As a young child, Lizzy Ryan spent a lot of time on her hands.

She would walk up and down the hallways in her house on her hands and up and down the stairs, and even when she danced, she described herself as a power tumbler. As a young dancer at Gina Marie’z Academy of Performing Arts, Ryan always took the tumbling classes.

Then about seven years ago, her mother put her in a gymnastics class at Mr. Todd’s Gymnastics in Poughkeepsie.

It stuck, and now Ryan, a freshman at Highland High School is a national gymnastics champion.

She scored a 9.475 on the balance beam to win the Level 9 Junior Eastern championships on May 7 in Rochester. She also finished third in the vault with a score of 9.625. She was 17th on the uneven bars and 27th on the floor and took 14th overall.

Her success on the balance beam came as a bit of a surprise to her since she is more of a power person and doesn’t always have the finesse to manage the beam, and sometimes goes too fast.
“I fell off the beam more than I stayed on the whole season,” Ryan said. “But it was rewarding because I was hoping not to fall off and have a good end to my season. It was very surprising because me and the beam don’t always get along well enough to win first place.”

Other events are more suited to her physical skills, like the vault, her favorite event.

“It comes easy to me and it’s just something that I find cool to do,” Ryan said. “I think it’s cool the flips you can do off the vault, and the power you have to generate to do the vault (suits me).”

Her gymnastics career started in Poughkeepsie, but her progress has taken her to ENA Paramus last July.

She practices about 20 hours per week, five days per week, and an hour each way to Paramus means she’s in the car about 10 hours a week.

“It was definitely a big jump when I started training in Jersey,” Ryan said. “And it really questions whether or not you want to stay with the sport when you start getting this intense. In the beginning of the season, I honestly didn’t want to stay with it because everyone in my school isn’t as high of an athlete as I am. So, I would watch my friends get to stay home and see their family while I had to go down to train in Jersey. And then get home when everyone is sleeping. It’s a lot but it shows how much you love the sport.”

Even with the commitment to gymnastics, she doesn’t feel like she’s missing anything locally. Sometimes her family can’t always get together because of her schedule.

The season goes from December to January and ended with Eastern Nationals on May 7. Her gym tries to schedule about two competitions per month. She had the following week off after the competition, but she’s right back to training for the next level.

The success she’s had reaffirms that the rewards are worth the sacrifice.

“It definitely feels like I made the right choice,” Ryan said. “And the driving to Jersey is just something I have to deal with.”