Whether fans realize it or not, there is a plethora of collegiate gymnasts who once competed as elites. Sure, gymnastics fanatics recognize gymnasts like Bridget Sloan from elite days due to the Olympics, but there are others who had a shorter and lesser known elite career.

One of those gymnasts is Illinois senior Liz McNabb.

McNabb was introduced to the sport through her brother who was taking classes to increase his upper body strength. After taking a few classes, she continued to ask her mom if she could go back again and again. Her first coach recognized her potential and was asked to join the level four competitive team. Then McNabb’s competitive gymnastics career began.

As an Indiana native, McNabb hails from DeVeau’s School of Gymnastics, gym of Olympian and UCLA Bruin Samantha Peszek, who is one of the reasons McNabb considered going elite.

“Well I trained a lot with Samantha Peszek … she started elite, I think a year before I did, but that’s kind of how I got started in the program,” McNabb explained. “I also trained with Lauren Caldemeyer and Shelby Salmon, and Shelby goes to Arkansas right now. So the four of us kind of got started in it and trained together for a while."

Throughout the process of qualifying and actually being an elite, she attended the famous Karolyi Ranch numerous times where she had the opportunity to work with other elite gymnasts and coaches from around the country.

She described her experiences at the Ranch as “an eye-opener” as she “got to see what elite was all about.”

“It’s very intense. You know, it’s all about gymnastics when you go. That’s the reason why you’re going, so it makes sense for that to happen, especially at the elite level,” McNabb said of the camps at the Ranch. “It’s a lot of training. It’s two-a-days. It’s going to bed early so you can wake up and be ready to do it all over again the next day.”

 


Like most gymnasts who attend the Ranch, McNabb had the honor of working with Women’s National Team Coordinator Marta Karolyi and appreciates what the Karolyis and their ranch have shown her.

“She obviously knows a lot about the sport. It’s a little intimidating, but she’s very good at what she does. So you know if she’s working with you and willing to put in the time in with you, she likes something about what you’re doing, so she wants to pay attention to you. If she’s critiquing you, it’s out of the fact that she likes something that you’re doing. She wants you to get better so she can use you in some way that she can for the team. It’s definitely hard, but she’s obviously a very good coach, so it’s good to be coached by her.”

Although McNabb attended the Ranch and worked with Marta Karolyi, McNabb’s elite career only lasted one year due to a reason many gymnasts can relate to.

“After the year that I did (elite), I kind of got hurt, pushed me back a little bit, so I think after I took a year off just because of injuries. I ended up just deciding to go back to level 10 and do club to hopefully make it to [J.O.] Nationals and then kind of get involved with college.”

Although her elite career was short, it taught her a lot about the sport that she still uses today during her last days at Illinois. It taught her to push through everything and that one must “be willing to put in the numbers every single day and do those longer workouts and do those two-a-days if necessary.”

One gymnast who can relate to McNabb and what elite has taught her is Peszek. Growing up together, the two Indiana natives have developed a strong relationship in and out of the gym.

“She is one of my all-time best friends, and she is obviously an idol to the whole gymnastics world. But she’s an all-around great person too. She’s obviously great at gymnastics, but I learned so much from her, just training with her and being friends with her outside of gymnastics,” McNabb said. “She’s a great student. She’s motivated. Whatever she sets her mind to, she’s going to achieve it, and everybody knows that she’s going to achieve it. But it’s great, I think we kind of pushed each other for our entire gymnastics careers, and obviously it’s paid off for her. It’s exciting.”

Something else that was exciting for McNabb and Peszek was the 2008 Olympics where Peszek went on to win a silver medal in the team competition with Team USA.

“We were so nervous,” McNabb described the emotions of the DeVeau’s gymnasts while watching Peszek in Beijing. “A lot of our gym … went to (Buffalo Wild Wings) just to watch it. They put it up on like all of the TVs, and we rented out this whole area. So we were all cheering for her, and we were just so nervous. You know, ‘cause you can’t just get a do over. It’s like the main event. That’s it. That’s what you work for. And with the Olympics, it’s only every four years, so she’s put in all this work for it.

“We were just really hoping that it would work out in the end and everything. She did have a little bit of a foot injury when she got there, so it didn’t really pan out the way she wanted it to work out. But she hit her bar routine really well, and we all kind of laughed because at the time, bars was her worst event, not that she was bad at it.

“It was just her weaker event compared to the other ones, so for that to be the event that she competed for the USA team.• I mean, she nailed her routine, so it was exciting to see that part of it. I think that she was just a little bit disappointed she couldn’t compete her other events because they were a little bit stronger than bars, but it was fun watching her. It was cool to know someone that well on the team.”

McNabb’s gymnastics career is nearing its end as the 2014 NCAA Gymnastics Championships occur this weekend, but the sport has taught her various lessons that she’s used throughout her career and has given her a wonderful friendship.