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A young gymnast takes top honors at a national AAU meet in Atlanta recently.
By TERRY JONES
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 10, 2001
CARROLLWOOD -- Years of five-day-a-week training paid off this summer for 9-year-old Caitlin Taylor. The Carrollwood gymnast won the national Best Overall gold medal for her age and level in the Amateur Athletic Union National Championships in Atlanta.
Caitlin also won gold for her performance on the uneven bars and floor exercises events. In the two other events, she placed fourth on the vault and 11th on the balance beam.
"Caitlin only started competing in January 2000 and started at level four," coach Missy Richtmeyer said. "She quickly moved up to level five though and qualified there for the AAU nationals. Even though she is new in the sport, Caitlin did exceptionally well in the national meet."
Caitlin, who is home-schooled, is one of nine children. Three of her siblings participate in gymnastics. Her brothers, Chris, 16, and Jason, 11, train at Apollo Gymnastics in Clearwater and her 5-year-old sister, Jessica, is training at level four at the Bob Sierra YMCA in North Tampa, where Caitlin trains. Genny Taylor, 12, was the first of the family to get involved in gymnastics, but she dropped out of the sport more than a year ago after breaking an arm.
Caitlin enjoys the sport, even though the training can be grueling. "The push-ups and other conditioning exercises aren't much fun, but I really love the rest of the training," she said. "I especially like the fly aways on the uneven bars. You let go, do a back flip and practice on making a good landing."
Her national title on the uneven bars attests to her proficiency with the fly aways. The fourth-grader said she also enjoys the floor exercises and vault, but sometimes experiences fear on the balance beam.
"I really like the floor exercises, because it is so dancy and it combines tumbling," she said. "The vault is fun, just running down the lane and vaulting into flips. But the landing is hard. I sometimes get nervous on the beam, but my coach is helping me to get better. I fell off the beam at nationals and that's why I finished 11th."
Caitlin wants to pursue a college gymnastics scholarship, and perhaps even compete on the USA Olympic team. Her coach says she will start competing in level six when the new season begins in January.