You can call me Queen Beam: Samo gymnasts balance academics and competitive gymnastics

We can usually recognize the talented starters on the basketball court and the limber cheerleaders at games and rallies. Rarely, however, do we give credit to athletes who dedicate hours in their off-campus gyms. Two such athletes, Olivia Lubarsky (’16) and Amanda Stelea (’15), have successful gymnastic careers outside the world of Samo gyms, fields and pools as gymnasts.Lubarsky has been training in gymnastics since she was eight years old — relatively late in the gymnastic world.“I started competing at nine and I fell in love with the sport,” Lubarsky said. “I love the thrill of standing on top of that first place podium or mastering that skill that you struggled at for so long.”Out of the 11 gymnastic skill levels, Lubarsky is a level nine. She hopes to earn a scholarship to a Division 1 college gymnastics team, but some of her top college choices include Ohio State University, University of New Hampshire and the University of California, Davis.In the meantime, Lubarsky trains six days a week at her gym, Wallers GymJam. For four of the weekdays she trains, she is at the gym from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., leaving Samo at lunch to make the long drive. Lubarsky has fit in just enough classes per year to fulfill Samo graduation requirements and to avoid summer classes that would conflict with training.“I [wasn’t] born with natural flexibility or natural strength so I’ve always had to work for everything,” Lubarsky said. “I think that has just instilled a lot of life lessons, like perseverance, determination and just a lot of discipline. I sacrifice a lot of time and I don’t really have that typical teenager life. My life is waking up, going to school at 7 [a.m], leaving at lunch and going to gym, being there until 8 [p.m.] and then coming home and doing my homework.”While Lubarsky does center her life around gymnastics, she said it is completely worth it.“I just love that thrill of watching something new and going, ‘Oh, I want to try that,’” Lubarsky said. “It’s just so inspiring that the hard work pays off. It is very difficult, and you have some rough days where you’re crying and breaking down both mentally and physically, but in the end it’s so worth it and the rewards are just incredible.”Last year, however, the sport’s rewards were not equal to the sacrifices Lubarsky had to make.“In the middle of season, I was going through a rough time. I wasn’t really excelling and I felt like I was at the bottom of my team,” Lubarsky said. “I wanted to quit. I was done. I was like, ‘I can’t handle this anymore,’ and I actually talked to my coaches about it and opened up to them.”Although Lubarsky thought it unfair at the time, her mother urged her to continue.“When I talked to my mom about it, she told me that she understood what I was feeling, but that I had made a commitment and I had to finish out the season,” Lubarsky said. “I was so mad and thought it was so unfair, but I did finish the season and my teammates were so supportive and my coaches were great. After season, which I had ended pretty well, we started learning new skills, which just rekindled my love and passion for the sport.”Ultimately, Lubarsky was glad she had that push from her mother and stuck with a sport that has brought her so much joy and has put her on a path to college.Besides focusing her time and effort on the sport, Lubarsky also sacrifices a lot of socializing that a typical 16-year-old girl cherishes. According to Lubarsky, while her team is her competition, they are also her anchor and make up for the dances and parties she misses.“I think my biggest competition is within my team,” Lubarsky said. “It is hard, but I would rather lose to one of my teammates than a girl from another gym. The girls in my gym and I all miss out on the fun parties and dances and school events, but we share that. And that makes us closer, because we know everyone’s sacrificing so much to do the sport. We really are a family.”Another member of her gymnastics family is Stelea, who also goes to both Samo and Wallers GymJam.“It’s pretty cool having someone who goes to the same school at your gym,” Lubarsky said. “She’s an amazing gymnast who I look up to because she just works so hard and she’s so sweet and humble about all of her achievements.”Stelea the sport at the age of six because her father saw it as an outlet for her surplus energy. As she started winning competitions at a young age, she decided to continue the rigorous sport.Now, as a level 10 gymnast, Stelea is on the fast track to a college scholarship and gymnastics team, with her sights set on either University of California, Berkeley or an Ivy League college.According to Stelea, she may have missed out on a typical childhood growing up, but the pure adrenaline of gymnastics is what gives her the passion to get to such a high level.“It’s super thrilling and exciting,” Stelea said. “It’s a really dangerous sport and most people wouldn’t dare to attempt some of the stuff that gymnasts do. Even when it’s hard, it’s a lot of fun and I enjoy doing it because when you stand on that first place podium, get a ‘Good job!’ from your coach and make your parents proud it’s just a great feeling.”Stelea says that her height sets her apart from other gymnasts. At 5-foot-7, she towers over most of her competition, whose average height hovers around 5-foot-1. And though her height gets her notice, it provides certain challenges.“Balance is harder the taller you are. People think I won’t be good at bars since I’m super tall for a gymnast — usually one of the tallest — but it’s one of my favorite events. It’s pretty hard to fit in between the bars for anyone, even if you’re short. It’s especially hard at my height.”However, her greatest disadvantage in one event is her greatest advantage in another event.“[My height] can also be an advantage on floor,” Stelea said. “It makes my lines look a lot cleaner and even if it’s a setback sometimes, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I think my height is one of a kind and I’m happy being tall.”While balancing her height has been a struggle, it is nothing compared to an injury Stelea faced a few years back.“I had injured both of my heels, gymnastics had started getting really hard and I wasn’t really enjoying my gym or where I was at so I just didn’t really want to do [the sport] anymore,” Stelea said. “My parents came to me and said, ‘Amanda, you’re really good at what you do. You shouldn’t just let a hard moment in your life make you stop. You can get over those moments because gymnastics is something you have a future in,’ and I’m glad I pushed through it.”Now, Stelea is happy with the path of her gymnastics career, her gym and her team. Although ultimately her competition, they are a major motivation.“Everyone wants each other to do well and deep down inside you’re rooting for yourself to do really well,” Stelea said. “It’s not just for the team. Like as an individual thing, if you do your job, the team will be happy and you’ll be happy and in the end that’s all that matters.”As students, both Stelea and Lubarsky contribute their share to Samo’s campus and culture. As gymnasts, the two are now preparing for and looking forward to a future full of the sport with a few more back-breaking seasons until college comes.schetty@thesamohi.com