GO EAST

With a stack of posters to her immediate left and the writing instrument of choice, a black Sharpie, secure in her right hand, Samantha Peszek puts on her game face and goes to work. Seated at a rectangular table inside her home away from home, DeVeau's School of Gymnastics in Fishers, the 16-year-old Cathedral High School sophomore begins autographing posters. Careful not to smear, smudge or make her signature unreadable in any way, Peszek (pronounced Pesh-ik) is the definition of attention to detail. Then come the signature-seekers, DeVeau's predominantly elementary-age girl and boy members who are led to the front of Peszek's table in small groups. "Hi, Sam," says one wide-eyed little girl. Peszek, an impressive package of athleticism, smarts, enthusiasm, inner drive and high pain threshold, so happens to own a personality capable of lighting a small city. She beams while making chit-chat with the girl, apparently savoring every syllable of dialogue along the way. Peszek doesn't need to be seated for most of the miniature gymnasts to make solid eye contact with her without risk of hurting their necks. She may stand 5-foot tall, but the sky certainly seems within Peszek's reach. Through years of hard work and the sacrifice that comes with it, Peszek is regarded as one of the nation's premier gymnasts, a strong candidate to make the United States women's team that will pan for gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. "I'm working hard, but I'm sure the other girls are working just as hard. It's really intense, especially since so much is expected of the U.S. team," says Peszek. "I've been training since I was 2 and just recently I figured out I'm good enough to go to the Olympics. It's been a dream of mine since I was 5." The oldest of Ed and Luan Peszek's two daughters (sister Jessica, 12, is also a talented gymnast), Samantha - or Sam, as she's more commonly addressed - was a bundle of energy practically from the start. Enrolled at DeVeau's Castleton location as early as age 2, Peszek fell in love with mats, beams, ankle tape and the like. Her parents were fine with this. Former athletes themselves years earlier at the University of Illinois, Ed, who wrestled and played hockey, and Luan, a gymnast for the Fighting Illini, recognized the coordination- and character-building benefits of gymnastics. "I've heard so many stories about kids who did gymnastics when they were young and then went on to become a great diver or a great quarterback or be good in some other sport," says Luan. "Gymnastics teaches you flexibility and strength." Besides, Luan, who was spotting Sam on back-handsprings on the family's backyard trampoline when the latter was 3- and 4-years-old, had already viewed the writing on the wall. Her kid would be a gymnast, not someone using the sport as a springboard to some other athletic pursuit. Thus, one hour a week at DeVeau's became two, which mushroomed into five and so on. By the time Peszek turned 10 she was training between 22-26 hours a week as a member of the TOPS National Team. With hard work and a focus that belies her youth, Peszek improved her technique while expanding her repertoire. By 2004 she had qualified to international elite status. After an eighth-place finish at regionals the year prior, Peszek improved to third-place standing and took second in the all-around at the Junior Olympic National Championships. Since then, Peszek has accomplished so much more - in the process getting to see parts of the world most teenagers never get to see that early in life, if ever. As a 15-year-old, Peszek was a member of the United States team that won the gold medal at the World Championships in Germany. The endeavor proved history-making as it's the first American women's gymnastics team to win gold on foreign soil. All told, she's twice been to Canada and rode a double-decker bus for sight-seeing purposes in London. Peszek's luggage also carries stamps reading Germany, Ireland and Cancun and she's also made her way around the United States for competition sake. Peszek learned early to politely say "no" for hers wasn't the normal life of a young girl growing up in America's heartland. "I've grown up like this. When I was little, people would invite me to birthday parties and I would be like, 'No, I have to practice,'" she remembers. "I missed my eighth-grade graduation and our eighth-grade field trip to Washington, D.C." Training in Houston at the time of her eighth-grade commencement exercises, Peszek's teammates noticed she was a little downcast and decided to do something about it. "The girls there actually threw me a graduation. I was laughing hysterically," recalls Peszek, smiling at the memory. "They had a fake valedictorian and I had a graduation gown made of a bed sheet. It was really thoughtful of them to do that." Situated between Peszek and the five-ring circus that is the Beijing Olympics are obstacles such as the Pacific Alliance Championships in San Jose, Calif., in March, the U.S. Classic in Houston in May and the Visa Championships in Boston in June. For the record, the Olympic Trials are slated for June 19-22 in Philadelphia. Peszek, in gymnastics circles, is known for her ability to attempt high-risk point producers such as her double-twisting, double-back exclamation point to her floor exercise. Only three other women gymnasts in the world have mastered this maneuver, one being Iowa-bred Shawn Johnson, the 2007 all-around titlist at the World Championships. On the vault, Peszek can perform the Yurchenko Double-Full. Translated, that is a round-off back handspring onto the vault table and a double-twist off of it. Now one sees why Peszek trains at DeVeau's for approximately 30 hours each week and why she visits St. Vincent's Sports Performance Center in Indianapolis twice weekly for whatever soreness-removing body maintenance is needed. Despite the demands of her goal of Olympic gold, Peszek, like most young ladies her age, has other interests. At the front of the line is music as she has burned CDs to suit her country music moods, ones to suit her rap moods and ones used to pump her up prior to gymnastics competitions. And, yes, they are separate. Always separate. To Peszek, common sense means keeping Rascal Flatts, Edwin McCain and Nelly off of the same disc. Peszek also is into fashion design and likes public speaking. She carries a 4.0 grade-point average, so getting into college won't be a problem, though it should be interesting to see which Division-I gymnastics power program can land her. Nine-time national champion Utah perhaps? Defending titlist Georgia maybe? Choices, choices, choices. Someday Peszek will make hers and that will be that. For now, all the blood, sweat and years are aimed in one direction: Beijing. Go east, young lady. Go east.