Britton on the Beam After a Slow Start : Walk-On Gymnast at UCLA Took Circuitous Route to the Top Flight

As a gymnast, Natalie Britton is rewarded for attempting moves with the greatest degree of difficulty. If her college career at UCLA--academically and athletically--were based on the same scale it would be scored a 10.

Britton’s performance Saturday in a regional meet in Corvallis, Ore., will help determine whether UCLA advances to the NCAA championships at the University of Alabama on April 19-20. But the road from Agoura, where Britton attended high school, to the top flight of women’s collegiate gymnastics has been a circuitous route.

It all started in 1987 with the rather unconventional way Britton gained entrance to UCLA, which rejected her first application. She discovered that by making arrangements to try out for the Bruins as a walk-on she automatically would be admitted.

However, there was an additional consideration: Britton had not competed in gymnastics since quitting the Agoura High team after her sophomore season.

“I figured I wouldn’t get in (to UCLA) academically, so that’s when I started to train,” said Britton, now a senior. “If I made (the team), I made it. If I didn’t, I would still be in school.”

Britton made the team as a freshman in 1988 but, surrounded by all-conference and All-American performers, saw only limited action in her first three seasons at UCLA. She primarily competed on the balance beam and in the floor exercise and was an alternate for the vault and uneven bars.

“It was frustrating because I was always next in line to compete but I only got the chance occasionally,” Britton said. “It was hard working out hard on every event every day and not being able to perform.”

But when injuries sidelined six UCLA gymnasts early this season, Britton was thrust into the spotlight.

Competing in the all-around for the first time since the age of 15, Britton has become the most consistent performer on the UCLA team.

In February, Britton won her first all-around title in a triangular meet against UC Santa Barbara and the University of Minnesota. Then, early last month, she was UCLA’s top all-around performer in the UCLA/L.A. Times Invitational.

Britton followed that outing by helping UCLA to a second-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference Invitational. Again she had UCLA’s top all-around score, a collegiate-high 38.85.

Britton credits newfound confidence and a coaching change at UCLA for her success this season.

Valorie Kondos, a UCLA assistant for eight years before she took over the program this season, said that she is not surprised by Britton’s vault into the elite class of gymnasts.

“We saw her talent (in 1987),” Kondos said. “She just never really reached her potential and has continued to get better with every year she has been at UCLA.”

Britton put her gymnastics career on hold six years ago, opting for a more “normal” high school life. She had competed at the club level for more than nine years and found that she did not have time for extracurricular activities such as cheerleading.

“I thought at the time that I had reached my potential,” Britton said. “There was still a question in the back of my mind if I could take it further, but my attitude wasn’t very good. I felt I was missing out on my high school years.”

Instead, gymnastics became her ticket for a college education. But not before many long hours of work.

For her comeback attempt, Britton returned to Coach Mike Bisk and Monarch National Gymnastics in Agoura Hills for six to seven hours of training per day.

“The hardest thing was getting back my strength and timing on tricks and overcoming a lot of fear,” Britton said.

That accomplished, Britton worked on new routines with Kondos and assistant Scott Bull.

“We worked on different tricks in my routines that I think were better for me and were tricks I could get more consistent,” Britton said. “The new tricks I put in are the same difficulty but I think are better for me.”

Before this season, Britton performed a Tsukahara--a backward flip--on the vault. This season, she is doing a hand spring front vault. Kondos said the move is easier for Britton and because of its degree of difficulty, it is worth more. Britton also has added to her repertoire a reverse Hecht, a release move on the uneven bars in which the gymnast moves from the top to the bottom bar.

“The biggest change in Natalie is her belief in herself, that she is a good athlete, not just a mediocre one,” Kondos said. “She has the possibility to be at the top. After proving it time and time again, she is starting to believe it.”

Sadly, Bisk, Britton’s head coach for nine years, died in December, one month before the start of Britton’s phenomenal season.

“He had a pretty strong personality and he and I didn’t always get along great,” Britton said. “Before I had the chance to thank him, he passed away, and that was hard for me. When I have hard times, I would say I wish Mike was here to see me, or maybe he’s watching.”

Unfortunately for Britton, she will have only a few more times to show off her skills. Her collegiate career will come to an end at the conclusion of this season in the NCAA championships.

She will end her college career with one regret: “I always wonder how much farther I would have gone if I had more time,” Britton said.