The gold rush

In 2004, Baton Rouge-born gymnast Carly Patterson captivated the country after taking home the gold in the women’s all-around competition at the Athens Olympic Games. She was everywhere—Letterman, Oprah, Leno. Although Patterson lived in Baton Rouge until she was 11, her hometown was invariably listed as Allen, Texas.

Now, another local gymnast is poised to bring the spotlight back to the capital city—this time, actually claiming Baton Rouge as her hometown, even if it’s not her current residence.

Natasha Kelley is the 16-year-old gymnastics phenom who got her start in Baton Rouge but has moved to Houston to train with coaches Dan and Ashly Baker at Stars Gymnastics.

Kelley’s parents, Troy and Peggy Kelley, realized three years ago their daughter had gone as far as she could with her local coaches at Elite Gymnastics. So they made the tough decision to relocate their entire family, including Natasha’s 10-year-old brother Benji, to the Houston suburb of Katy.

“We could either stay in Baton Rouge and always wonder what might have been, or we could move and help her realize her full potential,” her father said. “It was a big decision, but we went for it and we’ve never looked back.”

Since training with the Bakers, a husband-wife coaching duo, Kelley has become a regular on the national team. She was the 2005 junior nationals champion and the 2006 senior nationals runner-up behind fellow Texas gymnast Nastia Liukin.

“She keeps improving every year,” Ashly said. “She knows what she wants, and she goes after it.”

Ashly Baker is a level-10 gymnast and judge with more than 16 years coaching experience. Her husband, Dan, who was a gymnast at Ohio State University, has been coaching for more than 30 years. The pair have owned gyms in California and Florida and recently purchased their Houston gym from Rita Brown, a former USA World Team and Olympic coach.

“Dallas and Houston have really become the breeding ground for some of the country’s best gymnasts,” Ashly said. “When the Karolyis [a famed coaching duo from Romania] moved here in the ’80s, they really upped the quality level of the gyms in this area.”

The Bakers have done an amazing job since taking over the gym. They recently received honors naming them the 2006 Texas Coaches of the Year, with Kelley earning 2006 Texas Gymnast of the Year honors.

Still, 2006 has been a hard year for Kelley physically. In January she suffered a broken hand—her second in two years. She battled to finish second at the Visa Championships in August and placed 11th at the World Championships in Aarhaus, Denmark.

She’s won international competitions in Japan, Russia, Mexico and Venezuela, but the trip to Denmark will be the first time her family will travel outside the United States to see her compete.

“We, of course, travel to all of her competitions around the U.S.,” said her father. “As parents, we are on the sidelines, and we prefer to stay there. We totally support her, but leave the coaching up to the Bakers.”

Kelley is in the gym six days a week, often for more than five hours a day. When she’s at home she is busy catching up on her studies through a DVD home-schooling program. As an 11th-grader she has started looking at colleges, but nothing serious. Her former Stars Gymnastics teammate, Susan Jackson, is a freshman gymnast at LSU this year, so perhaps Kelley will follow in her footsteps and return to the capital city. But it seems the footsteps she is most likely to follow are those of fellow Baton Rouge native Patterson.

Although the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are two years away, Kelley has already set her sights on winning a gold medal. As the competition nears, comparisons between her and Patterson are inevitable.

“I’ve had people tell me that we are alike in some ways,” Kelley said. “I think it’s great what she accomplished in 2004, but I’m not her. I’m my own person.”