Living her dream: Cathedral’s Samantha Peszek primed to make Olympic gymnastics team

Olympic hopeful Samantha Peszek, a junior at Cathedral High School and member of St. Simon the Apostle Parish, both in Indianapolis, performs on the balance beam during a competition. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Most of us never get the opportunity—or the challenge—to pursue our lifelong dream in a crowded stadium with a national television audience watching our every move.

So you can understand why 16-year-old Samantha Peszek will follow her usual ritual of saying a prayer before she begins competing in the women’s finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Philadelphia on June 20 and 22.

If the Cathedral High School junior competes as well as she has in recent national and international competitions, the odds are high that this member of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis will nail her dream and land a spot on the women’s gymnastics team which will represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in August.

“It would be such a dream come true,” Samantha says.

It’s not only what Samantha and her family are hoping for, it’s also the hope of her sophomore religion teacher, Jo Cavanaugh, who shares a telling story about why Samantha is worthy of anyone’s support and prayers for living her dream.

The story took place in September of 2007 just after Samantha returned to Cathedral from Germany, where she and her teammates won the 2007 World Gymnastics Championships, the first time an American women’s gymnastics team had won an international competition outside the United States,

“Before she left, we asked in the class how we should pray for her,” recalls Cavanaugh, who has taught at the private Catholic school in Indianapolis for 31 years. “I said, ‘How about you’re confident and you’re on?’ And she added, ‘No injuries.’ That’s how we prayed for her when she was gone.

“When she came back, we asked, ‘Where’s your gold medal from the world championship?’ She just put her head down. She’s humble. I told her to bring it in. She did and we passed it around the class. That’s the beauty of her. She’s one of them. She’s not above them. She’s a part of us. She’s just a sweetheart.”

Samantha is also an excellent student at Cathedral, a reality that leads to another revealing story about the daughter of Ed and Luan Peszek.

“When she sets her mind to do something, we know she will do everything in her power to accomplish it,” Luan notes.

“Sam amazes her dad and I all the time with how well she can handle all she has going on. Just to illustrate, Sam was gone the first month of [school at] Cathedral her sophomore year at the World Championships in Germany. She came back and jumped right into school. She had to go early to school nearly every day for a few weeks in order to make up quizzes and tests, plus she sometimes missed lunch to meet with teachers or do make-up work. Despite all the obstacles, Sam managed to achieve high honors.”

She did it amid a whirlwind schedule that includes leaving school in the early afternoon to train for several hours each day at a gymnastics club in Fishers, Ind., a schedule that also includes traveling around the country and the world for competitions.

“It is so crazy,” says Samantha, who has been active in gymnastics since she was 2. “Sometimes it feels like I am in a circus because my schedule is so hectic. But as insane as it is, I love going to school and having a social life. It’s so fun to have school friends as well as gymnastics friends. I honestly feel like I get the best of both worlds.”

She credits her education and her friends at St. Simon School and Cathedral for keeping her grounded in her life.

“These schools have taught me many life lessons and morals that I will definitely carry with me the rest of my life,” she says. “Going to a Catholic school really shaped who I am as a person and I am very thankful for that.”

That Catholic education is a foundation that her parents have tried to give to Samantha and her younger sister, Jessica.

“Sam has a strong foundation of faith,” her mother says. “Just like all parents, Ed and I have tried to teach her to be a good person and to do the right thing at all times. The core values of a Catholic education and her faith are the building blocks of who she is.”

Cavanaugh has seen Samantha display those values in her religion class.

“She’s a spiritual kid,” Cavanaugh says. “Her faith is very much a part of her. She’s real. I remember teaching some meditation techniques in my class. She just grinned. She uses them in gymnastics. The whole God dimension is very much a part of her life. We pray every day in my class. We ask if anyone has intentions. Her prayers are always for other people—for her sister, for someone in her family, for her friends. There’s no ego in that child, no guile.”

Still, Samantha will ask for God’s help in Philadelphia.

“The whole USA team says a prayer before the competition,” she says. “I feel like it gives me an extra boost of confidence and I know God will be with me through the whole meet.”

Cavanaugh believes that Samantha will have more than a few people asking God to help her perform at her best during the Olympic Trials. The selections for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team that will head to the Olympics will be officially announced on July 20.

“I’m sure the whole Cathedral family will be praying for her,” Cavanaugh says. “It’s so exciting when someone you know is at this incredible level.”

Someone who is pursuing the dream of a lifetime.

“I have been dreaming of this since I was a little girl,” Samantha says. “To accomplish my wildest dream would be the most incredible thing I could ever imagine.” †