By Madyson Montoya — Staff Writer
Following her preschool’s rules, Ellie Pascoe-Long was not allowed to step foot into a gym until she was potty trained. Once the toddler said goodbye to diapers, she fell in love with gymnastics and never looked back.
After nearly 20 years, the senior is saying goodbye to her time as a gymnast and forcing herself to be a leader for her team on the sidelines.
In just the second meet of the season, Pascoe-Long was struck with a torn achilles during her floor routine. From there, she had two choices: turn her back on the sport she has done her entire life, or step up and be as much a part of the team as she is able to.
“She’s just a wonderful leader and she brings so much energy to this team,” said first-year head coach Joanne Bowers. “She truly has put herself on the back burner in terms of she could be feeling sorry for herself.”
The day after the meet, the all-around gymnast texted Bowers and asked if she could come to practice — that says the most about Pascoe-Long as an athlete.
She has competed as an individual for most of her life yet, she is striving to be one of the most dedicated members of the team.
“It’s helping a lot that I’m still in the gym with my teammates because I’m still able to be with them,” Pascoe-Long said.
Although the fourth year was the only one affected physically, losing a senior at the beginning of the season was tough for the rest of the team. Pascoe-Long’s strong presence was missed on the mat.
“Not even as a gymnast, our best friend was hurt and out of lineup,” said sophomore Nikki Duggan.
No one knew what was going to happen next.
Fortunately, the team hasn’t gone through much change since Pascoe-Long has been at the gym every day since her injury. Where her teammates miss her the most is on the scoreboard.
Being a senior, she was one of the most experienced gymnasts comfortable with high-difficulty routines.
Pascoe-Long chose SJSU because she was recruited for floor and vault, which was what she wanted to compete in. By her junior year, she added bars to her technique and it would only take one more season for her to compete in the all-around division.
“I thought I was done competing those events in club but coming here I was like, ‘I want to do all-around,’” Pascoe-Long said.
The last event that she had to overcome before becoming an all-arounder was beam.
Stepping into a new apparatus is not the easiest thing to do, but with the pressure of a new coach and her final season, the senior was able to make her mark.
After training in the fall, the Oregon native was able to score a 9.800 on beam in both of her meets in early January. She was one of the SJSU’s top scorers in that event right off the bat.
“We decided she would try and she gave it her best effort,” Bowers said. “She did really well.”
Her skills are deeply missed by the team. Being an all-around competitor means that there were four routines to fill after her injury.
Pascoe-Long has really stepped up as a leader by putting the team’s success first.
The senior has taken it upon herself to focus her energy in helping her replacements as much as she can, instead of throwing a pity party.
“Yeah, we have falls here and there,” Pascoe-Long said. “But it’s really nice to see people that weren’t in lineup step up and take my spot and do really well.”
As devastating as her situation is, the fourth year is focusing on the positives and feels that she is more of a leader now.
She is doing her best to keep her mind on the fact that she has had an amazing career and reached a lot of the goals that she came in with. In her first two years, she was second team All-MPSF on floor and finished her junior year as first team All-MPSF on floor and vault.
Pascoe-Long now has the opportunity to step into more of a coaching role with the fresh mind of a competitor.
“She has a lot of knowledge on the sport,” Duggan said. “If I’m struggling, she sees it in a different way than the coaches do.”
As a senior, the achilles injury has impacted her in a different way. She has handled this whole situation with her head held high.
“When I see her still desperately wanting to come here, it’s just incredible,” Bowers said. “She’s not done.”
Follow Madyson on Twitter @MadysonMontoya
