As valedictorian of SHS Class of 2005, Alina Liao has gone on to do great things.  This year, as Alina graduates from Yale as captain of the 2008-2009 Yale women's gymnastics team, she did a look-back of her athletic career and explains how it has shaped her path.

Falcons Sports News (FSN): When did you get into gymnastics?
Alina: I started when I was 5, and started competing when I was 7.

FSN: At what point did you realize you had a good chance at doing it in college?
Alina: I did not always know whether I wanted to continue gymnastics into college.  Gymnastics is somewhat unique of a sport in that competing at the collegiate level is not necessarily the ultimate goal.  I was always very serious about gymnastics, training 25-35 hours a week during high school.  The goal for me then was to reach the elite level and be nationally ranked in the USA Gymnastics League.  When I started thinking about college as a high school junior, I was not sure whether I wanted to do gym in college because I felt rather burnt out.  But, I figured being recruited would help me get in to Yale, my top choice, so I decided that if I got accepted to Yale as a student athlete, I would compete for Yale for at least two years (Yale isn't a scholarships school, so being recruited to a team is not binding).

FSN: What was collegiate sports experience like for you?  What impact has sport had in your life?
Alina: Like I said earlier, during high school, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to do gymnastics in college, but I figured I owed it to Yale to commit to at least two years.  By the end of my freshman year at Yale, though, I knew I wanted to keep at it for all four years.  Collegiate gymnastics is highly team-oriented, an element that was new to me and which I really appreciated.  I was burnt out after my last high school gymnastics season, but college gymnastics completely renewed my love for the sport.  I found competing for something bigger than myself to be very motivating and exciting.  Being on a collegiate varsity team also gave me my first experience of competing on "home turf."  I remember the night before my very first home meet, I was so nervous and excited that I couldn't sleep - I competed the next day on four hours of sleep and pure adrenaline.  While I eventually learned how to calm my nerves, competing at home would always get me just as pumped.  As I grew and matured in college, gymnastics played an essential part in developing my self-confidence, my ability to handle pressure, and my ability to be both a team player and a leader.  My senior year as team captain was especially challenging and rewarding as I worked to find a balance between pushing myself to excel, motivating my teammates, taking initiative to solve problems that arose throughout the season, and working with the coaches.

FSN: What are your recommendations for SHS students who are aspired to play sports in college?  What do they need to do now?
Alina: For those students who intend to play college sports, something I very much appreciate about my collegiate experience at Yale is how much they stress the "student" in "student-athlete."  I encourage students to maintain for themselves a solid balance between academics and athletics, wherever they go.  Not only does this balance develop important time-management skills, but the drives to excel in the classroom and on the field tend to reinforce each other.

FSN: You just graduated from college, what is life for you from here on?  Will your sport continue to be a part of your life?
Alina: Gymnastics is a sport that takes an extreme toll on the body.  For that reason, most female gymnasts peak around the age of fifteen and retire after college.  Likewise, I can say that I am retired from gymnastics, and that I am happy to have ended on such a high note.  That being said, having kept with gymnastics since I was five, I can't imagine life without a sport, so I plan on finding a new sport to take up.  I'll be spending the next year or two working in D.C., and I actually hope to join some sort of inter-community basketball league, ironically going from the sport with the shortest to tallest athletes, but, hey, what I lack in height, I'll make up for in speed.

Alina is now a consultant with Criterion Economics - a financial and economics consultancy focusing on market research and analysis.  FSN wishes Alina the best as she embarks on the next phase of her life, and tons of fun with basketball!