Allen Athlete Takes Silver at Worlds
ALLEN, TX: Power tumbler Amy McDonald returned home from St. Petersburg, Russia having earned a silver medal in team competition at the 2009 World Trampoline and Tumbling (T&T) Championships. McDonald, who trains at Eagle’s Wings Athletics in Allen, was part of the four-member team representing the United States.
Going into the competition, the 25 year-old McDonald was ranked third in the U.S. for power tumbling. “She is the older, more stable, team member that the national coaches love to have around to calm and cheer the other girls during competitions,” says Kelly Taylor, leader of the congregation that McDonald attends as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On her first day of individual competition, McDonald placed 13th in the preliminaries (second highest on the U.S. team), with the top eight going on to event finals.
In team qualifications, her solid routines earned a score of 30.300 on her first pass and 29.0 on her second. The first pass, a straight pass (no twists), was a double layout to a double pike. Her second pass, considered the twisting pass, was a full twisting whip to a full-in pike. The U.S. came in fourth place with a total score of 183.0, behind Russia, Great Britain and Canada.
In the team finals only three of the four members of the team compete. “After prelims the tough decision had to be made as to who would compete in the team final,” says McDonald. “We all wanted to get a medal.” McDonald, having competed with the other girls for years, knew their strengths and her own.
“I was the team captain and I knew that this decision was not going to be easy, but I knew my teammates were the ones that needed to compete, so I made the decision to step down and take my place as the team leader from the sidelines,” she continued. “I never expected to step down from the last competition of my career but I knew that it was what I was meant to do. I will never regret that decision.”
In team finals, the U.S team moved up to take second place, while a gold medal went to the home team, Russia. All four members of the U.S. team received a silver medal.
“This was a great experience for me,” added coach Bret Stout, “to see
the USA Team come from behind to take silver, and to see your athlete
make the decision and sacrifice that helped the team achieve this goal
was one of the most rewarding, if not the most rewarding moment in my
coaching career.”
McDonald, who also won silver in the 2005 World team finals and gold in the 2007 World team finals, has retired from competition. She
travels around North Texas judging tumbling competitions and has been offered the head tumbling coach position at Eagle’s Wings Athletics.