Tumbler likes to take her time

Published: Thursday, February 1, 1996

Enthusiasm, patience mark Hayashi's style as she finds place on team

By Esther Hui

Daily Bruin Staff

It took Kiralee Hayashi a while before she began to like gymnastics. It all began when Hayashi's elder sister, Karisse, began excelling in gymnastics. Thinking they had a sure-fire cure for her lack of rhythm, Hayashi's parents enrolled Kiralee as well.

"She couldn't keep a beat," Hayashi's mother, Lanette, said. "We put her in classes so she could listen to music and get some rhythm. But she hated it. She ran away screaming."

According to Lanette, the only reason Kiralee stuck with gymnastics lessons was because she reasoned if Karisse liked it so much, it couldn't be all bad. In addition, Kiralee thought ballet was much worse, and she turned out to be quite good at gymnastics. Even after Karisse began doing ballet full time, Kiralee continued to excel in gymnastics.

"Once she got used to it she worked really hard," Lanette said. "Kiralee is basically quiet, but she has a determination. I remember one time she decided she wanted to do a handstand like Karisse. She came home and put her head on the floor. We could see her hands just grind into the carpet, and she put her legs up. It was just a headstand, but she was so thrilled."

Hayashi tends to take most things slowly, approaching them with a sort of wide-eyed enthusiasm. But once she is completely involved, she works until success is reached. She is described as being more comfortable easing into new situations than jumping in head first.

Gymnastics, for example, started out as a horrific ordeal, but gradually turned into what Hayashi enjoys most, something she says she can't imagine not doing.

The first time she went to level 10 nationals, at age 11, Hayashi was so overwhelmed by the caliber of gymnasts she was competing against she didn't know quite what to do with herself.

"In Hawaii there weren't too many really good gymnasts," Hayashi said. "I was the only one who went to nationals, and it was the first time I'd heard of it. People were throwing tricks and I was like, 'Oh! Oh, wow!'"

The next year Hayashi returned to nationals. This time, training with a new coach who emphasized the national meet, she came with expectations and was devastated when she fell twice on her first compulsory event, the uneven bars.

"It seemed like everything I'd worked for that year was gone," Hayashi said. "The second time I fell I felt like 'Oh, oh my gosh.' Everything dropped. I remember feeling very, very, very upset. I was expecting to do well, so it was a downer to have two falls on my first event on the first day.

"But then I hit my next seven events and ended up making the national team, so it was really one of my best experiences."

Hayashi's amazing comeback performance was followed the next year with a regional all-around championship. In 1994 she made the junior national team and in 1995 became one of the top four recruits in the country. She finally opted to come to UCLA, which has presented a new situation for Hayashi.

So far this season Hayashi has been inconsistent. She began the season somewhat tentatively, seeming unsure as to what her position on the team is. UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos attributes her uncertainty to the overwhelming nature of suddenly finding herself training alongside Olympians.

"Kiralee is a really, really sweet person," Kondos said. "A lot of times when you have athletes that are that nice, or kind, they sometimes lack that arrogance you might need on the competition floor.

"But I know she has it in her because she's been a tremendous competitor in the past. You don't become one of the top recruits in the country without having that fire within you.

"I think (her adjustment into collegiate gymnastics) is going to be gradual, though. She doesn't have the personality to be able to make that change immediately. Once she believes that she's the part of our top three in the all-around, I think we're going to see that fire coming out of her again."

Hayashi is only three meets into her freshman year and boasts plenty of difficulty in her routines, including a back handspring layout on the beam. Kondos says she can already see Hayashi taking more initiative in competitions. At Arizona, she took out a tumbling move in the middle of her routine when she lost her balance to insure a fall-free routine for the team.

Kondos sees being aggressive, and the ability to think while competing, as opposed to simply performing routines and hoping not to fall, as a big part of being a successful collegiate gymnast.

"I've had a few frustrating weeks lately," Hayashi said. "I'll go back t

o the dorms and I'll say, 'What's wrong? I can't do this.' But it's happened before in the past, and as long as you persevere it will come together."

SCOTT O/Daily Bruin

Freshman gymnast Kiralee Hayashi was 11 years old when she began competing at the national level.

UCLA Sports Info

Kiralee Hayashi

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