North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Hardiman Looking For Gymnastics Perfection
2/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
BY TIM PEELER
“That, to me, was amazing,” Hardiman says of Strug’s courageous final vault to clinch the gold medal. “I wanted to do that. I wanted to have the world look at me in that way. I thought it was the most amazing thing in the world.”
At the time, Hardiman was still a novice on the mats. She had just taken up the sport after a day-camp counselor noticed she had some skills and suggested to her parents that she join a gym.
Eventually, Hardiman joined one of the nation’s top clubs, Orlando Metro Gymnastics, which at one time was the gym of Dominique Moceanu, a member of the
Now, the NC State freshman has made an immediate impact. She has won back-to-back East Atlantic Gymnastics League Freshman of the Week honors. She joins a long line of freshmen who have been contributors in each of the last three seasons: Leigha Hancock, Ashley Shepherd and Taylor Seaman.
That trio is now the core of the No. 24 Wolfpack’s lineup, as it heads into Saturday’s annual Sweetheart Invitational at Reynolds Coliseum.
Veteran Wolfpack coach Mark Stevenson believes once Hardiman becomes completely acclimated to the collegiate lifestyle, she will become a top-notch contributor to his program.
“She had her struggles early on because it’s a totally different ball game for her,” Stevenson said. “At club, they might do five meets in a year total, and we do five meets in a month. It’s a whole different scheme of workouts. It’s a different stress of competition and the pounding you get in competition, because there is a little bit of extra energy that goes into competition, both mentally and physically.”
Hardiman, like most gymnasts, has endured her share of injuries. She says, rather nonchalantly, she’s broken her ankles a couple of times and once had a stress fracture in her back.
She’s also a dedicated student, though she graduated from The Trinity School’s non-traditional program that allowed her to be mostly home-schooled by her firefighter father, Brian Hardiman. She went to school one day a week to get her assignments and take tests but did all her other work at home, allowing her to spend more than five hours a day in the gym five days a week.
So, needless to say, college has been a change in lifestyle.
“It’s definitely a lot different than what I am used to,” says Hardiman, who chose NC State because it was close to friends and family who live in
“In a way, it’s more stressful, because you feel like what you are doing matters more to your team. You feel like you have to do well for your team. You know they are all there for you and they will be there if you mess up. And they will be there to help build the team up.”
Hardiman has excelled on the vault and has been effective in her floor routine. Stevenson expects improvement all around as she matures as a college gymnast, especially on the bars. But, so far, so good for the freshman.
“I think I have been doing pretty well,” Hardiman says. “For me, though, it’s not good enough. I am a perfectionist at heart, so I know there are a ton of little things I can fix.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
