Adversity.
Having faced considerable challenges in the world of gymnastics, senior captain Paige White will bring her career to a close this March. The athlete is ready to move into the next chapter of her life with hopes to incorporate sports into her future career in videography.
She started gymnastics when she was three years old, and the rest is history. White had several experiences with gyms including Gold Medal Gymnastics Center, Exper – Tiess Gymnastics for All, and New Image Gymastics. All three of these locations spread across Long Island, where White resides.
“Junior Olympics was the organization I competed through when I was younger and it was very strict,” said White. “We went to practice six days a week, Monday to Saturday for five hours a day.”
The gyms White was a part of throughout childhood were prestigious organizations. Even though she moved gyms, she never stopped and has been consistently competing for as long as she can remember.
Richard Maijs was the most impactful coach for White and he was the very first coach she had at Gold Medal. White said that she benefited from the variety of coaching she has had over the years. After experiencing several coaching styles, Peter New from New Image led White to success.
“The first year I was there [New Image] I was fourteen and I made it to Nationals,” said White. She moved to the New Image gym a month before her first meet, which was a big adjustment. “That was the one and only time I went because the following summer I had a back injury.”
White was perfecting a skill called a Tkachev, which is on bars. She landed on top of the bar and resulted in a herniated, bulging, and fractured disc in her spine lumbar.
“To this day I struggle completing certain skills because I never got surgery,” said White. But this did not stop her resilience and commitment to the sport.
White was unsure if she wanted to compete at the college level, but due to an unexpected experience, the process was easier than she had imagined. She reached out to head coach Sulekha Modi Zaug with interest in the Cortland Gymnastics program.
“I was working a competition at New Image while coaching younger gymnasts,” said White. “I talked to Julie Gardinia [Cortland Gymnastics alum] and she said I would fit with the personality of the team.”
White claims that Gardinia is one of the only reasons she had the opportunity to continue her gymnastics career. SUNY Cortland was the only school she applied to with a gymnastics program.
White said she has improved since being a part of the program here at Cortland with the hardship of more injuries. “The beginning of last semester was probably the best I’ve ever been, but I got hurt,” said White. “I sprained both of my ankles and pulled my quad.”
“She is a very determined individual,” said teammate Marisa Frascatore. “She views obstacles as temporary roadblocks and doesn’t let them get in the way of her success.”
She has been on the Cortland Gymnastics team since she was a freshman and has grown as an athlete and individual throughout her career despite her injuries. This season White persevered and was appointed to the captain position at last.
“I have been looking forward to taking on the responsibility of being a captain,” said White. “I like knowing that my teammates trust me enough and are genuinely connected with me to come to me about things, not even gymnastics related.”
Her role is to schedule events, develop job lists for game days, design leotards, and make choreography for floor routines. Team bonding activities are important for the team’s chemistry, and it is a factor that White values as she holds a leadership role.
“Her high energy brings the teams camaraderie together and expresses her spirit in the gym and at every meet we go to,” said first-year gymnast Taylor Goldstein. “Having her as a person to always have my back and a shoulder to lean on helped me conquer the challenges I was going through in and out of the gym.”
The Senior Meet will be held on March 3 at 1 pm in the Whitney T. Corey ’43 Gymnasium, Cortland will face Utica as they send off their senior gymnasts for the last time at home.