, including top-five ranked Louisiana State University, where the Sickles High School senior recently accepted a full athletic scholarship.

"The broken foot made it very uncomfortable to train for several months last year, but it helped me vastly improve my skills on the uneven bars," Beddow said.

"I have only the nationals remaining in this season. (May 5-6 in Lansing, Mich.) I have qualified for the regional meet all four years as a level 10, but this is the first time I won the best-all-around championship."

Athletics have been part of Beddow's lifestyle since she was 5. She participated in soccer, swimming, diving, softball and dance.

However, she soon realized she couldn't do her best in all sports and maintain a satisfactory academic record.

"I love gymnastics and I realized the time needed to do my best would eliminate other sports so at 10 I dropped everything but gymnastics and academics," she said.

Though it's her favorite sport, Beddow said she never gave serious thought about trying to move up to the very elite, Olympic-level competition because it, "is like a full time job."

As a gymnast, Beddow trains and competes completely outside of her school life, because the sport is not a varsity high school event in the bay area. She trains three to five hours a day, five days a week at a gym in St. Petersburg. Then there are weekend meets around the state and country.

"I attended the prom and homecoming and get involved in some events like that," she said. "Much of my non-school and gymnastics activities are with Lauren Companioni and other members of my level 10 team. We travel a lot so we go to movies, shop and other things together on trips and around Tampa.

"I will miss Lauren (a junior at Plant High) and my teammates most next year, but I'm sure I will make new friends at LSU," she said. "We will still communicate though. Maybe Lauren will select LSU next year also and that would be nice."