Ramona teen competes for spot on U.S. Olympic team
Ryan Roberts has built an impressive resume since he started competing on the trampoline at the age of 11 in 2003.
He has won 13 California state championships in his age group in trampoline, synchronized trampoline, double mine trampoline and tumbling.
Ryan has won six national championships and has been on a national championship team. He has made the national team in his age group and has competed for the USA in the Netherlands. He has traveled to Sacramento; Fort Smith, Ark.; Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago, Ill.; Lubbock, Texas; Quebec City, Canada; Tulsa, Okla.; Mobile, Ala.; Houston, Texas, Bakersfield, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Kansas City, Mo.
“Some of the places that Ryan has competed in have not been glamour spots,” joked his mother, Tracy, his director of transportation.
His itinerary is looking up. Ryan will be traveling to Dallas, Texas, this week to compete in the Visa Championships at the Elite National level. He will be competing in Las Vegas, Nev., in September for a spot on the U.S. National Team. His biggest sojourn will come later this year when he will travel to Moscow, Russia, for the world championships.
Ryan is competing for a spot on the Olympic team that will compete in 2012 in London. Getting information out of the 17-year-old Ramona High School senior at is not easy. He is an easygoing young man who just enjoys competing.
He has battled through some injuries, the worst of which was a broken jaw.
His mother is also modest.
“Ryan has a great coach, Doug Boger, who is a U.S. National Team training coach,” she said. “He has helped Ryan very much. Ryan has gone from being number 46 in the nation at the age of 13 to number 14 at the age of 15 to national championships and competing for a spot on the National Team and the Olympic Team under the tutelage of Coach Boger.”
Boger, proud of Ryan’s accomplishments, is in Michigan coaching at a national competition, but he called and explained that Ryan is an elite athlete and has put up some impressive numbers in his most recent competitions.
The
Sentinel
will continue to report on Ryan’s progress. His trip to Russia might help him get a trip to London. It is a circuitous route, but worth every inch of the journey.