Journal

Hello everyone,

My name is Tiffany Shepherd. I am a level 10 gymnast at Lehigh Valley Sports Academy in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I am doing very well in the gym right now; I am getting all of my skills back from the year I had taken off. I have been back to gymnastics for two months now and I went to the Collegebound Invitational in Denver, Colorado with a downgrade of all of my skills.

I trained at Parkettes National Gymanstics Training Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In April of 2004 I had gotten to the point where I had to quit or switch gyms. I loved Parkettes and the coaches there personally too much to betray them so I walked out and didn't walk back into a gym until August. This is when I went to LVSA to look for a job. After a disput between my dad and Parkettes, Parkettes would not let me step foot back into their gym. When I got the job at LVSA, I started instructing classes from little peewees to level 3/4 rec. I loved my job, but there was something missing.

I enrolled back into public school in Emmaus, Pennsylvania for the first time in two years. I was homeschooled due to the dream of going elite, although I was never allowed to test at Parkettes. I was having a great time for the first time in school. I even went to cheerleading tryouts and made it with flying colors. I did a standing back tuck and a round off backhandspring full and they wanted me. Anyway, I went to all the football and basketball games and showed off what I could do. I became known at school as the girl who could do "crazy flips". I was doing well in school and life was progressing, but still, there was something missing.

After I spoke to my parents and the owners of LVSA, I decided to go back to gymnastics in the end of March. I was still cheering, working, and now I added gymnastics. There was so much going on; there were not enough hours in the day. So I only went back to the gym a couple days a week. I finished up the semester of work, then I finished up with cheerleading. After I got those out of the way, I could go back to gymanstics full time. It was a rough couple of weeks starting out: conditioning, work outs I was not used to, and people I did not know. I was working out with girls I never met before with the exception of Nina, that worked with me and two other girls, Mikee and Amanda, ex-Parkettes. I didn't know the coaches very well and I felt kind of intimidated by Natalia Yurchenko. Thoughts going through my head were the ones you would probably expect, like "How do I impress her," "Will she like my gymnastics." With Natalia being one of the best gymnasts of all time I have to say, I was very nervous.

After a few weeks I started to get to know the other girls. I started to talk to Natalia and Howie a little, but not Ivan. Ivan was very quiet to start. I started to get old skills back and I decided to go to the Collegebound Invitational. It was all coming so quickly.

In the end of April on a Wednesday I was driving to the gym in my Oldsmobile Alero when a car, four cars in front of me, stopped in the middle of an interstate highway. I was looking in my blind spot so I could switch lanes when I ran into the back of the van in front of me. Two cars in front of me happen to be an ambulance, but there was absulutly nothing wrong with me or anyone involved. I had a busted lip and they took me into the hospital in an ambulance. The policeman told me that they had to file the accident as my fault because the car that stopped actually drove off. My car was totaled, but nothing really happened to the other cars. I didn't go to gym that day...

I have been talking to several colleges in the past few months. I have really enjoyed talking to the various coaches and getting to know them. They all seem like great coaches and people in general. I visited University of Arkansas a couple of months ago and really enjoyed meeting the coaching staff and team. I plan to visit several other schools in the future as well. I have Ohio State and Iowa State coming to the gym to see me in July and I hope that goes well. I have decided to study pre-med in college. My goal is to be a physician, preferribly an anesthesiologist.

Life is going well, I have a great school, great teamates and coaches, and a new Volkswagon Beetle!

Love, Tiff

This website is (C)opright by Jessica Stoddard, Tiffany Shepherd and Family.