Sisters Excel On the Run And On the Beam

Playing two sports isn’t uncommon among high school athletes, and often the skills from one carry over to the other.

In the case of Val and Cassie Bobart, that’s not quite how it works. In fall, the sisters run on the Glenbrook North cross-country team. Come winter, they make the unusual transition to gymnastics.

Cassie, a junior, and Val, a sophomore, are what you might call running fanatics. This summer, one of their favorite runs was to Glencoe Beach and back, a round trip of about 13 miles. Throw in GBN gymnastics camp and the girls were very busy.

“This summer (they) were running down to the beach and back and they were trying to do this 500-mile distance to get this t-shirt and we’re looking at them weird,” Spartans’ gymnastics coach Julie Holmbeck said. “They run in the morning, they came here for practice and they’re running again in the afternoon and evening. I told them ‘You guys make me tired just doing that.’ I run five miles a day and I don’t even do half as much as they do a day.”

That’s the kind of dedication helped both Bobart sisters pace the Spartans’ cross-country team to seventh in state this year. The team has lofty goals for next year as well.

“I think if we all tried and got a couple new freshman we could (place higher),” said Val, who finished second among her teammates at the state meet with a three-mile time of 17:45.

While there is crossover in the summer, usually the girls are focused on one sport or the other. Holmbeck said it’s not an easy transition and that’s why when it’s time to gear up for gymnastics, the Bobarts are not primed for their best routines.

“(Val) came in this summer and couldn’t do a kip,” Holmbeck said. “She had lost all of her upper body strength and timing. She came in this season and didn’t have it still. It really took a slow progress to get all of her timing back, because cross-country is just distance. It leans you out. She’s great cardiovascular-wise, of course, but as far as muscular strength and endurance, that’s what she lost.”

The sisters said they have to essentially start over each winter to regain their gymnastics skills. Given the nature of the two sports, it’s difficult to be in shape for both at the same time.

Despite this, Val, who is a varsity gymnast, doesn’t think it’s much of a disadvantage.

“Maybe in the beginning, but it’s not like you completely lose it,” Val said of her gymnastics skills. You just sort of have to get it back somehow.”

Cassie, who competes on the JV gymnastics team, had a different take on the transition.

“It’s totally different,” she said. “You’re not used to not running. You feel like you need to run more, at least I do. Plus you haven’t been practicing at all during cross-country. The form is hard to get, and technique."

Holmbeck said the key for the sisters, or any other gymnast, is having self-confidence. Once they get used to practicing gymnastics on a regular basis, the confidence returns and they perform better.

Val is just starting to get back into form on all of the events. Recently she made her season debut on floor exercise and has been improving on her balance beam routine. Oddly enough, Val’s favorite event, according to Holmbeck, is the uneven bars, which possibly requires the most upper body strength.

“She works bars, bars, bars,” Holmbeck said.

After gymnastics season finishes up, it’s back to running. The Bobarts participate in distance runs for the track team in the spring to stay in shape, though both prefer cross-country to track because of the variety in the courses and the scenery. Cassie admitted to preferring cross-country to gymnastics, but Val was more diplomatic, saying she likes them both.

Once the school year is finished, the cycle begins again and the girls will run to places like Glencoe Beach to prep for cross-country season.

“They’re great girls,” Holmbeck said. “They got a lot of drive as far as wanting to do things.“