She was burned out. Tired of hour upon hour of tumbling, flipping, twirling. Gymnastics had gotten stale.
Juliana Adams needed a break.
“It was really hard going to practice every day,” said Adams, a Kent-Meridian sophomore who was a Level 8 club gymnast. “It just wasn’t fun to be there anymore. Then I just quit.”
Little did Adams realize that when she stepped away from the sport that she began as a toddler that it would be three years before she would return.
Of course, the K-M sophomore didn’t just return. She came back with a bang last winter. In fact, Adams was one of just five Kent School District gymnasts to qualify for the state meet, doing so in the floor and balance beam, and as a freshman.
“It was fun to try and get some of those skills back,” she admitted.
Now, however, as the winter gymnastics season begins to unfold, Adams has other challenges ahead. A three-sport standout at the East Hill school, Adams severely injured her right ankle last spring competing in the pole vault at the district track meet attempting to uncork a mark just a shade higher than 9-feet.
“I landed on the bar, and my ankle dislocated, (resulting in) pulled ligaments,” said Adams, a first-year pole vaulter last spring.
It was a tough end to a promising season.
“It was really unfortunate,” said K-M track coach Ernie Ammons. “It was bad. We knew instantly by the way she came down that she was injured. Just the expression on her face said it all. She kind of came down on the pole and the box. It was not a secure land by any means.”
And while the injury slowed down Adams, keeping her from the cross country team and working on anything related to the pole vault, it did not stop her altogether. In fact, since her ankle was too tender to traverse the cross country courses, she turned to swimming, where the injury was considerably less impacted.
Adams will have to adapt to gymnastics as well.
An all-around standout, the K-M sophomore isn’t likely to compete in the vault this winter.
“She really wants to,” said Kent-Meridian coach Rachel Hopkins. “I’ve been telling her that I’d rather have her healthy at the end of the season and that we don’t want to waste her sophomore season. As much as she likes to push herself, it’s the smart thing to do.”
Despite being held back somewhat, Adams will continue full throttle on the balance beam, bars and in her floor routine. Though still not quite 100 percent, she put some of that talent on display in a mid-December meet against Kentlake, Emerald Ridge and Mount Rainier. In a meet that included several of the league’s top-caliber gymnasts, Adams held her own by taking third place on the beam with a score of 8.4.
Seeing Adams back out on the mat, even though she’s not yet at the top of her game, is enough to bring a smile to Hopkins’ face.
“Now she’s having fun again, which is exciting for a coach,” Hopkins said. “It’s great to see a kid who loved (gymnastics) for a long time, then had a sour taste in her mouth return and find it enjoyable again.”
Of course, advancing to state last winter certainly was part of the fun.
“That was unexpected,” Adams admitted. “It was fun, though, that I made it and was able to see other people from my (old) club.”
Through it all, Adams has gained a new-found perspective.
She’s no longer burned out.
Gymnastics is fun again.
And she has a goal in mind.
“Gymnastics is better now that it’s not as competitive or as stressful as it was in club,” she said. “Hopefully I can make it back to state again on beam and get further on bars.”
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