Local gymnast tops podium in Germany
Douglassville’s Wojcik represents U.S. in elite international event
Gymnastics pushes athletic capacity and opens doors to new worlds.
Natalie Wojcik’s rise to a lofty competitive level is taking her places, and a well-earned recent trip to Germany for the gifted and dedicated gymnast will always be part of her highlight reel.
A 17-year-old, cyber-schooled student from Douglassville, Natalie competed as a member of a United States all-star team in a high-level meet at Hamburg, Germany, the Turnkunst International, in late November. The journey was a remarkable experience both athletically and culturally, capped by her team winning first place and standing on the podium with their medals for the playing of the national anthem.
And the family trip to the big event, which included her Germanborn grandmother Elfriede, made it extra special.
“Standing on the podium and hearing the national anthem play, it was just incredible, and I felt so proud,” Natalie said. “It was an amazing experience. I loved being there and being able to represent my region and the USA.
“And it was really special for me because my grandmother is from Germany, and she moved here when she was in her early 20s. I wanted to see Germany, and she came to watch. It was really fun. The city was just beautiful; I loved it there.”
The daughter of Bernie and Suzy Wojcik, Natalie is a level-10 gymnast, the highest bar that can be achieved in the United States Gymnastics Association without being an elite. (The U.S. Olympic team is chosen from the elite category, in which there are only about 50 in the nation.) Natalie was a highly-recruited gymnast for college, starting in seventh grade, and has verbally committed to a full scholarship at the University of Michigan. The University of Florida, Auburn, national champion University of Oklahoma, and Arkansas were among other big schools who recruited her. Michigan made the offer when she was in ninth grade.
Natalie qualified for the international invitational by her performance in the Mid-Atlantic Region. She was selected for an eight-person all-star team. She earned second place in her age group in the all-around at the 2016 national championships in Fort Worth, Texas, which also qualified her for the Junior Olympic National Team.
“That was awesome,” Natalie said, “because I’ve always wanted to place in the top four at Nationals, which qualifies you for the Junior Olympic National team.”
The all-around consists of the balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars and vault. In 2014, Natalie was the national champion in balance beam. In ’15 she won nationals in floor exercise.
Her coach is Marty Amrich, who with his wife owns Stallone Gymnastics in Fleetwood. Natalie has been training at Amrich’s gym for four years.
“Natalie’s a very talented individual, but probably what sets her apart is her attitude and work ethic,” Amrich says. “I think with any good athlete, it’s what the athlete does with their talent. With her, she just has such a great attitude and work ethic. She doesn’t mind challenges, she doesn’t mind working, and she certainly has very much a passion for the sport.
“But along with being the highest-level athlete I’ve coached, she’s also been probably the easiest. Just because she’ll just work, she’ll do what’s asked and keep trying and have a good attitude. It’s a pleasure. She’s such a good team leader, and she’s encouraging. Sometimes you get these really high-level athletes – you see it in any sport – where they become prima donnas and think, ‘ You’re not as good as me.’ She’ll be encouraging to little 8- and 9-yearolds in the gym, cheering them on and helping them out. She’s a very humble, hard worker, just such a neat kid, and it’s a pleasure to go through these experiences with her.”
“I love gymnastics, so being in the gym every day, wanting to improve, that’s kind of pushed me,” said Natalie, who also volunteers in Special Olympics. “I always have goals and that’s pushed me to keep moving up.”
The eight-member all- star team was divided into two fourgymnast teams for the Hamburg team competition. Natalie’s team won both the preliminary qualifying round and the finals, beating teams in the preliminary from Finland, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Norway. In the finals they bested Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, England and Sweden. None of the U.S. team members competed in all four apparatus, and Natalie made big contributions to the gold-medal drive by successfully performing her routines both days in three events - uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
“Our team was especially competitive because we have some of the top girls in the country, and from the other countries there were people from all over the place – one team even had a former Olympian,” she said. “It was definitely a lot of fun, and it was fun to meet everyone and get to know them.”
“It was really neat, the international flavor to it,” Amrich said. “It’s a big community event. For the preliminaries on Friday, all the elementary schools were dismissed. We’re warming up and they’re all parading in.
“One whole group was designated to cheer for the United States; they had all these little German kids up in the stands yelling, “U-S-A, U-S-A.’ They came down at the end of the competition and the girls did a meet-and- greet with them, signing autographs and taking pictures with them. It was such a neat experience. We were told to bring any trinkets that said United States on them, so we were handing out little USApencils, U.S. money, and they were so excited.”
Before the finals competition, the festive atmosphere included shows with contemporary dancers, an acrobatic group, and a trampoline exhibition as the seats filled to what Amrich estimates was 4,000. He thought that because of the U.S. women’s team’s gold-medal performance in the Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last August, “there were a lot of eyes on our team, which was really kind of neat.”
What’s next for Natalie in gymnastics? Amrich says they’ll train and do some invitationals next year, pointing toward the state championships March 18-19 at Williamsport, Pa., and the nationals in Indianapolis the first week of May. Natalie trains 20 hours a week at Amrich’s gym, sometimes more depending on whether a competition is close.
“We try to keep as much of a normal childhood as she can,” Amrich says. “They’re still kids. And No. 2 it’s a sport, and they’re doing it because they enjoy it and are passionate about it. I think a lot of times coaches lose perspective. We really try to keep perspective here at the gym. If they love it and are having fun, then I can probably get them to work a little harder.”
It’s been the best of both worlds for Natalie Wojcik, and she got to see the other side of the world as a bonus.