O'Hara Trying to Make Most of Every Day Left Competing at U-M
1/23/2020 1:53:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics, Features
Senior Maggie O'Hara is trying to make the most out of every day she has left as a gymnast at the University of Michigan.
After a promising junior season ended early due to injury, O'Hara knows that time is precious.
Last year, O'Hara was warming up for her floor exercise debut. The stage was set for an exciting day for O'Hara as she had choreographed a Star Wars routine that she was looking forward to performing. She had a chance earlier in the season to exhibit the routine at Alabama, and when Emma McLean needed to rest at the Maryland meet, O'Hara was added to the Michigan lineup. A big Star Wars fan, O'Hara even took her lightsaber to College Park.
"With Emma out, we had big shoes to fill," said O'Hara. "Going into the meet I was sore but thought I could push through. I told myself in warmups I would try one pass and then speak up if I thought I couldn't go. On the one, my Achilles tore."
O'Hara's season came to an end just before the fourth meet of the season.
The previous summer and fall, O'Hara put in a lot of hard work to set herself up for success in 2019. Along with training in the gym, she was lifting weights, doing circuit work and extra cardio.
"I was doing everything I possibly could to make sure I was up to speed when the season rolled around," said O'Hara.
The extra work stemmed from conversations she had during her sophomore season with the coaching and strength and conditioning staffs about what she could do to help the team more. She had worked hard her sophomore year, but her routines were not consistent in practice. She eventually made the balance beam lineup at Elevate the Stage, but fell in her college debut.
"I was ready," said O'Hara. "It was just one of those things that happen. It was cool to see my hard work that year pay off. Unfortunately, I got hurt after that, taking a fall on bars at practice."
However, the plan to keep improving was in place, and she dedicated her summer to getting in the best shape possible.
She started the season in the uneven bars lineup and was added to the balance beam lineup as well on the practice day before the season opener in Cancun, Mexico. She came out and hit both routines for a 9.825, an excellent start to her season.
She followed with a 9.800 on beam at Alabama and at home against Michigan State. She was doing what she set out to do: she was helping the team.
"It was really exciting," said O'Hara. "I never looked at it as, 'I finally I got here,' but more of, 'OK, the time is now, let's do this.' Bars is my favorite event so that was cool to make that lineup. From then on, I looked at things as, 'How can I attack this today?'"
When she suffered her injury at Maryland, she had three teammates who had gone through the same recovery process to lean on for encouragement. Olivia Karas had bounced back from the same injury the year before and was excelling once again. Two freshmen, Abby Heiskell and Maddie Mariani, also were recovering that fall from the same injury during their senior year of high school.
"It was very helpful to have people around me to lift me up," O'Hara said. "Recovering during the season also helped time go by faster."
The road to recovery is a long one. O'Hara spent two months in a cast and walking boot and on crutches. She was taken off crutches just in time to celebrate with her team at NCAA Regionals in Crisler Center.
"That was one of the biggest gymnastics memories I will hold on to," she said. "There is nothing that can describe the feeling we all felt last year. It was so incredible, the amount of raw emotion that came out when we found out we were going to nationals. Especially after all we had gone through. For me, I learned a lot about myself and how to push myself under pressure."
She was then able to walk in a shoe for the first time at the NCAA Championships. Over the summer, she did intense rehab and strengthening, learning to run and jump again. It was not until after school started in September that she started working on beam and floor.
In November, she discovered another injury that would end her chance to perform on floor her senior year. She was faced with the decision of surgery or taping up a cast and competing.
"I will take any little bit I can," she said. "I am doing the best I can with bars and beam. It is a bummer, but we are making the best of it. It could be fine one day and not the next, so I am just trying to make the most out of every day I have left. I would love to compete this postseason, but if I am unable to, I will be thankful for the time I have left."
O'Hara has grown immensely during her time in Ann Arbor. She graduated high school a year early to enroll at Michigan in the fall of 2016, what should have been her senior year of high school. The decision was easy for her as she was driving two hours each way to and from practice at her club gym.
Her freshman year was a learning year, spending much of the season getting fit and stronger. Her sophomore year, she figured out how she could help her team and by her junior year she was ready to contribute. Now in her senior season, the lessons have extended far beyond the gym.
"I have learned a lot about taking care of myself," she said. "I always put others first, but loving yourself and embracing where you are at are big things I learned here at Michigan."
O'Hara is expected to graduate with a degree in movement science in August. She plans to take a gap year working in physical or occupational therapy to shadow and learn more about the fields. She then plans to apply to graduate schools after she figures out which area she can contribute the most.
Her dream is to work with children with disabilities and change their lives for the better. You can read more about that dream in her Scholar Story from 2019.
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