By Local gymnast Hicks earns invitation to national camp
 Photo Courtesy of the Hicks Family |
Los Altos resident Erin Hicks recently won a spot on this year’s Rhythmic Future Stars National Gymnastics Team, earning the right to train at the Future Stars National Team Camp in Indianapolis this summer.
Erin is one of only five 9-year-olds on the team and is the youngest competitor from her region (comprising of California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah).
The fourth-grader at Almond School trains 12-15 hours per week at Gold Star Gymnastics in Mountain View
“Erin is incredible,” said Judy Whelan, who along with Emily Tse, coaches the young gymnast at Gold Star. “She’s such a dedicated, hardworking gymnast. She’s very focused, and its great that she’s in the top five gymnasts in her age group in the country.”
USA Gymnastics, the national governing body of the sport in the United States, conducts an annual talent search to identify promising young gymnasts. Through a series of tests, USA Gymnastics identifies girls in each age group, 7-12, to make up the Rhythmic Future Stars National Team.
At the National Team Camp this summer, Erin will work with the USA Gymnastics national coaching staff.
“It will be a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun,” Erin said. “It will be great meeting and working with all of the National Gymnastics coaching staff and the other athletes on team. It will be really fun living and training surrounded by girls who love rhythmic gymnastics just as much as I do.”
Jan Exner, the USA Gymnastics Rhythmic program director, describes the national team camp as “a gathering of the girls who are the future elite level rhythmic athletes.”
The first-ever Future Stars Regional testing took place throughout the fall of 2001. Approximately 200 gymnasts participated.
The highest-scoring gymnasts in four age groups (9, 10, 11 and 12) were selected to attend the national training camp. At the regional tests, the gymnasts were tested in six areas: Flexibility, strength, dance, balance, acrobatics and agility.
Erin did 35 push-ups in 30 seconds, jumped vertically 14 inches, did 25 sit-ups in 30 seconds, did eight cartwheels in 15 seconds, and leaped to a 180-degree split. The scores were tallied and the top gymnasts were named to the National Future Stars Team.
Erin’s twin sister, Erica, participates in USA Gymnastics Women’s Gymnastics Talent Opportunity Program (TOP) which is similar to the Rhythmic Future Stars Program. In rhythmic gymnastics, athletes perform with apparatus such as ropes, balls, clubs, ribbons and hoops.
Erica achieved the Gold level in the TOP program earning a trip to Indianapolis, last October for the final selection round of the TOP National Team.
