LSU’s women’s gymnastics team won its first national championship in the program’s 50th year 10 days ago, and we Alexandrians have a local connection to this historic team, even though she has not lived here most of her life.
Annie Beard, a 5-foot-5 sophomore, wasn’t a regular competitor for the Tigers this season — after being sidelined with injuries all last season — but she was there with social media sensation Olivia Dunne and superstar Haleigh Bryant and all other big-name gymnasts on the team at meet after meet. She was deservedly there in all the championship celebrations because, as Coach Jay Ward often said during the season, each person on the team was important to the team’s success.
She had to prepare just like everyone else each week because there were times when she was the first alternate and had to be ready, should one of the starters be sidelined, to step up to the moment and shine as brightly as all the others.
“My role this year was to be the best teammate I could be,” Annie said the day after the champions’ parade in Baton Rouge. “Coach always emphasized we are a team. We represent LSU. We win together. Nothing is ever about an individual. No matter what role we play, we are a part of the team.”
The Tigers bought into that philosophy.
“Our generation’s perception is how can you better yourself, what’s best for you,” Annie said. “On this team, it was all about ‘we.’ Everybody played their role and committed to each other. We represent the team and the university.”
And then there’s this pride Annie has about representing Alexandria, the city where she was born. This is the city where her 86-year-old paternal grandfather, Glenn Beard, was the police chief from Feb. 8, 1983-May 17, 1991. It’s where her uncle, Greg Beard, is the chief judge of the Ninth Judicial Court, and where her father, Ronnie, is an assistant district attorney for Rapides Parish. “I claim Alexandria as my hometown,” she said, “because in competing for LSU I get to represent my home state.”
Annie’s lack of time in Alexandria is all about gymnastics. Her parents, Ronnie and Jennifer, noticed Annie’s extraordinary talent in gymnastics at an early age, and believed she could best develop those skills elsewhere.
“We did a lot of things and made a lot of sacrifices where we could give her the best training possible,” said Ronnie. That included a move with her mom to Coppel, Texas, where Annie could train under former Olympic and world champion Kim Zmeskal, who started Texas Dreams Gymnastics in 2001. She trained there for about 10 years and under his direction, she was a top-5 finisher in at least three major events. That included at age 12, a Junior Olympics all-around championship in, of all places, Fort Worth, Texas – the site of LSU’s NCAA title performance.
Another career highlight came in 2017 when she qualified for “elite” gymnastics status in Allentown, Pa. That thrill prompted her on a sightseeing trip with her dad to Philadelphia, about 90 minutes down the road, to do something memorable. She did the Rocky Balboa run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and she did the Rocky celebration dance by the statue of the famous boxing champion of the silver screen.
A big inspiration on the road to her achieving a lifetime dream of signing a national letter-of-intent to LSU was her older sister, Caroline, a cancer survivor who now works in nursing administration at Rapides Regional Medical Center. She spent a significant part of her life at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. It was an ordeal that included losing one of her eyes.
“She’s my best friend,” Annie said. “We’re four years apart. I’ve been through some injuries and surgeries, but the strength she has shown in her fight with cancer blows my mind. She’s a major role model in my life.”
Annie’s life has had its share of fond memories, especially being an integral if not obvious contributor to LSU’s national gymnastics championship, but as the line of a famous song says, “It’s only just begun.”