The right balance The right balance (July 23, 2004)

Twisters gymnasts earn gold at national competition

By Colleen Corcoran

They flew from San Jose to Florida, from bar to bar, from springboard to vault and from hand to foot. They are as natural on a four-inch wide beam and in mid-air as the pedestrians that surround them are with two feet on solid ground.

Flights of grace, of strength, of flexibility and of fancy earned Rhea Kashi, Mia Madlambayan, Avery Gee and Courtney Sinclair three gold medals, two silver and four bronze at the United States Association of Independent Gymnastics Clubs (USAIGC) Nationals in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. earlier this month.

Thus ended the 2004 competitive season at Twisters Gym in Mountain View. One gymnast made history. Another made a comeback. One is stepping up, and one is moving on.

Rhea Kashi

Four feet above the ground on a 16-foot long beam, she dances. She flips.

She presses into a steady handstand, arches her back and lowers her body. The element is so unique that it will now appear in the USAIGC rulebook as the "Kashi."

"It's a lot of discipline," said Rhea Kashi, a 12-year-old who attends St. Joseph Elementary School, of the four-hour-a-day, five-day-a-week year-round training that led up to Nationals. "We have to work hard and concentrate because if you don't concentrate, you can get hurt."

Invented by beam and floor coach, Nancy Kludt, the "Kashi" pose and the routine she used it in earned Kashi a first place score of 9.425 in the level 8 Gold division.

There are 10 levels, with 10 being the most difficult. Each level also has divisions that range from Bronze to Platinum.

Kashi, who also earned a silver on the uneven bars (9.375) and fourth overall (36.025), competed in the optional levels, where gymnasts perform new routines, rather than compulsory levels, where competitors do the same routines. Madlambayan, Gee and Sinclair also competed in the optional category.

"When you get into the optional levels, you develop the particular talents of the gymnast," tumbling, bar and vault coach Ron Ludwig explained. "We select the skills that we feel would be appropriate for their body type and their flexibility and strength, and then build routines around those."

The result: the "Kashi."

Mia Madlambayan

Last October, 11-year-old Mia Madlambayan's gymnastic career was uncertain at best.

A backflip on the beam and a landing miscalculated by mere inches led to a shattered lower right leg that restricted Madlambayan, also a student at St. Joseph, to six months in a heavy full-leg cast.

In April, Madlambayan was cleared to resume training and, in July at Nationals, she won a gold medal on the balance beam in the level 7 Silver division with a score of 9.40.

"She never looked back," said Kludt. "Here is a child who recovered back (from) a career-threatening injury, confronted her fears and went on to win a national title. I am in awe."

Madlambayan also took the bronze in the floor exercise (9.225) and seventh all-around (36.525).

"Beam is my favorite event even though I basically died on it. But that just made me work harder," she said.

Avery Gee

"I want to win. That's the goal," said Avery Gee, a Los Altos High School sophomore.

And she did.

By specializing in the balance beam at level 9, Gee qualified to compete in the Premier division at level 10 where she earned a 9.050 and a silver medal. She won a bronze on the uneven bars and all-around as well.

Ludwig identified time as the difference between an Olympian and a competitor like Gee. "Avery has the ability," he said of her chances for Olympic-level success. "It's just a matter of a couple more years at this rate to develop it. ... To get to a really high level, it takes about six years of really strong, intense training."

Gee began training at Twisters five years ago, in the fifth grade. "I was really sloppy when I started," she said. "I think I cleaned it up a lot."

Courtney Sinclair

The oldest Twister at Nationals, Courtney Sinclair marked the transition from St. Francis High School senior to member of the UC Davis gymnastics team with a gold in the level 9 Platinum floor exercise (9.375) and a bronze on the balance beam.

"The program that we have here at Twisters is geared specifically toward college development," Kludt said.

Sinclair is a successful product of this purpose.

She described her departure from Twisters as "bittersweet": "I had so much fun and I don't want to leave, but at the same time I'm ready. ... I came [to Twisters] and I never left, so obviously I love it here. It's my second home."

E-mail Colleen Corcoran at sports@mv-voice.com

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