After Her Summer Of Uncertainty, Maranda Smith Is Back Where She Belongs
Monday, January 10, 2011 | Gymnastics, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The alarm sounded at 3 a.m. on Friday. At 4 Patty and Warren Smith were out the door of their home in Placerville, Calif. They headed for the airport in Sacramento, making sure to arrive early for their cross-country flight to Jacksonville.
They landed in Florida around 4 p.m. and Patty raced to the rental-car counter as soon as she exited the plane. Once the Smiths grabbed their luggage and hopped into their car, they headed straight for the O'Connell Center.
The O-Dome has been their home away from home the past three years – and the last place they expected to be Friday night.
“When we walked into the O-Dome, tears came to my eyes again,'' Patty said. “We just love being here. It's been an incredible experience. We don't want it to end.''
About a half hour after Patty and Warren took their seats for the UF gymnastics team's season opener Friday night against Nebraska, the Gators' Maranda Smith paced back and forth as a heavy bass thumped over the loudspeakers.
She looked focused. She looked ready. She looked like someone whose mind was racing.
Patty and Warren's youngest daughter didn't expect to be at the O-Dome either. But there she was, wearing that familiar blue eye shadow and glittering leotard as she prepared to open the Gators' 2011 season as the first competitor on the vault.
Smith was in the same building nine months ago for the NCAA Gymnastics Finals. In her final event on the bars, she landed to a new realization and in a pool of swirling emotions.
“I thought that was it,'' Smith said. “I remember landing my bar dismount and feeling inside, 'Oh my gosh, that's it.' But then I'm back again.''
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In reality, Smith's journey back to Gainesville started five years ago as a freshman at UCLA. Two weeks into her college career, Smith was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her right shin.
A long and painful road followed, one that included surgery to place a 16-inch rod into the shin to help the bone heal. Months of rehab followed. Her career at UCLA was over after two meets.
She transferred to Sierra (Calif.) Community College as she recovered from the injury and to continue her education. Finally ready to resume her gymnastics career two years later, Smith moved across the country and enrolled at Florida, making her debut as a redshirt freshman for the Gators in 2008.
Over the next three seasons the bubbly Smith developed into one of the program's top athletes.
“She is just amazing,'' Gators coach Rhonda Faehn said. “I've said it so many times before. She is such a wonderful ambassador, not only for Florida, but the sport of gymnastics because she never gave up. She was continually in so much pain.
“She is such an inspiration.''
Smith graduated from UF with a bachelor's degree in anthropology and a minor in communications in April. With her career presumably over, Smith moved back home to live with Patty and Warren in Placerville.
She even moved into her old bedroom, the one stuffed with the 400 beanie babies she collected growing up.
“It was very strange,'' she said. “It's pretty much still decorated the way it was before I left for college. But my life is a little different.''
Technically, there was a chance the NCAA would grant Smith a sixth year of eligibility considering that she only competed three seasons for the Gators after that brief stint to start her career at UCLA.
Still, no one around the Florida program was counting on Smith's return. She talked with Faehn about the petition sent to the NCAA and left it at that. Faehn, who had never undertaken the task during her coaching career, told Smith to move on with her life as if she wasn't coming back.
“Honestly, we thought that there was maybe a 20 percent chance,'' Faehn said. “We didn't have a high expectation. It was important for us and Maranda to approach it from a standpoint that it would be unbelievable if it did happen. I wanted her to be that way, not to hang on.”
Smith took her coach's advice to heart.
After returning to California and unpacking her belonging in her old bedroom, Smith got a job teaching at Byers Gymnastics Center, the gym where she trained growing up located about an hour from her home.
She made the drive daily to train young gymnasts ages 7 to 15. She saw a lot of herself the kids, sharing her experiences with them. Smith, 22, started in gymnastics when she was 4.
Her former coach, Byers gym owner Eli Rodriguez, was thrilled to have Smith back in her old stomping grounds.
“She's a good teacher,'' Rodriguez said. “It's right up her ally. She is good with kids. You've got a lot of kids in the gym who hope to follow in her footsteps. She is definitely one of the top kids we've ever had.''
As the summer progressed, the thought of returning to Florida started to fade. More than two months had passed and no word from the NCAA. That was until a text message from Faehn while Smith was in a taxi in Las Vegas going to a friend's graduation party.
Faehn asked if she was still interested in returning. She said yes. Faehn said that was good because the NCAA had granted her a rare sixth year.
“I was just at home being a normal, average person,'' Smith said. “I wasn't ever expecting to get it back. I [immediately] forwarded the message on to my mom.''
Patty and Warren were on vacation in Hawaii, where oddly enough, Maranda suffered the shin injury that changed the direction of her career and life in January 2006.
Maranda talked it over with her parents and quickly decided to pursue the opportunity to return to UF. But first, she had to apply to graduate school and start studying for the GRE.
“I still didn't want to get my hopes up because I still had to get into grad school,'' she said. “I was thinking because I was applying so late … I may not get in. I had had my mind set that last year was my last year, and I was totally content with that.''
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After weeks of cramming for the GRE, Smith learned in early August that she had passed the test and was accepted into UF's master's program in health education and behavior.
She told the kids at the gym and her former coach goodbye. She had done the same with Faehn and her Florida teammates at Senior Day a few months earlier.
Rodriquez was as glad to see her go as he was to see her come back.
“Maranda has tremendous power and she is a great athlete,'' Rodriguez said. “She could have picked several sports to compete in because of her overall athleticism. Once she found out she could go back, she knew she had to do it.''
The news certainly altered Patty and Warren's plans. Thinking last year was Maranda's final year, the Smiths attended every single home and away meet in 2010. Now they plan to do it again, skipping only an occasional road meet.
Patty Smith, who could be seen standing and cheering at Friday's season-opening meet every time her daughter performed, still has to pinch herself to make sure this is happening all over again.
“It was such a grueling process,'' Patty said. “They really investigated and asked questions. Surgeons had to write letters. It was so long and drawn out from the time they submitted the petition, we figured it was not going to happen.
“We're broke, the house is falling apart, but we're going to Florida,'' she joked. “It's all worth it.''
In the Gators' victory over Nebraska – one that helped them move up to No. 1 in the latest rankings Monday – Smith was back to her old self.
To help preserve her body, Smith has dropped the bars from her performance and is only competing in the vault and floor routine.
Smith finished with a 9.90 score in Friday's floor routine, sharing second with teammate Alaina Johnson. She placed third on the vault with a score of 9.825.
“Having Maranda back is a wonderful blessing because she brings a tremendous leadership back to this program,'' Faehn said. “She is a very tough mental competitor. Not only does she help gymnastically, she helps with her character and her work ethic and just her personality. She is kind of the life out on the competition floor.''
Despite her summer of uncertainty, Smith's return to gymnastics has gone smoothly. Her body aches, but her spirit is soaring.
“I had stayed in shape when I was home,'' Smith said. “I had a gym membership, so I would work out, but I wasn't doing any kind of gymnastics stuff.''
Smith said that if the NCAA had denied her request, she would be attending a junior college near her home to finish prerequisite classes to enter PA school at University of California-Davis.
Instead, she is back at her other home.
“I love my team and I love being here, so I was just like, 'Why not?' '' Smith said. “I want to enjoy every moment. It's my last chance to soak it all in.''
