IN THE NEWS >> Who will be America's Next Star?

© June 2001 GirlsGymnastics.com

Hollie Vise is so happy she could do a bunch of tumbling passes all the way home from practice.

No, Hollie hadn't scored her first 10.0 in elite competition. She's been voted America's next star in a recent GirlsGymnastics.com poll. She received 44.32% of the votes. Carly Patterson was a distant second at 21.91%. Next were Kristal Uzelac, Tasha Schwikert and Marie Fjordholm.

"Really? Wow, that is so cool," says 13-year-old Hollie, barely able to contain her enthusiasm in a phone call.

You might as well have told her she'd won a unlimited supply of beanie babies.

To Hollie, two of the most important things in life are gymnastics and her beanie baby collection. She owns over 400, stacked up in orderly fashion in her Dallas home. "I don't have much space left in my room," she says.

Right now gymnastics takes up most of her time. The 4-foot-10, 85-pound dynamo is working hard to increase her strength and power so she can make the impact everyone expects at the U.S. Championships Aug. 8-11 in Philadelphia. She is expected to easily qualify for nationals with a solid performance at the U.S. Classic July 20-22 in Huntington Beach, Calif.

"She already has great skills in the bar. She can make a 10 in practice," says her coach, Evgeny Marchenko, who supervises her training at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas.

Hollie is already turning heads on the balance beam with some moves that stretch the limits of the human backbone. "She is built like a rubber band," says Marchenko.

Hollie can lie down on the balance beam on her chest and lift her legs over her head to touch the beam.

She wakes up every morning at 6:20 a.m. After a granola bar for breakfast, her mom Lee Ann drives her 40 minutes to the spacious WOGA facilities in an old Montgomery Ward's building. Hollie stays most days until 3 p.m. Hollie, who is home schooled, then comes home and studies. Her best subject: Math.

Down the road, she wants to be a fashion designer. "I want to design leotards." Her favorite colors: Blue and lime green.

She made her first appearance on TV last year - and her name is starting to spread. She gets mail from all over the USA, and her fans really kicked in when the GirlsGymnastics.com contest was announced.

Hollie's too young to compete in this year's World Championships, but she's looking forward to some foreign travel this summer.

"I'd like to place in the top five at nationals, and go on some assignments," she says.

She has already been to Russia, Belgium, Italy and Hawaii.

"She's one of the hardest workers I've ever had," says Marchenko, a Latvian who was a five-time champion in sport acrobatics. "I try to be realistic, but she has a chance to be great."

>> back home