Valley trampolinist aiming for 2012 Games

Sixteen-year-old Krysta Palmer's voices catches a little at the thought of it.

Who can blame her, really?

When someone invests 11 years of their life into something only to have it delayed, frustration is inevitable.

The 2008 Games in Beijing had been her target goal since making the United States Junior National trampoline team in late 2006.

A knee injury, and subsequent surgery in June, sidelined that goal at least until the 2012 Games.

"I was disappointed, you know?" she said, sitting in the middle of the Tumbleweeds Gymnastics facility off of Airport Road in Minden. She coaches there during her limited time away from her workout gym, Legacy T & T in Reno.

It was the week before the USA Gymnastics Trampoline & Tumbling Olympic Qualifying was to be completed.

"I could have been a part of the trials process this year," she said. "It would've been tough, but I had a shot. The injury set me back.

"There's a reason these things happen though, that's what I've kept telling myself.

I've just been using this time to focus on getting stronger. All I've done since I've been out with the injury was conditioning."

For now, her sites are focused intently on 2012.

She picked up gymnastics when she was 5 years old and made the transition to trampoline when she was 11.

From there, she quickly began building an impressive resume.

She won the 2004 national championship for the 11-12 age group, made the U.S. National Jump Start team in 2005, took fifth in the double mini-trampoline junior division at the 2006 U.S. Championships and took second and seventh respectively in the double mini and trampoline at the 2007 Winter Classic in Lubbock.

The sport has taken her all over the country and the world for various competitions over the past several years, including trips to Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Palmer, entering her junior year at Douglas High, said explaining to her friends where she spends all her time can get tricky.

"I can't really tell my friends what I do," she said. "It's hard to explain. I'll show my dad tricks on the floor. But you can't really show them without a trampoline."

She's fought through the injury with some help from a brace and now that the surgery is behind her, she can focus on rehab.

"I hurt my knee about a year and a half ago and I've just been training with the miracle brace that helps me to keep jumping around," Palmer said. "I couldn't do everything I did for my routine, but I could still work with it."

She spends five to six evenings a week at the Legacy facility in Reno, where she is coached by Mig O'Hara.

"My schedule is pretty crazy," Palmer said. "I just got my license and a car with good gas mileage, so that is helping my parents out.

"Workouts are two hours a day, without counting the driving time. We do a lot of strength work, we have one day a week set aside just for strength. It's pretty intense."

It's a lot of work, especially considering the amount of time actually spent competing.

A trampoline routine consists of 10 skills all strung together in a row. The average routine lasts between 15 and 20 seconds. Each competitor gets two routines.

In the double mini-trampoline, the event for which Palmer was named to the junior national team, competitors run down a 20-meter track and vault off the front end of a mini-trampoline, perform one maneuver in the air, rebound off the latter half of the trampoline and do an aerial dismount onto a mat.

The concept isn't far removed from a springboard diving event.

"I love them both," Palmer said. "I still have some work to do to make the national team for trampoline, but I'm getting there.

Palmer said she'd be paying close attention to the Olympics this year.

"I know there will be some people I know in the trial process, but I don't really know the actual Olympians yet," she said.

No longer with that catch in her voice, she talks gladly about turning her attention forward.

"I'm really excited to see the Olympics on television. It'll help me focus on where I want to be four years from now."