Lesson 9 - USA Today

CONNECTIONS!
A Global Education
Initiative 2004
As seen in USA TODAY, April 13, 2004
Talented U.S.
gymnasts
abound at
Karolyi Camp
'We're strong. And we
expect to contend in Athens'
By Greg Boeck
USA TODAY
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
Making the most of her chance: Courtney McCool, 16, performs on the balance beam at the Visa American Cup in
February. She was little known before the competition but
won a silver in all-around.
and the balance beam.
NEW WAVERLY, Texas — Cross the
railroad tracks outside this town of 950,
turn left at the corner store, drive
about 7 miles and you'll run into the
dirt road. Follow it as it winds over two
bridges, then snakes through the pine
trees for several more miles.
This is the off-the-beaten-path to
Karolyi's Camp, a sprawling, 2,000-acre
ranch tucked deep in the Sam Houston
National Forest, 50 miles north
of Houston.
Young female gymnasts with hearts
set on Athens and the 2004 Olympics
in August commune here with nature
— camels, goats, peacocks, horses and
ostriches roam freely on the grounds —
Bela Karolyi's backyard, where the
famed Romanian motivator molded
Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug into
Olympic heroines with his booming
Eastern European accent, is the national training center for the U.S. women's
team. Here, Marta Karolyi, his wife and
the team coordinator, quietly is assembling potentially the deepest U.S. team
in Olympic history.
Gymnasts arrive monthly for intense,
week-long training sessions run by
their own coaches but overseen by
Marta Karolyi and her staff. At the latest camp, which ended Saturday, world
medalists Carly Patterson and Katie
Heenan, and up-and-comers Allyse
Ishino and Alicia Sacramone were chosen to compete in the Pacific Alliance
Gymnastics Championships, which
open Thursday in Honolulu.
They are among 20 gymnasts Marta
Karolyi says are still in the running for
the USA's six Olympic spots. "We have
to select the best from the best,"
she says.
Bela Karolyi says the USA, which won
no medals in world championship or
Olympic competition from 1997
through 2000, could send two competitive teams to the Olympics. "Easily," he
says. "It's amazing. Only at the last
Olympics we were struggling to bring
together five athletes."
He was the team coordinator for that
team, which unraveled in Sydney, finishing fourth in the team competition.
After the Games, he quit, content to
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CONNECTIONS!
continued
work his ranch, run his summer youth
camps and fade into the background as
USA Gymnastics' No. 1 cheerleader.
philosophy, too.
An unknown until Marta Karolyi
picked her to compete in the Visa
American Cup in February, McCool
won the silver in the all-around. Last
month she punctuated her rise, winning the Athens Olympics test event
all-around competition.
In 2001 Marta Karolyi, the low-key,
technical genius behind her personable, bear-hugging husband, took over
and triggered a unified resurgence
around a centralized program based
out of Karolyi's Camp. The training system brings top gymnasts and coaches
together on a regular basis.
She's driven and focused. They
all are.
At Karolyi's Camp, they are introduced to the same conditioning and
warm-up program that produced
Nadia Comaneci 30 years ago. The
camps also promote team unity.
"Marta," says Terin Humphrey, an
alternate who came through at the
2003 worlds, "has really turned it
around and created a team
atmosphere."
Especially at the camp, where the
athletes bond in rustic cabins, watching movies and playing canasta, and
push each other in two state-of-theart gyms.
"I think I surprised people in Athens,
but this is my goal," McCool says.
"Being up there on the podium, it's like,
'OK, I'm here. I have to do this in a couple months, too.' "
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
Headed to Hawaii: Olympic candidate Carly
Patterson will compete in Honolulu.
Here, it's not what have you done for
me lately; it's what have you done for
me today.
Exhibits A and B: Chellsie Memmel,
the
alternate-turned-star,
and
Courtney McCool, the latest to
break through.
This is her moment, and she's grabbing it.
"Coming here the first time, it was
scary," McCool says.
"Meeting Marta, lining up, being so
strict and intense. You get used to it. If
you can handle it here, you can handle
it anywhere."
Even in Athens.
Since winning the bronze team
medal at the 2001 worlds, U.S.
women's teams have not lost at a
major international competition at the
junior or senior levels, capped by last
year's first team gold medal at the
worlds in Anaheim, Calif., one of four
U.S. medals.
"We're back. We're deep. We're
strong. And we expect to contend in
Athens," says Bob Colarossi, president
of USA Gymnastics.
The competition is so intense that
even Patterson, billed as the next Mary
Lou after bringing home a silver in the
all-around and team gold at the worlds
last year, is pushed in camp.
"You have to come here prepared and
ready," she says. "If you're not working
hard, someone else is."
Memmel, 15, finished 10th at the
2003 nationals and was assigned to the
second-tier team for the Pan American
Games last August. There, she won five
medals, including team and all-around
gold. Just days later, Memmel stepped
in as an alternate at the world championships, when injuries and illnesses
sidelined three gymnasts. She played a
major role in the USA's team gold,
earning the highest all-around mark of
any American in the finals.
"We're all ready to be called on, like I
was last year," she says.
Memmel's performance shocked the
gymnastics world, but it guaranteed
her nothing in the Olympic selection
process. "You don't live off your past
accolades," she says.
McCool,
16,
lives
by
that
Countdown to Athens
The three key events in the selection
process for the U.S. Olympic women's
gymnastics team:
u June 2-5: U.S. Gymnastics
Championships in Nashville. This event
will whittle the contenders to the top 12,
plus athletes who have petitioned the
sport's federation for injury waivers into
the Olympic trials.
u June 24-27: Olympic trials in
Anaheim, Calif. The top two all-around
finishers and seven others, chosen by
three-member selection committee, will
be invited to a final selection camp.
u July 10-18: Team selection camp at
Karolyi's Camp near New Waverly, Texas.
The final lineup of six competitors and
three alternates will be determined.
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CONNECTIONS!
continued
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National Standards
Individual Development and Identity
(Students) describe the ways family,
religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality,
socioeconomic status and other group
and cultural influences contribute to the
development of a sense of self.
Source: NCSS
NL-ENG.K-12.6 APPLYING
KNOWLEDGE — Students apply knowledge of language structure, language
conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and
discuss print and nonprint texts.
Source: NCSS
Student Challenge on: D i v e r s i t y
APPLICATIONS: cooperative learning, health, competition, evaluation
USA TODAY Snapshots®
U.S. public
prefers football
%
21.1
Americans’ favorite
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spectator sports1
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1 – Spectator sports are
those that people have
attended, watched on
television, listened to on
the radio or read about in
the media
Source: ESPN Sports Poll,
a service of TNS
Intersearch
By Ellen J. Horrow and Dave Merrill, USA TODAY
Which of the sports
listed at left do you enj oy
watching most? Why do
you think pro football is
the top spectator sport in
the U.S.?
The NFL Youth Football
program has developed
seven guidelines to help
kids and their families
have an enj oyable experience every time they play
football. They are: 1.)
Make it fun; 2.) Limit
standing
around;
3.)
Everyone plays; 4.) Teach
every position To every
participant; 5.) Emphasize
the fundamentals; 6.)
Incorporate a progression
of skill development for
every participant; 7.) Yell
encouragement, whisper
constructive criticism.* In
small groups, develop a
list of up to 10 guidelines
that encourage kids and
families to have an enj oyable time participating in
any sport or extracurricular activity. Share your
lists in class, and choose
the top five.
*Source: www.nflyouthfootball.com
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