BOISE-- Those close to the sport will tell you that gymnastics can be just as hard, if not harder on an athlete, than any other sport. The constant wear and tear on the body can end a career in ones prime. But one Bronco gymnast is pushing through all of that, and an almost career ending injury, for the chance to do something never done before.
Boise State gymnast Amy Glass has had a season to forget, plagued by nagging injuries.
"Achilles injuries, ankle injuries, or a hyper-extended knee here," Glass explains.
But, when asked to compare it to what she went through three years ago, she says minor injuries are nothing to her.
"I was at home, I couldn't run, I couldn't do anything. These seemed minor compared to what I went through before. So, it was just kind of no big deal.
"You're talking about a scraped knee and a gunshot wound," Boise State gymnastics co-head coach Neil Resnick said. "It's no comparison."
Three years ago, Glass broke her neck while competing. It took a year of rest and rehab, and more determination than most athletes have, to come back to the sport that she loved. But now that she has, she has found a resolve that she will keep with her forever.
"I think that later in life, when things happen, I'll be like it doesn't even matter," Glass said. "Because I broke my neck and came back to gymnastics, and that was the hardest thing that I ever had to do. So, other things will be minor compared to that."
This weekend, Glass will compete at the NCAA National Championship as an individual, with a chance to do something special for the BSU gymnastics program.
"I really want to make finals because no Boise State gymnast has done it before," Glass said. "I mean it's kind of within reach, and that's what I really want to do."
"She has been a quality producing athlete. She has been steady, consistent, everything you want to see out of an athlete. We're going to miss her," Resnick said.
Nationals will be the final competition as an athlete for Glass, but she says she is excited for it, and what lies beyond.
"I've seen other people in the past get depressed or sad about ending their gymnastics career because it's such a huge part of your life for 20 or 19 years. I don't really want to be like that. I'm excited to go out there and go out with a bang and then start the next chapter of my life."
