“ Youth gymnastics phenom becomes TV personality in a major market .”
It ’ s a variation on the Great American Dream . Sports + media = celebrity .
Except , the dream can too often be a Great American Nightmare . And for Whitney Harding to wake up from that nightmare before it consumed her life is a testament to her inner strength and her determination to succeed .
When you see Harding on WHAS11 , you see an easy , conversational , story-telling tone to her reports , a sharp sense of humor and a knowledge of sports as impressive as anyone in her field .
LIFE IN TEXAS
And why not ? She grew up in Texas , where sports – and talking about sports – is the first language . An athlete herself , she could swing a bat and throw a football with natural ability . Her professional bona fides are strong , too : a master ’ s degree from Northwestern University , which turns out journalists like Kentucky turns out NBA lottery picks ; then a stint as sports director for a TV station in Midland , Texas , where her beats included “ Friday Night Lights ” high school football , and she covered the Texas Tech Red Raiders , Rangers , Astros , Spurs , Cowboys and Texans .
And , since 2014 , she ’ s been on WHAS11 , where she ’ s a sports reporter / anchor covering ACC and SEC basketball , football and baseball .
But Harding ’ s sports journey began well before that .
In The Woodlands , a suburban community north of Houston , she was a promising eightyear-old gymnast trained at by Hall of Fame ( and controversial ) coach Béla Károlyi , who had previously sent Nadia Comăneci , Mary Lou Retton , Kim Zmeskal , Kerri Strug and others on to Olympics gold and international fame . Zmeskal and Strug had been older gym mates of the young Harding .
So what ’ s not to like ? It sounds like Donna Reed and the Cleavers meet Happy Days . Except , the days weren ’ t always so happy .
“ I HAD TO COACH MYSELF FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR FOR THE JUNIOR OLYMPIC NATIONALS . IT SHOWED ME THE POWER AND STRENGTH T H A T WERE WITHIN ME .”
– Whitney Harding
LIFE OF A GYMNAST
Her athletic promise forced the eight-yearold Harding to give up some of her loves – like dance , and all those other sports she ’ d played around the neighborhood – and focus intensely on Olympic-level gymnastics training .
“ Of everything , I loved dance , especially ballet . But I picked gymnastics , I think , because I felt it was what I was expected to pick ,” Harding said . “ Looking back , I think , ‘ Man , at eight years old , I was asked to make some really hard decisions .’ ”
She began going to gymnastics practice two or three times a week at 6 a . m ., before school , for two hours . Then she ’ d go back for three more hours in the evening .
By the age of 11 , in 1996 , she was nationally ranked in the vault at the Junior Olympic level .
Then came a series of happenstances that throw a whole shade on America ’ s youth-athletic obsession : injuries , which happen to a lot of young athletes , and puberty , which happens to everyone .
“ I had tons of injuries ,” Harding said . “ I ’ m still injured . When I was eight , I had a partially torn meniscus , and wore a brace for a little while . When I got older , it was my back . A lot of my activities were very back-intensive . I later learned there was a history of back problems in my family .”
She was in pain . Tests showed nothing conclusive . She was advised to take some time off , “ but I had a Russian coach ( Alexander Alexandrov ) at the time . They don ’ t understand taking time off . You tough it out ! You suffer in silence . You don ’ t complain , you just work harder .”
It turned out , her family later learned , she had two stress fractures . Plus “ a whole mess of stuff wrong with my back .”
Harding said the physician who read the tests came out and began talking to her mother . “ He thought she was the patient . He said the pictures showed the back of somebody my mother ’ s age .”
LIFE INTRUDES
Also , at this time , Harding went through “ the worst thing that could ever happen to a gymnast .” Puberty ! “ I had a growth spurt . I gained weight . I started doing all the things that happen to little
22 EXTOL SPORTS / JULY 2017