Nobody’s perfect.
Allison Buckley understands that better than most people do, even if she was gymnastics’ version of flawless Dec. 10 when she received a perfect score of 10 in floor exercise at the Conant Invitational.
The Conant junior realizes it’s how you deal with imperfection that ultimately determines your score on and off the mat.
She has learned that the hard way since 5th grade, when she learned she had diabetes and her life went from eating anything anytime to coping with a diet more restrictive than the tax code and an endless succession of needles.
Until then her routine centered on school and gymnastics, in which Buckley had starred since she was a 3-year-old running around her parents’ Gymkhana Gymnastics Club in Hanover Park.
Then her weight plummeted while her fatigue and thirst soared, and tests revealed a blood-sugar level so high that doctors were surprised she was still conscious.
Buckley spent five days in the hospital getting that level regulated, watching diabetes videos and learning to give herself insulin injections by practicing on something she describes as “like fake fat.”
It was tough duty for an 11-year-old kid, and it’s still tough now. Buckley can’t eat sugar, has to watch her carbohydrate intake and must have her three meals and one snack a day at certain times. She tests her blood four times daily and injects herself with insulin five times a day.
“It was pretty hard at first,” she said. “Everything I ate kind of had to change.
“I had to remember to test my sugar level and take a shot before I ate. That’s pretty hard.”
Buckley, though, is so tough she did her injections herself from the start instead of needing an adult to do it.
“She probably dealt with it better than I did,” her mom, Jackie, said. “She did a lot adults couldn’t handle.”
Self-pity was not part of Allison’s new life, though frustration occasionally was.
“Sometimes you just get sick of it,” she said. “Just, `Why do I have to keep doing this?’
“But I know what’s best for me, what I have to do.”
Despite her disease, Buckley quickly established herself as one of the top young gymnasts in Illinois. She was second in all-around in the state high school meet as a freshman and third last year, when she tied for first with teammate Brittany Lindeman in uneven bars, giving Conant its first-ever girls state meet title medal.
“She was ready to compete right away,” Conant coach Michelle Strachn said. “She’s a high-level gymnast, a very focused, determined young lady.
“She wants to do everything exactly right. Her work ethic is amazing.”
That perfectionism at times leads to trouble in meets. If a disappointing performance gets Buckley too frustrated, she may produce more adrenaline, which causes her sugar level to fluctuate.
“I think any major emotion can send it flying anywhere,” she said.
According to her father, Mike, this was a big enough issue a few years ago to threaten her gymnastics career, and she still has an occasional problem and may have to sit out an event with a touch of dizziness.
“She really expects lot from herself,” Jackie Buckley said. “Controlling her emotions is the hardest part of keeping her blood sugars even.”
Allison now tests her blood before meets and drinks water or a sports drink depending on whether she needs to bring her level down or boost it. She also is learning to handle adversity in meets better.
“I’ve got to learn to calm myself down right away,” she said, “and I’m working on it–not to get too upset about a fall.”
That makes Buckley’s recent 10 all the more amazing. Her first two events didn’t turn out as well as planned, and she called her mom, who was conducting a meet at Gymkhana, in tears.
After that she fell during her balance beam routine and got only a 9.1. Buckley, however, was able to put all that behind her during her floor routine, which produced not only her first 10 but also one of the few perfect scores in Illinois high school gymnastics history.
Though she knew she had nailed the event, she found the result shocking.
“When you hit your landings and have a good presentation, you know you’ll get a good score, but you never know someone will give you a 10,” she said. “There’s usually something where they can take a 10th of a point off here or there.”
Gymnastics is important to Buckley, but it’s hardly her entire life. Her first two years at Conant, she also competed in volleyball and track and managed to maintain virtually a 4.0 grade-point average.
She wants to earn an athletic scholarship to college, so she gave up volleyball this year to increase her preparation for her junior gymnastics season, which is crucial in the recruiting cycle. She does, though, plan to run the sprints and hurdles again this spring.
If life were perfect, she would play another sport all the time.
“I enjoy sports in general,” she said. “It helps me not get sick of gymnastics or overwork myself, so I’ll enjoy high school and not always be in the gym.”
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btemkin@tribune.com
