Gymnastics: Captain keeps hometown roots
Star gymnast made 50-mile round trip commute in high school to train in home state.
Hannah Rael
Issue date: 1/26/10 Section: Sports
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Her interest in the sport arose after watching the U.S. gymnastics team win gold in the 1996 Olympics. At first, her parents were skeptical of approving her request to take lessons.
"My mom said it's too expensive and my dad said I'd probably quit," Weber said.
Nonetheless, Weber enrolled in a recreational gymnastics academy in her home town of Taos, New Mexico. She began to view gymnastics more competitively during her sixth grade year when the gym hired a new coach, Martha Bannon, who had owned a successful gym in Houston, Texas, Weber said.
The owner wanted it to be a "fun gym" but Bannon had a different vision, placing more emphasis on scores. Under Bannon's instruction, Weber said she saw improvements in her performance and followed Bannon to a new gym in the village of Eagle's Nest, where she became part of the small Moreno Valley team. Because New Mexico public schools do not offer high school gymnastics, Weber continued training four times a week with Moreno Valley despite the 50-mile round-trip commute. By her senior year, she was competing at Level 10, which holds the highest requirements for club gymnastics.
Weber said she qualified for regionals and was the second alternate to nationals that year but said her long-time goal was to do college gymnastics.
"I wanted to do Division-III gymnastics," Weber said. "I like all four events ... I wanted to compete in everything, wanted to contribute more."
Weber said most D-III gymnastic schools are located in the Midwest and East Coast, which is why she started looking at colleges in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
"I'm from a really small town so I liked the idea of being in a city," Weber said.
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