Shirley Beecher glanced out at the crowd. Going through her routine on the uneven bars, Beecher never anticipated being in the spotlight again.
The cancellation of the Empire State Games 14 years ago left Beecher on the sidelines. And while she continued to operate Flips Gymnastics in Lockport, an organization that has lasted over five decades, the 78-year-old thought she was too old to compete again.
But in late April, Beecher received a message from one of her former gymnasts, Freda Dreher. Now in her 60s, Dreher was competing for Team Ireland in the Masters Gymnastics World Cup and hoped her former coach would compete against her as a member of the United States.
With that invitation in mind, Beecher was motivated to return and competed in the vault, beam and floor exercise. And on June 2, Beecher helped Team USA win the gold medal at Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 183.05 points, nearly two points more than Germany.
Beecher was one of only four women to compete in the 70s division, with two from Germany and one from Japan. She was hesitant to go up on stage initially as she wasn’t the overall winner in her division, but to represent her country and win was special.
“(My colleagues) made me get up there,” Beecher said. “And then, the medal was so
big, I thought I was in the Olympics, you know? I want to do it again.”
Out of the five events she competed in, Beecher did her best with a second-place finish in her division in the balance beam with 14.8 points, also the 14th highest score in all divisions. And, Beecher placed inside the top-40 in the vault and all-around.
Beecher’s challenge to get ready for the World Cup was two-fold. Not only did she have a month to prepare, but she also had to adjust her past training routine to accommodate her age.
Two hours per day, at home for a half hour and then inside Flips for 90 minutes, Beecher practiced holding her handstand, push ups, chin ups, situps and sumo jumping jacks, as well as building her stomach strength through lifting.
On top of going through her training routine, Beecher also knew her limits when working out. If she could continue working out at a good pace, she extended her training for the day but admitted weakness in her arms limited the number of push-ups she could do each day.
“Absolutely have to know your limit,” Beecher said. “… To go past what I can do will ruin tomorrow. I won’t be able to work out at all tomorrow because I’ll be too sore.”
Along with being one of four women and five overall in the 70s division to compete, Beecher was also the oldest competitor in the field. But her teammates that practiced with her on June 1 and competed alongside her couldn’t tell how old she was.
On the beams, Beecher took turns with her teammates in practice to go through the different skills, while also encouraging them by saying, “You got this!” And it was older participants, such as Beecher, who left their younger teammates motivated and inspired to keep pursuing their own skills in gymnastics.
“It was amazing, all of the things that Shirley could do,” teammate Casey Lesieur, 34, of Colorado, said. “And she is a great example of having no excuse. You can’t have age as an excuse. If you want to work hard, you work hard and she is unbelievable.”
Beecher isn’t sure yet if she’ll participate in next year’s World Cup in Germany but is motivated to compete again nationally. And, she didn’t have to look too far to stay motivated.
She learned how to do a handstand from a coach, Carl Hackmer, at age 16, and became hooked on the sport. Female gymnasts often stop competing around 18 and Beecher didn’t get a chance to compete until her 30s.
Today, Beecher is an advocate for gymnasts of all ages to try the sport. And, she’s glad that gymnastics is now being promoted as a lifelong sporting option in the United States, similar to Germany and Japan.
“The best workout you’ll ever get,” Beecher said. “Once you do this, you’re happy all the time. Even though I didn’t do good on beams today, there were good parts. And I remember the good parts and then go on from there. So they just have to remember the good parts. Come in, give it a try. We’ll go from there.”