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Local Sports

Local sports in the Panhandle are not just a game, they are a lifestyle. Our community eats, sleeps and breathes cheering on our local athletes.
News13 is On Your “Sidelines” bringing you more than the score.
News13’s Stephen Gunter is committed to giving you stories of the Panhandle’s top athletes, intriguing match-ups and unusual sports you may not even know exist.
sgunter@wmbb.com

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Glitter Power?

SOUTHPORT- “Sometimes, I just think that man, what if I fall or something, or what if I don’t get a good score,” said Edgewater Gymnastics Academy student Deni Roller.

Deni didn’t fall and she did indeed make a great score at the USA Gymnastics Southeast Regional tournament held in Tupelo, Mississippi last month.

The nine-year-old Bozeman student finished first place in every event at the competition the prep-op level, and won first place overall, making her the first athlete from Southport to win a regional title.

“I wasn’t nervous. I thought I was going to do good, because I had trained hard in gym. I thought that I did good and my family was very proud,” said Roller.

Many of Deni’s friends from the academy were also very proud of the way she performed at the regional tournament.

Totally awesome! It’s amazing because, we’re the only four people that come from Florida and it was just really amazing because this is her first year doing this and she won,” said Edgewater Gymnastics Academy student Tiffany Bishop.

“She’s gone to a lot of meets and has done really well at most of her meets. I was like wow, you won regionals, that’s great, because there are a lot of people that go to regionals,” said Edgewater Gymnastics Academy student Anna Rodriguez.

Just like in every competition, superstition can play a big part in the overall performance of the athlete.

A superstition carried on by coach Pam Kitchen somewhat foreshadowed what was going to happen to Deni at the regional meet.

“I’ve been coaching for over 30 years. I have a crazy superstition, when I go to a competition; I always have to look at my room key, my room number. As soon as they gave me my room number, 401, I didn’t know that it would mean she would win four first places and first all-around. Maybe that’s what my room meant that time, but it was neat,” said Coach Pam Kitchen.

Another interesting thing here at the Edgewater Gymnastics Academy is the power behind the spray on glitter.

“Maybe I have passed on that superstition is part of gymnastics, and my team is really in to glitter and they feel like, if they don’t have it on, they just have to have it on. They glitterfy themselves and me. When they go to a competition, they are the glitter girls,” said Kitchen.

“Glitter is like a tradition that we all do. We always have to do it,” said Bishop.

“We put glitter on, so that we stand out for one, and it’s kind of a good luck charm. If someone is not wearing glitter, everyone is like, you have to have glitter on, it’s good luck,” Rodriguez stated.

“Like ever since I got here, every meet we’ve got too, we’ve put glitter in our hair and it just stands out,” said Roller.

Is the help of the glitter one of the reasons she won at regionals? I guess we’ll never know.

“It probably had a little adding to it,” said Bishop.

“A little. I just thought that I had trained really hard in gym, and I had supportive teammates,” said Roller.

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