It took sophomore Leigha Hancock a while to settle on gymnastics. She started at age five, but she didn’t focus on the sport exclusively until her sophomore year in high school.
“I did gymnastics and soccer, I did soccer in high school, and then I picked gymnastics,” she said. “Once I got in high school, then it was like OK; maybe I can go to college for one of these sports. So I had to pick it. My sophomore year, I stopped playing soccer and focused on gymnastics more.”
After high school, Hancock decided to leave Suffield, Conn., and further her gymnastics career at N.C. State. However, she didn’t come to State expecting have the immediate success she is having and or to become one of the team’s leaders.
“When I was at home, I didn’t really have a lot of confidence and I had other teammates that were a lot better than me. I was just doing it [gymnastics] to do it, then I came here and Mark [Stevenson] is a great coach and so are Todd [Henry] and Karen [Pleasants],” Hancock said. “So, things have been going well. I definitely worked a lot harder here than I did at home. If you work hard then obviously you’re going to get results.”
Stevenson said Hancock has made a vast improvement during the last year.
“She developed since last year, an attitude of ‘I’m going to be better, I am going to learn other skills, and I’m going to be successful,'” the coach said. “That’s an attitude that’s very hard to give somebody, it comes from within. She didn’t have it when we first got her, she’s developed it somehow and right now, all of the big stuff she’s doing, most of its learned new over the last year and a half. She’s just working her rear end off.”
Hancock’s hard work has led to numerous honors and has given her the respect of her teammates.
“I see Leigha as one of the leaders on the team. She’s really focused on the team, inside and outside of the gym. She’s always looking out for the best interests,” sophomore teammate Heather Zolton said. “She’s really consistent. She’s been doing great the whole season. All around, she’s a leader. People look up to her.”
Senior teammate Kylah Bachman said Hancock has been a large part of the teams’ success this year.
“She’s one of those girls that works really, really hard and always brings a fun time into the gym. She’s really talented, so she ups the bar and brings better gymnastics to our program,” Bachman said.
Since her arrival last season, Hancock has won the EAGL Rookie of the Year award and has been honored as the EAGL Specialist of the Week four times this season. Also, Hancock has continued to record new personal-best scores and was a major part of the Wolfpack’s season high score of 193.625. The only event Hancock has not succeeded is the bars, which she hasn’t competed on while at State.
“I’m working on [the bars]. I was going to exhibition last weekend, but we only had that meet and two meets left, hopefully nationals. We didn’t want to risk getting me hurt. Maybe next year, hopefully,” Hancock said. “I did do it [bars] in high school. Here, its just not really one of my best events, so I have to work really, really hard at bars. So, over the summer I am going to work harder and hopefully get into the line-up.”
Stevenson said he has no doubt Hancock will be competing on the bars next season.
“She’ll be ready by next year. That’s not going to be a problem for her as long as something doesn’t happen, getting dinged up or something,” Stevenson said.
Even with the individual success she has had, Hancock said her favorite part of gymnastics is her team.
“Sometimes it’s hard to bring yourself to practice everyday. You’re tired, you have lifts in the morning, but I love being here with my teammates,” Hancock said. “I live with two of my teammates; they’re my best friends. I don’t know if I could come here everyday if I had a different team, were so close. We really enjoy being together.”
Hancock is so close to her team she said the team is part of her personal long-term goals.
“A long term goal that I would love to achieve, it would be great to make it to nationals before I graduate, as a team or individual. I’d really like to make it as a team, that’d be so great,” Hancock said.
Stevenson said his team is very close to helping Hancock reach her long-term goal.
“Leigha will make nationals,” he said. “But more importantly than Leigha making nationals, this group of kids coming through right now is going bring the team back to nationals. We’re [so] close.”