Bertussi’s Groundwork Pays Off

Laura Bertussi isn’t afraid of heights. As captain of the Cal State Northridge women’s gymnastics team, she is accustomed to flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

But Bertussi is less comfortable on solid ground.

“The floor exercise isn’t my favorite event,” she said. “It’s like anything else; if you enjoy something, you work harder at it.”

At the outset of her junior season, Bertussi is working diligently to overcome her fear of the floor. So far, the results have been an all-around success.

Two weeks ago at CSUN, Bertussi won the all-around competition at a triangular meet with Cal State Sacramento and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was her first all-around victory at CSUN and only the second time she had competed in all four gymnastic events in college.

And the turning point, she said, was the dreaded floor exercise.

“I made all my tumbling passes and it was a pretty good routine,” Bertussi said. “I’m trying to work a little harder this year on the floor, but I still have little doubts on some things.”

No longer, however, do the doubts hinge on her health. Bertussi underwent arthroscopic surgery last June to remove bone chips in her left ankle. The joint had been fractured several times and broken once, she said, and was one of the reasons she disliked the floor exercise.

“I didn’t really like to tumble much because it always hurt my ankle,” Bertussi said. “But I don’t have any problems with it at all anymore. So now I don’t have an excuse.”

Even when she had one, CSUN Coach Susan Rouse wasn’t buying it.

“The bars are her best event, she does well on the beam and there’s not much to the vault,” Rouse said. “The floor exercise is more a test of endurance, and Laura’s tumbling is not real strong, which is why she probably feels a little weak in that event.

“But Laura does well in competition. She’s a leader, she works hard and sets a positive example in the gym.”

Bertussi, who took up gymnastics at age 7 because “there’s not much to do growing up in El Centro,” might be held out of the floor exercise tonight in a meet at Cal Poly Pomona because of a pulled right thigh muscle. Unlike the past, however, she is anxious to get back to the event.

“Hopefully I’ll be back on the floor next week at the latest,” she said. “It could be a lot worse. There’s always some kind of nagging injury.

“The only thing that would stop me from competing is an injury. Sometimes I feel like quitting, because it’s hard work, but this is a way of life. Everybody has complaints about work, and this is just like a job. But I’d rather be doing this than any other work.”

Even if it means she has to do some floor work.