22 April 2013
ACRO: Kailey Maurer (11) trained her way through local gymnastics competitions in order to make it to the international scene.
By Kira Roybal, Staff writer
Many athletes are drawn to the soccer field and still others to the swimming pool but for Kailey Maurer, the 40-by-40-foot gymnastics spring board is her home.
Maurer has been participating in acrobatic gymnastics at Empire AcroGymnastics in Riverside for nine years and has competed in the sport since she was five years old. Though she first began with artistic gymnastics, she was inspired by her older brother to take up “acro.” Maurer has been hooked on the sport ever since.
“It’s just something I’ve always loved and had a passion for. As I get better, I just get more and more into it,” she said.
Acrobatic gymnastics competitions are broken up into five different events all performed on a spring board: women’s pair, men’s pair, mixed pair, women’s group with three participants and men’s group with four participants. Competitors perform three types of routines. A balance routine includes pyramids and static holds such as handstands that test the athletes’ strength and flexibility. A dynamic routine is much more high-flying; after being thrown up into the air, a competitor performs flips and then lands on the spring board with the help of his or her partner. A combined routine is just what it sounds like: a combination of balance and dynamic exercises.
Maurer trains at her gym five days a week for three and half hours a day, practicing skills and routines and conditioning for all those flips, splits and one-armed handstands. Her rigorous training and dedication have not gone unrewarded, however. Maurer has been on the USA Senior National Acro Team for three years in a row.
“It’s a lot of fun to be on the national team. We get to go to the training camps together and meet new friends,” she said. With the USA team, Maurer has had the privilege of traveling to international acro competitions in Poland and Russia. Her women’s group event won a silver medal at the 2010 Machuga Cup in Russia.
Though Maurer has been fortunate enough to avoid any serious injuries, her bond with acrobatic gymnastics would not be complete without a few bruises and bumps here and there. Three weeks before her departure to the competition in Poland, Maurer caught a case of bad luck and sprained her ankle. She began to climb her partner to perform a skill, but then decided to step back down and in the process injured her ankle. Talk about ironic: executing flips and other skills becomes second nature to gymnasts while walking takes a backseat and can even be dangerous at times. Like all other serious and dedicated athletes though, Maurer put the minor sprain in the back of her mind and went onward to the competition.
Acro, like any other sport, is highly competitive. Only the best can join the national team. However, once the members of team USA are chosen, a sense of camaraderie develops among the gymnasts. “We all root for each other because everyone that’s there deserves to be there. You want team USA to do the best it can,” Maurer said.
During the 2010 Visa Championships, she was awarded with an experience perhaps more valuable than a gold medal. After a performance by Maurer and her teammates from Empire for the artistic gymnasts participating in the competition, Carly Patterson, the 2004 gymnastics all-around champion, gave an inspirational speech recounting her Olympic experience. Maurer got the opportunity to meet with her afterwards and take pictures. 2008 all-around Olympic champion Nastia Liukin also happened to be there, training aspiring gymnasts and competing herself; though Liukin was busy, she still had time to meet with the team from Riverside.
“We just talked about previous experiences at training camps as well as how hard you have to work and how much effort it takes to perform and get to that higher level,” Maurer said.
This season, she took a break from competing, though not from training, to focus on her studies at school. During her junior year, Maurer needs to impress college admissions officers rather than acro competition judges. Of course, she has not detached herself from her favorite sport completely. She, along with one of her brothers, coaches the level five to seven teams at Empire. Because of her dedication to and seniority at the gym, Maurer is able to earn eight to ten dollars an hour by teaching a variety of classes and by inspiring and training the next potential members of the national team.
“I like coaching the little kids. I remember being in their place. Sometimes it does get difficult though because you do get those outgoing personalities that like to run around,” Maurer said.
She plans to return to competing next season. “I would love for [acro] to be in the Olympics,” Maurer said, but sadly the gymnastics slot is full for those games. Therefore, her goal is to compete and – cross your fingers – place in the world championships sometime in the near future.