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04/26/2018 12:00 AMHaley Smith likes the challenge of being a gymnast with how hard she has to push herself to improve her skill set. This winter, Haley’s quest to progress helped her reach one of the highest plateaus in the state.
Haley, a senior at The Morgan School, started doing gymnastics at a young age and never looked back. After representing the Huskies as a team-of-one during her freshman and sophomore years, Haley was part of the Haddam-Killingworth/Hale-Ray/Morgan co-op gymnastics squad the past two seasons. Haley earned All-State Second Team honors a year ago, but she was hungry to have an even better season as a senior. Haley realized that goal by vaulting her way to a spot on the All-State First Team this year.
On top of that achievement, Haley is also an accomplished CrossFit athlete who is ranked No. 165 in the world among females in the 16-17 Year-Old Division.
“I like the team aspect of gymnastics and the opportunity to always get better and improve,” says Haley, who finished tied for 16th place on the vault at the State Open Championship. “Earning All-State First Team was really exciting, because I made Second Team last year, and I wanted to make an impact. It was exciting to see my name on a banner for it, and it was a great way to end my senior year.”
Haley, who trains at Flip-Flop Gymnastics in Deep River, says that the athletes on her teams like to use a little internal competition among themselves to make things more interesting. It’s that type of attitude that motivates Haley to make her mark on the mat and become the best gymnast she can be.
“I like trying to get stronger in gymnastics,” Haley says. “On the teams I’ve been on, we would have competitions, like who could do the most pull-ups. I always like that challenge of trying to move up to the next level and learn bigger skills.”
While Haley loved having a place to call home for the latter half of her high-school career, she says she learned a lot about personal responsibility by flying solo for those first two seasons. Haley feels that experience set the stage for success in her junior and senior years.
“When I started high school as a team-of-one, I didn’t have anyone around me to motivate me, so it was all on me, and it helped me grow up faster,” says Haley. “When I had the co-op team with H-K my junior and senior years, it was great because I had others to push me, and we all really pushed each other on the team.”
Speaking more about her collaborative effort at Haddam- Killingworth, Haley says the experience offered an encouraging atmosphere among a bunch of friendly, close-knit gymnasts.
“The co-op team was a lot of fun and having that team element was fun,” she says. “I got to cheer with teammates on and enjoy each meet even more.”
Monica Bauer, one of Haley’s coaches at Flip-Flop Gymnastics, says that Haley is so passionate about the sport that she volunteers to work with up-and-coming gymnasts and help them learn the ropes.
“Haley has been dedicated to the sport for many years. She was the team captain and a good leader and role model for the underclassmen,” says Bauer. “Haley also coaches at Flip-Flop Gymnastics. She coaches some of our beginner and intermediate classes and helps out with our developmental Junior Olympic team. She works well with the athletes and has helped them progress.”
Haley feels that being a coach will prove beneficial when it comes to her future aspirations. After she graduates from Morgan, Haley will attend Southern Connecticut State University later this year.
“Coaching at Flip-Flop is so important to me, because I want to be an elementary school teacher, so the opportunity to coach has been amazing,” says Haley, who thanks her parents, Dina and Chris, along with Bauer, and all of her fellow Flip-Flop gymnasts. “It gives me a chance to put things to girls in a way that they will understand. It also gives me a chance to connect with the girls on another level.”
Haley started doing CrossFit in 2013, but then stopped for a few years to focus on gymnastics. However, Haley got back into CrossFit in 2016 and, this time, she did so on a highly competitive level by participating in the Worldwide Open. The Worldwide Open involves CrossFit athletes completing five workouts in a five-day stretch that are viewed by a certified judge, after which the scores are posted online to formulate the rankings in each division. The top 200 advance to the regionals, and Haley came up just short last year as she finished ranked 212th in the age 16-17 Division. Haley says that missing the cut “motivated me a ton” to get in the top 200 this year.
“It took getting in the gym a lot more. It was really hard because I was working and it happens during the gymnastics season, and I had to incorporate my training in with my gymnastics practices and stay late to get more conditioning done,” she says. “But also, my coaches at [Westbrook CrossFit] sat down with me, and we looked at we needed to fix, so we added more weightlifting so I could get stronger, which helped me a lot this year. It was disappointing last year when I was 212th and knew I wasn’t making it.”
After going back to the drawing board, Haley returned to the CrossFit circuit determined to advance to the regionals and achieved that feat by securing her ranking as No. 165 in her division. Now, Haley is vying to become one of the top 20 among those 200 who advance to the next stage: The CrossFit Games.
“I was so excited. Everyone was so proud of me. But I knew that it wasn’t over. I had to keep working out. I couldn’t just take a break,” Haley says. “I’m really proud of myself. It took a lot to get to where I am. CrossFit is not easy mentally or physically, so I had to grow and mature, and the adults at my gym helped me with that. I had to do those hard workouts and be there as 6 a.m. before school and after work. It’s rewarding. It’s what I wanted all year.”
Sports Editor Chris Piccirillo contributed to this story.