O'FALLON: Zamarripa holds her own against Olympians
But Zamarripa, who trains at Midwest Twisters in O'Fallon and will attend UCLA on a gymnastics scholarship, can take pride in knowing many of her performances match up to those of the Olympic team members.
"With the U.S. team getting ready to compete in the Olympics, it's interesting to note that Vanessa has ties to no few than five of them," Midwest Twisters coach Mickey Orr said. "What comes to mind first is Vanessa atop the podium in 2004 as the Junior Olympic all-around champion. Below her in second place was Sam Peszek and fourth was Shawn Johnson."Those girls, after that JO season, put their nose to the grindstone as far as the elite program, which is a huge commitment, and it's not for everybody. Right now we can compare what Vanessa has done to where those girls are, but when you think about it, Vanessa has done it on far fewer hours. Eighteen to 21 hours is a regular practice week for her over the last two years. Most of those kids that do (Olympic training) have some arrangement with their school where they have a reduced credit load and get credit for their time in the gym, or some elective classes like art and music are waived for a physical education credit. Many are home-schooled, and neither of those were really options for Vanessa.
"When you consider her nine-month hiatus to rest a sore back, she resurfaced at a time when the opportunity was there, but due to an untimely injury, she fell short."
After taking time off due to the back injury, Zamarripa came back in February 2007 and three months later won the Junior Olympic title for the third time.
"Back to the Olympics, Sam Peszek and Shawn Johnson are on the team and so is Chellsie Memmel, who is the only returning athlete (from the 2004 Olympics)," Orr said. "Vanessa competed against her one time at the Chicago Style Meet, which is the largest meet in the nation. Her score was 9.850 and Chellsie scored a 9.825. Melanie St. Clair, another national team member who has since gone on to college, won with a 9.875.
"Ivana Hong, who is an alternate to the Olympic team, competed against Vanessa in the 2004 American Classic the same year Vanessa won her second all-around JO title. She also went to the elite national championship and was top dog in the elite division ahead of Ivana Hong, who finished third. Nastia Liukin, who is probably the top U.S. athlete along with Shawn Johnson and certainly the top performer on uneven bars and possibly balance beam, finished first in the division ahead of Vanessa that year. She was a national elite and Vanessa was a pre-elite.
"We had come to a point in pursuing a fourth JO national title, having won the state title and the regional title again, and having a change to become the first to win that title four times. Right now she shares the record of three all-around titles with a gymnast who now goes to the University of Georgia. That girl was from former Olympian Kim Zmeskal's gym in Texas, which is where Vanessa made a late run at elite and a shot at the championships. We wanted to see how her vault compared to all these Olympic hopefuls because she has an incredible vault. She's very good on beam, but her vault is absolutely international caliber. In the last Olympic cycle, Annia Hatch made the Olympic team just based on her vault."
Knowing that the U.S. was relatively weak on vault, Orr held out hope the event could give Zamarripa an outside shot at a ticket to Beijing.
"Unfortunately we couldn't continue through the optional phase of the (national elite) qualifier due to an injury," Orr said. "This was after day one when Vanessa was leading the pack (in the compulsory portion) with one of the highest scores in recent years, and that included a fall on the beam.
"We didn't get a shot at optionals, so we kind of hit a dead end at that point. She wouldn't have been able to petition for the next qualifier because she was not currently an elite, but in the ankle would have been too sore (to compete on)."
Zamarripa sprained her ankle during warm-ups for her first optional event.
"It was right after I did my second tumbling pass in my routine," she said. "When I landed, it rolled. It was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't get to compete anymore (at the meet) and I wanted to see where I stood compared to everybody else."
"Vanessa certainly had the talent, but as far as getting the opportunity, things just didn't work out," Orr said. "I don't think she's even at the peak of her ability and career. I have full confidence in UCLA to do a great job, not only with training, but also with medical control, which was kind of a problem for Vanessa over the years. The university has a great medical team at their immediate disposal.
"In 2012, when Vanessa graduates from UCLA, the next Olympic games will be coming around. I think she will really be at her peak at that point."
Zamarripa made a verbal commitment to UCLA last summer, well before her senior year at O'Fallon High School. She said she feels that making an early decision helped her both athletically and academically.
"Since I was injured, basically what I've been doing is getting my ankle stronger, with a lot of conditioning and doing whatever I could do, mainly bars," she said. "It was in mid-May when I got hurt and I'm just now beginning to do everything I did before."
Zamarripa, who turned 18 on Aug. 1, left for UCLA on July 28.
"As soon as summer school starts I can start training, but actual school doesn't start until Sept. 3," she said. "I just want to have a really good freshman season. The worlds (world championships) are coming up later this year and if I'm healthy enough, that's an option."
The ankle injury and the back injury are just the latest physical obstacles that Zamarripa has had to overcome.
"At the critical high-level stage of her career, when you learn a lot of tumbling skills, she was not able to tumble and this was for a period of about three years. She had what is termed calcaneal apophysitis, which is basically a gap between the tibia and the calcaneus (heel bone). Until skeletal maturity, those bones are not close enough together in some athletes and that causes great pain. As she got older, those bones-as predicted by a very good podiatrist we saw in St. Louis-did get closer together and the pain eventually left and she was able to do more.
"For three years, we had to train basically just on trampoline and train very lightly and save the heel for competition. We had to stretch the Achilles' tendon all the time before, during and after workouts and just keep the load light. That's a huge disadvantage to somebody with her talent who has already been doing triple-fulls on floor and double-doubles on trampoline. There's not much she couldn't do in the air difficulty-wise, but because of the heel, she couldn't get airborne.
"She had to kind of suffer for a while, but right now up until the ankle injury, she was getting about as much air as I had seen her get. Vanessa still has a lot of skills that she could learn based on her early training and her very high level of awareness on trampoline. Not for every gymnast, but certainly for Vanessa, the sky is the limit."
Competing at less than 100 percent-or sometimes not being able to compete at all-has been frustrating for Zamarripa, but she has always maintained a positive attitude.
"I do the best I can, but it is hard because I didn't feel like I reached my full potential," she said. "I just do what I can."
Zamarripa is considering a major in kinesiology (the science of human movement) at UCLA.
"I want to be a sports doctor and that's one of the majors that you need to be able to do that," she said.
Coming into UCLA as a freshman will be a new experience for Zamarripa, who is a veteran and a role model for the younger gymnasts at Midwest Twisters.
"It will be different, but I don't think it will be hard to deal with," Zamarripa, who lives in Shiloh, said. "It just feels like everyone is at the same level and we're all training for the same thing, which is a UCLA championship."
Zamarripa, who has been training at Midwest Twisters for 10 years, had her final official practice session at the facility July 25.
"Time flew by so fast and the time (to leave) finally came," Zamarripa said. "It's kind of sad and kind of exciting at the same time."
