It’s a good thing Annalise Newman-Achee’s family didn’t live in a ranch home when she was little.
Without a stairway device to play on, the Hopewell Valley Central High School senior may never have slid her way into the sport in which she now excels.
“I was first introduced to gymnastics when I was two,” Newman-Achee recalls. “I was always a very hyper kid and would be sliding down the banisters of my house, so my mom thought it would be a good idea to put me in gymnastics just so I could get my energy out. That was the start of my passion for the sport.”
OK, more than likely, Annalise would have found her niche without the banister sliding. But many Olympic hopefuls have a unique story to tell, so the banister can be hers if she makes it that far.
And it’s not something to take lightly at the rate she has been going.
“The Olympics are my ultimate goal,” Newman-Achee said. “It would mean so much to me to be able to show off all of my hard work and represent my country at an Olympic Games. It would make my childhood dreams come true.”
First things first, however, and that would be the World Gymnastics Championships that begin Oct. 29 in Liverpool, England. Newman-Achee will be representing Trinidad and Tobago, as she has dual citizenship in America and her father’s homeland.
There will be 169 competitors at the event, and 120 of them will be part of teams. Annalise is one of just 49 gymnasts going as the sole representative for their countries.
“I would say there is some pressure trying to qualify as an individual,” she said. “But I really tried not to think about it. I am just trying to take it one step at a time and enjoy the whole experience.”
Her trip to Worlds actually started in 2021, when she was invited to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Pan American Games.
Due to Covid, Trinidad and Tobago was locked down longer than the U.S., and could not hold qualifiers for the Pan Am Games. But the country reached out to Annalise’s coach, Ann Kolasa, for video footage.
“We had to show her star values were up to par and that she truly was going to be competitive on an international stage,” said Kolasa, who owns Gymland Gymnastics in Hamilton with husband Valdi. Newman-Achee competes for Gymland’s Arena team.
After Trinidad and Tobago officials evaluated her footage, Newman-Achee was selected for the games. By virtue of reaching the finals in bars, she was invited back this year and killed it.
Newman-Achee finished 19th out of 77 competitors in the all-around, with a score of 46.266. She had 12.933 on vault, 12.067 on uneven bars (usually her top event), 10.333 on beam, and 10.933 on floor.
After taking the team scoring out of the mix (which accounted for 20 gymnasts), only 11 spots remained for individuals to qualify. Newman-Achee took ninth to advance.
“She’s amazing, she’s really good under pressure,” Kolasa said. “She loves to perform, she loves the big stage. She’s incredibly talented to go along with that. But she’s got that competitive edge, where some kids don’t want to step up to the moment. But she has that drive.
“There’s a skill involved in being able to compete under that much pressure and intensity. It’s something that is really hard to teach, that athletic edge.”
It’s basically the ability to not let the moment become bigger than the individual.
“A lot of kids can do it in practice,” Kolasa continued. “But to do it in practice and to also do it on the world stage, those are different talents.”
In looking back on the competition, which took place in July in Rio, Brazil, Newman-Achee felt pretty good about things.
“I was mostly happy with how I performed at the Pan Am Games,” she said. “Despite having two falls on beam, I was really proud of myself for hitting my new bar routine, after an issue we had last year. I was also proud of how I carried myself throughout the competition. I would say as a whole, I am grateful that I was able to qualify for Worlds even after having a few setbacks.”
Annalise’s journey to Worlds began in Brooklyn, where she and her younger sister were home schooled on Tuesdays and Thursdays and went to public school the other three days. They attended gymnastics training every day. Due to her homeschooling, Newman-Achee was able to train numerous hours, allowing her to skip certain levels and head on to the elite track.
The family moved to Hopewell prior to Newman-Achee’s junior year, and that is when she found Kolasa.
“A previous coach of mine recommended her gym to me when she found out I was searching,” Annalise said. “Ann welcomed me into her gym with open arms and ever since, so much has happened. Her coaching staff is amazing and she helped me grow so much, not just as an athlete, but also as a person. I am grateful for her.”
When Newman-Achee arrived at Gymland, her new coach immediately knew she had a lot to work with.
“I saw the talent right away,” Kolasa said. “She’s got a unique combination of qualities. One of them being her height. She’s 5 7-½. That is a giant in our sport. It’s really beautiful. When she has to swing on the bars, in gymnastics we talk about long lines, long arms, long fingers, just that extension sort of like a ballerina. She has that quality but she’s also got extremely quick muscles so she’s quick and powerful. Just those two combinations of artistry and power are unique.”
That uniqueness has helped push her into the sport’s international spotlight, which Newman-Achee naturally said “is such a big deal for me. I get to represent my country and I’m right there with all the other top gymnastics in the world.”
Kolasa and her student have worked on putting more difficulty into Alisa’s routines so if she nails them, it will mean higher scores. Newman-Achee says she is starting to feel more confident with the more challenging routines and feels she will be ready when the time comes. She is not, however, setting any goals on where she hopes to finish.
“For me, it’s more about going out there and performing to the best that I can on that day and hitting the cleanest routines possible,” she said. “I want to stay in the moment and enjoy the experience. One thing I would like to improve at these games is becoming more confident on beam when competing in a big arena.”
Girls with the top 24 qualifying scores reach the all-around finals, while gymnasts with the top 8 scores in each event will move on.
“She has an outside chance to get into an all-around final or get into a couple of event finals,” Kolasa said. “We’re certainly aiming for those. That’s gonna come down to who competes best at that moment. We think she’s not a top contender, but she’s a contender. We’re really shooting for just competing at a personal best and adding the difficulty on the agenda and being clean and proud and showing her character.”
However it works out at the Worlds, Newman-Achee’s gymnastics future is set for the next four years as she has received a full scholarship to the University of California-Berkeley, which has one of the nation’s top programs.
“I felt like it was the best fit for me knowing my background and the kind of family I come from,” Annalise said. “I knew it would be my home away from home.”
Kolasa helped her student through the process, which included offers from national powers such as Missouri, Georgia, Florida and Arkansas.
“This is the perfect fit,” Kolasa said. “The coaches are really fantastic, they have a similar mindset to my husband and I, who have been working with her the last two years. They seem to have a great approach to the student-athlete and students themselves, building them as women and students whereas some of these programs are all about winning.
“But they’re also a Top 10 program. One of the head coaches (Elisabeth Crandall-Howell) is a highly ranked judge internationally so she’ll also be able to help her continue her quest for the Olympics in 2024.”
And it all started with that banister.
Hopewell Valley’s Annalise Newman-Achee at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships, held in July in Rio de Janeiro.,
