By Ashley Graf
More than one thousand fans packed the Smith Fieldhouse to support Brigham Young University”s gymnastics team as they competed against No. 10 Oregon State and Utah State March 9.
Their cheers could be heard from the sidewalk as each Cougar competed. One of the highlights of the night was junior Aimee Walker Pond on the uneven bars. She delivered a solid routine and stuck her landing flawlessly. The performance earned a 9.825, a new career high for Pond.
She turned toward the stands, but the crowd was silent.
Her smile beamed as she saw thousands of hands waving wildly at her-cheering. For this elite gymnast, the sight was louder than all of the applause that reached the sidewalk because Aimee Walker Pond is deaf.
When Pond was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck three times and nurses had to resuscitate her. Doctors informed her parents that Pond”s Apgar scores were very low.
“It means that she probably won”t be a ballerina or a rocket scientist,” they said, but her mother, Patsy Walker, maintained a positive outlook.
Months later, tests confirmed that Pond was completely deaf in both ears and also blind in her right eye. Still, she enjoyed a lively childhood during which she tried many different activities. None seemed to fit until she was eight-years-old and her cousins invited her to watch them practice their new sport-gymnastics.
“They were all doing cartwheels and I thought, ”I”ve never seen so many cool things!” So I went to my mom and said, ”Mom, I can do that,”” Pond recalled.
Deafness sometimes causes a balance problem and being blind in one eye affects depth perception, so at first, gymnastics did not seem like the most logical choice.
“I certainly never would have picked gymnastics for Aimee, but she sure did,” Walker said.
Pond”s parents called the gymnastics gym to sign her up for lessons, but the secretary denied Walker”s request because none of the coaches knew sign language. Yet within weeks, Pond”s cousin broke her leg and needed someone to take her place in the pre-paid lessons. The Walkers decided to send their daughter without telling the gym she was deaf.
“Aimee picked it up so quickly. That first practice, the other mothers said she looked like she”d been in the class longer than their kids,” Walker said.
By the end of the practice, however, it was apparent that Aimee was deaf, and the coach came to talk to Walker. She was worried the coach would reiterate the message given by the secretary, but Walker said it was absolutely contrary to that. Instead, the coach told Walker her daughter was very good. Then she walked over to Pond.
“I”d love to learn sign language,” she said. “I”ll teach you gymnastics, and you can teach me sign language.”
On the way home from a meet that same year, Pond turned to Walker and announced that she wanted to be in the Olympics someday. Walker responded that the deaf Olympics are wonderful and it was a great idea.
“No, not the deaf Olympics-the hearing Olympics,” Pond emphasized to her mother.
At that time, Walker caught a glimpse of the road Pond would travel.
“She had connected what she was doing with her desires for the future and understood that anything is possible. She wasn”t putting any limitations on herself, so I didn”t put any limitations on her,” Walker said.
Pond”s gymnastics career flourished as she grew. In the 1999 Junior Olympic Nationals, she placed sixth on floor, ninth on bars, and nineteenth overall as a level-10 gymnast. The next year, she earned senior elite status-an accomplishment reached by less than one percent of gymnasts.
In 2000, Pond placed second in the All-Around at an International Elite meet in San Diego and was invited to begin the Olympic trials process along with only 22 other gymnasts, including Shannon Miller and Amy Chow.
“She had a good chance at making the Olympics-she was right there with everyone else. Just goes to show you that a little tiny eight-year-old”s dream wasn”t so far out of reach,” Walker said.
Unfortunately, Pond injured her knee just one week before the U.S. Classic, which was the first step in the Olympic trials, and was unable to compete. With the realization that her injuries would keep her from the Olympics, Pond turned her focus to competing at the collegiate level.
“When we recruited her, she actually chose to go UCLA her freshman year and then she came to BYU her second year and we”ve been happy ever since,” assistant coach Dawn Cattermole said.
Cougar coaches decided to let Pond redshirt her first year at BYU so she could focus on adjusting to the new area and doing well in school. For Pond, this is easier said than done because school is not simply going to class and doing homework-it includes setting up interpreters and note-takers for each class, getting used to studying off of the notes taken for her, and learning how to implement good study patterns.
“School is really hard for me because English is my second language. My first language is ASL [American Sign Language],” Pond explained. “I always focused on gymnastics, but when I came here I had to learn that it wasn”t gymnastics first and school second-I had to learn to balance the two.”
Head coach Brad Cattermole said the thing that impresses him most about Pond is her success in school. He added that while many would use deafness as an excuse to get by with a 2.0 GPA-and many only earn a 2.0 without an excuse-Pond maintains over a 3.0 GPA as a Recreational Management and Youth Leadership major while also competing as a collegiate gymnast.
“She”s a great gymnast, but gymnastics for her is the easy part. What is really impressive about her is her academics, because that is hard and she”s as responsible as the best of them when it comes to being a student,” Cattermole said.
Outside of school, Pond enjoys a normal life with her husband, Derek Pond. Derek served an ASL mission in California and works as an interpreter at Utah Valley State College while studying to become a pediatrician. Walker said Derek is one of the main reasons her daughter is so successful.
“He has supported me so much with school and gymnastics. I feel so blessed to have him for time and all eternity. He has always been there for me,” Pond said.
Injuries have continued to hamper Pond”s career, as she has undergone two knee surgeries and underwent another surgery on her ankle just four meets into the season last year.
“The doctor said she wouldn”t come back, but just nine months later, she was competing again,” Cattermole said. “She”ll fight as hard as anybody.”
Pond said she learned a lot after having to recover from so many injuries and now hopes to have a strong finish to her collegiate career. After that she plans to coach and judge gymnastics while working with children who have disabilities, and has already started gaining experience in each of these areas.
“She”s a pretty smart kid who really does some thinking about what to do with her life. She knows more about what she”d like to do and where she”s going than most others her age, and when she graduates from here she”ll go on to do some pretty spectacular things,” Cattermole said.
Beyond Pond”s professional aspirations are her desires to raise a family and to use her story to help others. “I”ve been so blessed. I want to help people learn to overcome their challenges through experiences that I”ve had, and help kids that are having challenges by showing them that they can do it,” she said.
Pond currently makes time in her busy schedule to speak wherever she can to encourage others to overcome their trials and help change opinions of people who have disabilities. Walker said her daughter”s achievements in gymnastics have placed her in a position where people want to listen to what she has to say.
“Aimee loves to help others, and gymnastics has been the perfect vehicle to let her be a good example. She”s always felt like everybody has challenges; everybody has something they”re not good at. It”s not about finding reasons why we can”t, but finding reasons why we can,” Walker said.
Few people understand that concept better than Pond. With two deaf ears and one blind eye, she has accomplished more than many of her peers, and has even drawn comparisons to Helen Keller.
“She”s wonderful, but I”m glad I”m not Helen Keller,” Pond said. “I”m so lucky-I have my one eye.”
