[quote]Before her injury, she had been training before and after school for about six hours a day, six days a week. From there, she might have made it to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She said she knows her injury closed that tiny window of opportunity -- between the ages of 13 and 14 -- young gymnasts have to try for the Olympics.
"I can't ask my body to do that anymore," Sledge said. "That's just not where I'm headed."
She's happier where she's at now. Training about four hours a day, five days a week at World Class Gymnastics Center in Fairview Heights, she has a less hectic training schedule and more time to be a teenager. She goes to the movies with friends and spends time with her boyfriend. The junior at Belleville East High School earns As and Bs.
Plus, the only thing she ever really wanted was a college gymnastics scholarship, and top schools are already sending her mail. She wants to major in marketing and advertising.
Sledge's coach, Donna Berutti, said that before Sledge's injury, she probably had a chance at making the U.S. national team, but after her injury, she set out "on being a normal child."
"She gets the good ends of both: She gets to go on trips like this, and also she has the normal life at school with friends," Berutti said.[/quote]
36 hours a week of practice when going for the Olympics at her club. The 2007 World Champion Shawn Johnson practices 4 hours/6 days a week, much less than what usually the elite gymnasts do, as she told Ellen when she was on her show-watch it on the youtube video posted
http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=1236 if you haven't already! And Shawn does the 'normal' teen things like movies, football games, fun, etc. And goes to public school too. So, it doesn't have to be one or the other, but it does also depend on the club and how they have their practices. A lot of elite gymnasts and gymnasts going for the Olympics seem to be home-schoooled. Nastia Liukin isn't homeschooled but she goes to a certain private school where the students have different things going on and their school schedule is worked out that way. I think it was on the message boards here on a thread on homeschooling or Nastia Liukin.
