March 7, 2002
"I can do that too!"
After watching her older sister take classes and begin to compete in gymnastics, the 10-year-old Katie Myers knew immediately she wanted to get involved.
"I wanted to be better than my sister so I started messing around the house. My mom finally decided to sign me up for classes," Katie explained.
Starting up her gymnastics training regimen, Katie began to blossom in the sport after joining GTC of Rochester Hills. A 45 minutes ride to and from her home in Leonard, Mich., a town so small, she says, it will not even show up on the map, Katie's dedication and experience began to grow along with the mounting mileage on her mom's car. Despite the long hours of travel and the grueling time constraint of training, the young gymnast found a comfort in the gym that she felt no where else.
In her town of 1,200, Katie became involved in sports other than gymnastics. As if 25 hours of gymnastics a week were not enough, she joined the equestrian team at her high school and competed with the team in her spare time on weekends. Katie even owns her own horse, which she hopes will find a home at Mizzou next year. Even despite her love for riding, Katie knew that gymnastics was where she drew her inspiration.
Pursing gymnastics at the next level proved to be a welcomed challenge for the young tumbler. In high school, Katie's passion for the sport of gymnastics was so strong she knew she wanted to continue in college.
"I love the challenge. There is always something new to learn and I love the sense of accomplishment," Katie said.
Building into her desire to continue her career onto the college level, one of Katie's greatest personal accomplishments came during her senior year in high school. She had been having a series of poor performances and was extremely frustrated. Finally, at the Charleston Cup in South Carolina, Katie pulled it together and won the all-around competition. That jolt of confidence pushed her toward pursing her goal of collegiate competition. She knew then that her skills were good enough to continue on to the next level.
After her successful performance at the Charleston Cup, Katie was offered and accepted a scholarship at the University of Vermont. With a scholarship in her pocket, Katie thought her prayers had been answered and was confident of her career path until she received a letter in the mail. The letter stated that Vermont had lost their funding and could not afford to award scholarships to out-of-state applicants.
Searching her senior year, Katie and her mom diligently filed through letters that schools had written her, asking her to be a part of their gymnastics teams. They narrowed it down to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Mizzou. The campus in Wisconsin did not appeal to Katie and without even visiting the campus, she chose Missouri. Even without the visit, Katie immediately knew she made the right decision after stepping foot in Columbia.
"I love the team. The classes are good and the campus is beautiful," she said. As a political science major, Katie hopes to someday go to law school or work for the government. As for right now, she enjoys spending time with her teammates.
"In my free time I like to hang out with girls from the team. We are pretty close. Whenever you see one of us, there is always another one around," Katie said.
Katie's passion for the sport of gymnastics has led her to be a dedicated member of the Missouri gymnastics squad. She feels confident that she has made the right choice by coming to Mizzou. Her positive attitude, stalwart work ethic and love for her teammates has helped her learn and develop on the collegiate level. Building on the examples of her teammates and the love for her sport, Katie has proven that she 'can do it to!'