August 14, 2008

SPORTS

Branham grad makes high jump finals

By Dena Noble
Special to the Times

The track and field Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. were quite exciting especially because a local girl and Branham grad made the high jump finals.

Amber Kaufman and her coach, Derrick Bell at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. Inset: Amber Kaufman clears the bar at the Olympic trials and makes the finals. Photos by Dena Noble

Branham High alum Amber Kaufman decided to take two months off of her rigorous volleyball schedule at the University of Hawaii to practice her high jump skills and ended up making the finals at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. in June. An amazing feat even for a girl who turned down over 250 scholarship offers for both volleyball and track while in high school in 2006.

Kaufman did accept a full-ride to University of Hawaii, which allowed her to play volleyball and compete in the high jump at the discretion of the volleyball coach. The volleyball program there has been ranked in the top 10 in the country for over 35 years and averages over 7,000 in attendance per game. Kaufman is somewhat of a celebrity for her volleyball skills alone, tooling around on her scooter, signing autographs for the hoards of volleyball fans on the island of Oahu.

“That’s how big the sport of college volleyball is in Hawaii” says Amber’s mother Stacy Farmer, herself a 12-time state bike racing champion who was invited to the Olympic Trials in 1996 and carried the Olympic torch in cycling. Combining strength with grace, Farmer was a talented enough ballet dancer to train with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Now she is one of the most sought after and popular exercise and Zumba instructors in the Bay Area, who, with her legendary abs and mesmerizing style teaches classes at Almaden Valley Athletic Club. Her daughter has obviously inherited her mother’s charisma and athletic talent.

But making the Olympic trials requires a lot more than just talent. “The volleyball coach didn’t release Amber to practice full time or travel with the track team until after May 1,”says Farmer. “That’s why she only had a couple of months to practice before the trials. Two months of track practice, that’s it.”

She didn’t have the smoothest of track careers in high school to fall back on either. Kaufman started track at Branham High but during her senior year they didn’t really have a track team so she practiced jumping at Bellarmine with the boys’ track team.

Undaunted by the challenge she had the highest jump in the state her senior year. When she won her first major championship, the Bellarmine coach, Derrick Bell saw her potential and immediately wanted to take her on, for free. His coaching and her talent turned out to be the right combination for success at the University of Hawaii and ultimately the Olympic trials.

Kaufman’s highest jump this year was 6 feet, one half inch, which was a school record for the University of Hawaii. She stands 6 feet tall, but does not have the typical high jumper’s body. Her volleyball training regiment includes weight lifting at least four days per week so her muscular physique, necessary in volleyball, put her 30 to 40 pounds heavier than the other jumpers at the trials. This is not exactly conducive to jumping 6 feet in the air over a horizontal bar.

This was evident early on at the trials as she missed all five of her jumps in the warm-up. For her first jump the bar was set at 5 feet 10 inches but Kaufman is used to having the bar set up for her first jump at 5 feet 4 so there was an intimidation factor as well. Each athlete gets three attempts at the bar and if you don’t make it, you’re out.

“She missed her first jump and then she missed her second jump,” recalls Farmer. “Here I am, sitting in the University of Oregon Booster section because I had to get scalped tickets and by now, everyone around me is aware that Amber is my daughter. She’s bigger than any other girl out there, she’s wearing a bulky T-shirt and shorts while all the other competitors are wearing tiny trunks and tops. There are about 2,000 people in this section and they are all rooting for Amber. So she makes it on her third and final attempt and ultimately clears 5 feet 11 inches to make the finals with 13 other girls.

“It’s an extremely mental sport and it takes a lot of concentration to keep your wits about you,” says Kaufman. Her mother agrees. She’s mentally tough and that helps her immensely in these sports at this level,” Farmer said.

Apparently Amber is made for this level of achievement. She had already won the Western Athletic Conference this season and placed fifth in the NCAA before qualifying for the finals at the Olympic trials. All this after only eight weeks of jump practice.

San Jose acrogymnastics team wins gold at national championships

Gymnasts from Aerial Tumbling and AcroGymnastics in San Jose came home from this year’s national championships with a fortune worth of gold medals.

Winning 15 gold medals, the athletes and coaches showed their determination and hard work as well as dedication in the 2008 national championships in Des Moines.

Madeline Bones and Kyle Bloom, Junior Elite Mixed Pair and Tiana Terry and Monica Simlkowski, the Junior Elite Women’s pair, earned national titles and both teams were named to the Junior National Team. In addition, both received the highest honor in the sport and are invited to represent team USA at this year’s Junior World Championship, held in late September in Glasgow, Scotland.

Local gymnasts won 15 gold medals this year in the National Championships held in Des Moines.

“I’m extremely proud that both pairs made the Junior National team and were selected for the World Championship team. Their performances reflected the amount of hard work and dedicated they put into preparing for this competition,” said Coach Linda Meier.

Simlkowski also received the Outstanding Base award highlighting her amazing and consistent strength at the elite level. “I was really excited to receive the award because I have always looked up to those athletes who have received it in the past,” she said. ATA’s Junior Elite athletes earned the second place Elite Team Award.

In the level 10 category, mixed pair Eirian Smith and Jake Kanavel and Women’s Groups Gaby Sant’Anna, Alayna Davis and Elka Sudo and Alexa Vitale, Kelly Phillips and Samantha Larson also captured gold at the competition. All were named to the Junior Olympic Team. Smith received the most flexible Junior Olympic top award, and Smith and Kanavel won the Glen Sundby Outstanding Junior Olympic Pair Group performance award.

Davis received the Junior Olympic award of Outstanding Base and was recognized by her coaching peers with the award of Rookie Coach of the Year.

ATA’s Level 9 Women’s Pair, Haley Stalions and Michelle Meyer also captured gold in their division and were invited to exhibit their balance routine during this year’s closing gala and awards presentations. The level 9 group of Mikaela Fincannon, Yvette DeVito and Brooke Mills earned the gold by performing a strong, solid balance exercise. Both pair and trio were named to the Junior Olympic National team.

Women’s group McKenzie Bloom, Hayley Ferrante and Micheala Meyer’s performances earned them the bronze medal in their division. They were named alternates. The level 9 athletes earned the second place overall team award.

Scenes from the recent national championships in Des Moines.

In the women’s Level 8 group category 12-14, the trio of Jesse Kelly, Alyssa Liardon and Brooke Rhoades took gold with spectacular performances on both routines. The second-place trio, also from ATA, missed first place by just 0.35. Silver medalists Kaitlyn Plata, Monika Terry and Jenna Provazek also offered strong memorable performances on both routines. Both were named to the Junior Olympic National Team.

Mixed pair Samantha Servellon and Brennan Atsatt also won gold in the 12-14 division. The strong showing by ATA’s level 8 team this year earned them a third place level 8 team award.

Level 7 athletes Abigail Bautista, Juliana Berkeland and Nia Dugall won a gold medal in their category and the trio of Kelly Hanmore, Candace Kanavel and Kaitlyn Kennedy took silver.

Stephanie Elliott and Emily Cote captured gold in the level 6 women’s pair division.

The 2008 Acrobatic Gymnastics National Championship hosted 540 athletes from 39 clubs from all over the country. Acrobatic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics and is sanctioned and supported by the United States Gymnastics. Acrobatic gymnastics combines acrobatic pair and group skills, tumbling and creative dance movements, all performed on an Olympic-size spring floor.

Sports Briefs

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