LV, Olympic star Schwikert takes on role with youths

Victoria Sun

Friday, June 8, 2001 | 12:06 p.m.

Tasha Schwikert is a student and Olympic gymnast.

Now the 16-year-old Las Vegan can add spokesperson to her growing list of accomplishments.

Schwikert and UNLV assistant basketball coaches Jay Spoonhour, Derek Thomas and Deane Martin were at the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame Thursday afternoon to promote the Inner-City Games.

"I just think it's really good for kids to have actual athletes to come talk to them and be a part of the games instead of doing it themselves and not having role models to look up to," Schwikert said. "Getting kids involved in sports keeps them healthy and fit and occupies their time.

"I like being a role model. I like that little kids come up to me and want to imitate me. It's an honor, actually."

The Inner-City Games is a free sports, educational and cultural program open to boys and girls ages 7-17. Kids can participate in a wide variety of activities including basketball, chess and golf.

Schwikert's forte is gymnastics.

A few weeks ago, she participated at the Friendship Training Camp and Competition with the Belgium National Team at coach Bela Karolyi's ranch in Houston.

The USA beat the Belgian squad and Schwikert won the all-around competition by scoring 9.4 on vault, 9.225 on bars, 9.575 on beam and 9.625 on floor.

"I don't know if I was expecting those scores because I've never really competed with the new Code of Points so I was shocked," Schwikert said.

The new Code of Points went into effect this year upping the difficulty in the routines and standards by which the gymnasts are judged.

At the 2000 Olympics, Schwikert surpassed expectations by posting the highest scores for the U.S. women's team.

Since then, she has returned home and re-enrolled at Centennial High School while training at Gymcats in Henderson.

Last fall, Schwikert was home-schooled to make more time for gymnastics training.

"I missed being in a real classroom with real kids instead of being in my room with a book by myself," Schwikert said, giggling.

Her next big competition will be the U.S. Classic in mid-July, a qualifier for the nationals in mid-August. The best gymnasts from the nationals will be selected for the world championship team, Goodwill Games team and World University Games team.

"I'm going to try to add a few more skills and just repeat routines and clean them up before Classic so I can hit them good and get higher start value," Schwikert said. "During school, I trained from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.

"Now I will go 6-6 1/2 hours a day."

The Inner-City Games will conclude Aug. 25. Participants will receive free transportation, snacks and instruction on their event of choice. For information or a registration booklet call 382-5447.