The “Secret” Scholarship
When I was 13, I went to to Lake Owen Gymnastics Camp in Wisconsin. It’s no longer a camp, but it was the predecessor to Camp Wordward. There, I met Bill Ryden, then the assistant coach at the University of Arizona. At the time, I was just upgrading my skills so I could compete my first year of Level 10.
I loved being coached by Bill. He knew it all, and he helped me so much. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but Bill and I just clicked. We worked well together. Over the years, my home club coach, Lenny, stayed in touch with Bill; I was never too far off his radar.
As soon as I met Bill, I knew that I wanted to compete for him at the U of A. I was hooked and sold. It’s all I could picture in my head. When someone asked me where I was going to college, I would tell them proudly that I was planning on getting a scholarship to the University of Arizona. It was the truth in my mind. It’s what I set out to do.
Over the next few years, I continued to work my way through Level 10, improving my difficulty each year. But in my junior year of high school, I injured my back very badly.
An overuse injury, my L3 vertebra was twisted, and it took many trips to the orthopedist and, finally, the chiropractor (thank you, Dr. Plante!), to figure out what was wrong with my back. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t lay down, and I couldn’t lift a milk carton — I certainly could not do gymnastics. When I told my mom that I couldn’t help out and sweep the floor, she got so annoyed with me!
The junior year in high school is a very important competitive year for a gymnast aspiring to get a college scholarship. I didn’t have recent practice tapes (yes, they were tapes back then). I didn’t compete during the entire regular season. By the time my back healed, I had spent six months time out of the gym, the season was almost over, and I had to petition to get into the Regional meet. I had no competition tapes.
As long as my back handled it, I worked hard to get my skills back and more. My desire to go to the U of A was stronger than ever, but I had no idea how it was going to happen; I didn’t care. I just knew it was going to happen, and I worked hard on my skills and improved dramatically.
In fact, by the time I was a senior, I was one of only two gymnasts in the state competing a full-in on floor, and I was consistently earning top three on vault.
But it was my senior year. The other Level 10’s graduating with me in the spring had scholarships lined up, and I hadn’t gone on one recruiting trip. It seemed that my season off as a junior was really coming back to bite me.
Then it happened. I got a call from Bill, and he invited me out to the U of A for a recruiting trip. It would take place in January of my senior year in high school (very late!). I quickly and eagerly accepted, and the plans were in place. I went on my recruiting trip, was able to be on the floor while the team competed, and saw just how awesome it was to be a part of the team. The weather was beautiful (90 degrees in January!) and I was sold. Now I had to wait and see if the head coach was sold on me.
I returned home, and just a day or two later, Mr. Gault, the head coach called me. He offered me a scholarship. I accepted it right then and there, and the rest is history.
Later, I found out how I had come to get my scholarship. It turns out that the gymnast who had accepted the scholarship first (another gymnast from Minnesota!), had decided to back out and take an offer from another school instead. The scholarship at the U of A opened up, and because of my injury and my late recruiting process, I still wasn’t spoken for. My patience paid off and the timing was just right.
One may call this “luck.” And until just recently, I wasn’t completely able to explain how it all came together to happen for me. However, after having watched the movie The Secret, I believe that what they describe in there is exactly what happened to me — it was fueled by the Law of Attraction — and I didn’t even know I was doing it! It’s pretty amazing!
