Changes Help Panthers Have More Success
Over the past couple years, the Potomac Falls gymnastics team has undergone many changes. Two years ago, the team had three members. Last season they welcomed a new coach, Carolann Krische – and 19 more performers. Along with the increased numbers came improved performance as the Panthers finished 9-7 in the Dulles District, good for fourth place, and 16-8 overall.
Once again, the numbers went up. Once again, the expectations are high.
This season, the Panthers have 25 gymnasts. The increase has come, Krische says, because working at the school makes it easier for her to convince more girls to join. The more girls there are on the team, the larger selection of athletes she has to compete at the meets.
Krische says the freshman class is great and hard working. Her team agrees. "The freshmen are great and bring us hope in the years to come for the program," junior Melanie Orlins says.
The team's experience also gives them hope.
"We had a better starting-off point this season," junior captain Heather Trumble says. Some standouts the team relies on this season include senior Jackie Huamani, sophomore Jenna Padilla and freshman Sarah Brown.
Huamani, who attended Park View as a freshman, is the only three-year gymnast for the Panthers. She says that although the number of members has changed, the goals are still the same. And, she says, the team is better because it has more competitors. Huamani helps the team in vault and beam, as well as Orlins, while senior Ashley Hartnett, junior Jessica Shaffer and freshman Emily Tatman are tops in the floor exercise.
Padilla is the team's all-around performer, excelling in all four events, especially bars and vault. She likes competing on the bars because it comes easy to her.
Her interest in gymnastics started around age 4 when her sister started to compete. She says it was easier to learn new moves when she was younger because gymnastics becomes harder with age. "Now I have to work harder to learn new skills," Padilla says.
She says that after perfecting a new move, one feels a sense of accomplishment and can immediately start working on another skill.
"You never stop learning, you're never bored,’’ she says, ‘’and you always have a chance to get better."
Even though advancing to the state championship as a team isn't a possibility because it is based on individual performance, Padilla hopes to eventually compete there with a successful outcome.
At each practice, the team works hard on learning and perfecting new skills at a harder level. On the beam, the girls hope to learn how to do a successful back handspring. The girls who compete in bars are working on not having extra swings during their routine. In the floor exercise, they’re working on perfecting their round-offs, back-handsprings and back-tucks.
On the vault, they want to be able to stick their handspring vault. Practice is also the time when the girls perfect new routines for the upcoming meet.
"The workout really takes a toll on your body,’’ Trumble says.
This season the hard work may pay off with a district title. With the absence of Loudoun Valley and Stone Bridge this year, the team has moved up in their district ranking. Dominion is considered the favorite, though the Panthers say with effort they could win the title.
On January 4, the team hosted the only home meet for the season. They competed against Loudoun Valley, Broad Run, and Heritage High Schools. The team placed second behind Loudoun Valley. Scores for performance in beam were low, but the team had great bar scores overall. Much thanks could go to Padilla, who changed her routine on bars from the previous meet; the new routine improved her score.
There is a sense of unity among the girls this season. They say that everyone gets along really well, and there aren't any disagreements between anyone. Krische is proud that everyone gets a chance to compete while having fun and learning new skills together.
According to the girls, hard work, patience, effort, determination, and time are what it takes to succeed in the sport. One has to be able to work through pain, and get used to falling down only to bounce back up a hundred times over. And, thanks to a growing talent base, the Panthers expect to do even better – now and in the future.
