Worley's Elite Experience leads Georgia

Worley's elite experience leads Georgia
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By Patrick Carney
Special To ESPN.com
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Shayla Worley ignored the nagging pain in her right shin. As a gymnast, she constantly felt aches and pains and knew she had to push through her vigorous workout schedule at the final Olympic selection camp if she wanted to represent her country in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in just three weeks.

Shayla Worley
Nick Laham/Getty ImagesShayla Worley, who broke her leg during the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, heads a freshman class with much promise at No. 8 Georgia.

However, as she hopped onto the balance beam, Worley felt a pop in her leg and knew this was not the usual wear and tear. The Orlando, Fla., native was diagnosed with an acute fracture of her right fibula and would not be selected for the Olympic team.

"It was devastating, kind of dream-shattering," Worley said. "I felt like my world was coming to an end because for a long time all I ever thought about was 2008 and I didn't give much thought to what would happen after the Olympics. I worked my whole life for that one goal."

Eighteen months later, Worley now headlines a talented freshman class of gymnasts at the University of Georgia, which has undergone significant changes in the last year.

As the 2010 season progresses, the Gym Dogs are staring down tough odds to add a sixth straight national championship after the retirement of legendary coach Suzanne Yoculan and the departure of senior Courtney Kupets. Kupets was the winner of the Honda Award as the top female collegiate athlete in the country in 2009.

New head coach Jay Clark, an assistant under Yoculan, has tried to make the transition process as seamless as possible.

"Philosophically, things haven't really changed," Clark said. "From the girls' standpoint, they haven't experienced an awful lot of change in terms of the things they experience on a day in and day out basis."

Clark asked Kupets to stay around the program and help out her former teammates as she finishes her degree at Georgia.

As a team manager, or "atmosphere enhancer," as she says, Kupets attends most practices and meets to help motivate and coach the team. She spends much of her time teaching the uneven bars, where she excelled during her four years on the Gym Dogs.

"I need to be myself and bring the energy I bring to the gym," Kupets said. "I love it. I didn't know how I was going to feel about it or how the girls would feel about me still being in the gym, but they've embraced me so much."

Clark has already seen the benefits of having his former All-American around the gym.

"She's a valuable resource for the girls," Clark said. "They can relate to her, she's someone that's not threatening. They still see her as their teammate even though she's acting in a capacity on our staff now. She's been great for our atmosphere in the gym. There was no way I wasn't going to allow her to be a part of this if in any way she wanted to."

Kupets, an Olympic medalist, has had a powerful impact on Worley.

[+] EnlargeGeorgia Athletics
Georgia Athletics Georgia will be looking for freshman Shayla Worley to help pace the team this season.

"She's the greatest collegiate gymnast in history. I definitely look up to her and strive to be as good as her," said Worley.

As a freshman, with such high expectations, Worley is experiencing the pressures of succeeding for herself and the team while trying to keep the Georgia program among the college elite.

"It's a completely different type of pressure," Worley said. "Before, you're kind of all in it for yourself. Now you have the pressure of a whole team.

"There's a great legacy and dynasty that has been created at this program. It's an unsaid thing that we want to continue the tradition and legacy. I think everybody puts a little extra pressure on themselves even though we shouldn't. We want to win and continue to win."

With a 1-2 record, the Gym Dogs have struggled to start the 2010 season. After beating Stanford at home to start the year, the team dropped two straight road meets at Alabama and Utah. No. 8 Georgia will finish a three-meet road trip on Friday when it faces No. 15 Auburn.

"The first two meets were completely out of character for this team and maybe some of the things from the outside were chipping away at us in terms of focus," Clark said. "It's possible that some of those issues and voices that were out there about the transition and not having Courtney Kupets anymore and not having Suzanne -- it's possible that we lost a little bit of that focus. I really felt like last weekend we regained our identity in who we are, and we fought like a Georgia teams fights all the way to the end. We believe that this team is very much a team that can contend for a national title."

Worley, who has truly embraced the team-first nature of collegiate gymnastics, has not been able to fully participate in the early matches. Due to previous injuries, she took a one-year sabbatical from competing in vault and floor exercise competitions. While she's now back on the floor, she hasn't yet recaptured her past success on the vault.

"She's having to go through the typical changes that most freshmen deal with," Clark said. "It's a different kind of pressure and a different kind of experience than they've ever had. She's a tremendous asset to our team from a personality standpoint. She wants to do well. She's really done everything we've asked of her at this point. We've seen a lot of growth, and we see her improving every week.

"I really believe before it's all said and done, she's going to have a tremendous impact for us in the all-around and be that type of All-American, national champion-type competitor we've grown accustomed to having here."

Despite her retirement from elite-level gymnastics after the leg injury that crushed her 2008 Olympic hopes and her commitment to Georgia, Worley has still left herself open to the possibility of trying to make one last run at the Olympics in 2012.

"There's always a chance that maybe in a few years I'll be ready to go again, but as of right now college is my main priority," Worley said. "I would love to go for another Olympics, but over the years the toll gymnastics takes on your body is pretty hard. We'll see where my body is by the time it comes closer."

Patrick Carney is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.