Athlete Spotlight

David Sender

David Sender, 23, hails from nearby Arlington Heights, IL, and has been doing gymnastics since the age of 3.  He has competed in five Junior Olympics, winning numerous medals and acclaim.  David also competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Anaheim, Calif., in 2004, and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Philadelphia, PA, in 2008, but suffered a sprained ankle and had to pull out from competition.  Sender was being looked at to join the 2008 men’s Olympic gymnastics team, but that injury definitely denied him a spot.

David’s parents took him to a gym at age 3 because he was such an overactive kid, who loved to run and jump.  One day his parents lost him in the house and upon finally finding him they were met with a surprise.

“I’m walking down the banister like you would a balance beam at 3 years old,” David recounted.  “I looked completely in control and [my dad] caught me when I got down to the bottom and he said to my mom ‘we gotta get this kid out of the house.’”

David started out in recreational classes, but when he got antsy again at 7 because his gym didn’t have a team he moved to Buffalo Grove Gymnastics.  David truly loves the sport of gymnastics and advises any kid who wants to get started, to do “it for the right reasons.”

“You should do it because you enjoy it,” David said.  “The kind of training, the commitment, the time that it involves is really unlike anything else.  You should really make sure that you enjoy the sport, but at the same time, if you do it’s fantastic.”

David continued his training at Stanford University and recently graduated in June.  Stanford has an extraordinary gymnastics program and proves that you can continue on to college and still maintain that elite level of Olympic training.

“The biggest thing that’s going to get you by is just being able to manage your time well,” David advises.  “You have to be able to leave some time for school, separate from gymnastics and keep the two things completely apart.  You can’t bring your schoolwork into the gym, it’s going to distract you.  You can’t bring the gym into school, that’s going to distract you.”

Sender obviously wasn’t distracted at the Tyson American Cup as he soared to a second place finish with six difficulty filled and expertly executed routines.  David has other aspirations though, majoring in biological sciences with the hope of some day becoming a veterinarian.

“It was actually my first passion,” David said.  “I wanted a zoo at my house, and I thought about having a monkey and I wanted raccoons for a while.  I’ve always enjoyed working with animals and just being around them.”

While David has set aside this next year, to devote solely to gymnastics, he has applied to a number of veterinary schools and is looking forward to his future. 

“[Veterinary school] was always where my eye was, but gymnastics always came first until whenever I’m done here,” David said.  “Then all of the devotion I have for gymnastics will all be transferred to vet school.  I’ll be learning the stuff that I want to be doing for the rest of my life.

For more photos from the Tyson American Cup and of David Sender competing, please visit our flickr page.