July 30th, 2006:

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I've done one of these. Sorry for the lack of updates. First I have to say thanks for all of the people that have been supporting me. I've been battling some injuries and a few setbacks here and there, like all gymnasts, but its comforting to know that I've got a lot of friends, family and fans in my corner to support me no matter what happens.

Life has been crazy and busy for me the past few months. I've been enjoying every step of the way though. I'll be competing at USA's in mid August. I was acutally supposed to compete a couple weeks ago at the national qualifier, but I suffered a shoulder and peck injury. About 10 days before the competition I did an intrasquad. I felt great, but the next morning I woke up and couldn't lift my arm. I ended up not even being able to hang on any of the equipment for a while. My coach and I sent in a petition for USA's and thankfully it got approved. Since then my shoulder has gotten a lot better. I've been able to swing and do full routines. I'm still having a little bit of problems with my peck, but that is getting better as well. I've been doing a lot of therapy and treatment to be 100% at USA's.

As for outside of the gym, I've been doing a lot of coaching. I've been coaching at Gym America here in Ann Arbor. I work mostly with the level 7-10's girls program, but I help out here and there with all the groups. During the school year I coached with Steve Wilce at Eastern Michigan. It was a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to the upcoming year. Eastern is hosing the MAC Championships this year so it should be interesting.

As for school, I graduated! I got my degree in Movement Science. I studied the pre-med aspect of MVS so that way I can be a doctor. I'm not exactly sure which area of the medical field that I want to go into right now, but I'm taking a little time off of school and enjoying myself and relaxing.

That's pretty much all of the lastest news from the Umphrey front. I'm looking for sponsorship now that I'm outside of the NCAA so if any of you would like to sponsor me then feel free to contact me. If your going to USA's then get loud! Until next time...

- Eddie

May 30th, 2005:

What up all, it's been a long while since I've updated so I thought I would drop a line for you. I just finished up my senior year at Michigan. It was an incredible year with a lot of ups and downs. I'm not even sure where to begin.

One of the highlights was beating Oklahoma and ending their 2/1/2 year winning streak. Unfortunately, I didn't get to compete in that competition. I suffered a cut on my cornea the night before the competition and couldn't see. It was one of the most painful things I've had to endure. The team stepped up and got the job done though.

Senior night was a memorable night for our team. All of the seniors came out against Stanford and had the meet of our lives. I ended up winning rings and placing third on floor and vault. That same night our team left for Antibes, France for our spring break trip.

France was an experience of a lifetime. We trained and competed against the French national team. The competition was like none other that I've been in. The entire arena was packed. The French crowd was like a bunch of soccer fans at a gymnastics meet. Everyone was going crazy and cheering at the top of their lungs. Half way through the meet all of the fans started to poor onto the competition floor and get autographs. It got pretty crazy. Eventually everyone was cleared off the floor and the meet continued. I won rings, placed third on floor and placed top 4 on vault and p-bars. After the meet the fans begged for our clothing. I ended up leaving shirtless and with no socks. One little girl was just about crying to have my socks so I gave them up. We went to Paris the next day. We visited the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame and tons of other amazing places. I would have to say that the highlight of the trip was seeing the Notre Dame. I've always seen the church in history books, but it was absolutely breathtaking when you see it up close. I'll try and send in some pictures of France for the website.

The second to last meet of the year was the Big Ten Championships. It was probably my best meet of the year. As a team we were third, I was third on rings, second on floor and fifth on p-bars.

Our last meet was NCAA Championships. Our team didn't do as well as we had expected. Fortunately, I qualified into the floor finals. I competed one of my best routines of the year. I placed third and finally obtained an All-American honor. I was also named the 2005 Michigan Gymnastics MVP.

As of now I'm training for the qualifier on June 25 to qualify for the USA Championships. I'll be celebrating my 22 birthday next week as well. I will also be started up my summer coaching tour starting after qualifier. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do as many camps this summer because of my training schedule.

On a side note my brother, Chainey, will be getting inducted into the gymnastics hall of fame in August at the USA Championships. One of his appearances on Mr. Rogers just played last week and his older episode, when he was 15, will also be showing on June 6th. Take care all and feel free to drop a line with any questions or if you just want to give me some support. It's greatly appreciated. I'll try to send in some updates more often. Until next time…

- Eddie

June 27th, 2004:

Whats up everyone? I know there was a lot of confusion before the USA Championships on if I was qualified or not so I just wanted to clear up what happened. In late April we had the qualifier in Colorado Springs. I only competed 4 events due to injuries. I did everything except for hi bar and horse so I had to qualify as a 4 event person. To do that my combined 4 event score had to be higher than at least one of the top 13 all around athletes highest 4 event total.

I started on floor and didn't get credit for one of my .5 passes so I was a little in the whole from the beginning. I hit my last three events and then it was just time to wait. After everything was said and done my name wasn't called and I wasn't going to USA's. As you could imagine I was pretty upset. I didn't want to talk to anyone after the meet. I knew I had to be close so I asked my coach, Mike Burns, to ask Ron Gallimore how close I was and he told Mike that there were no 4 event qualifiers at all. I then asked my head coach, Kurt Golder, to get a copy of the results for me because something didn't feel right and I wanted to see for myself.

We all went out to dinner with a couple of the other gymnast and coaches and I sat there the whole time adding up everyones scores from the competition by hand. Come to find out my 4 event score was better than at least one of the top 13 all arounder's 4 event score. I showed my math to Kurt and I had him call Yoichi Tomita to fix things up. Yoichi called me back at about 12:30 AM saying that a mistake was made and that I was going to compete in the USA Championships! That was a great feeling to know that I made it.

If I hadn't checked the results then I wouldn't have competed at USA's. A USA medal down the drain. Just think, every coach and official was in a meeting to review who was going to USA's and nobody caught the mistake except for me. The crazy thing is that the same thing happened to me when I qualified for USA's exactly 4 years ago when I qualified as a junior.

Eddie

June 25th, 2004:

Hey everyone, I just wanted to update everyone on whats going on these days. The season is now over. It was very long, but much enjoyed. It was nice to be able to compete this year after breaking my hand last season against UIC. As you all know I competed at the USA Championships in early June. It was a great experience. The first day of competition was unbelievable. I hit every routine and stuck 5 of 6 dismounts. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Especially when I had only started training horse and hi bar just three weeks before the meet due to injuries all year. I was 20th after the first day of competition. The second day was a little more rough. I struggled on p bars and horse. I finished strong with a 5th place finish on rings and a nice performance on the vault. I did a kaus 2/1/2, worth a 9.9, for the first time in competition and landed it very well. I took a small step to the side. I didn't make national team, but competing at USA's was an incredible experience. I'm back in the gym now and getting ready to come out big at Winter Cup in February of 2005.

I also celebrated my 21st birthday on June 8th. It was great. I went to every place that serves free food for your birthday and I ate like a champ. I've never been so full in my life.

The rest of the summer will be pretty busy for me. I landed a crossing guard job starting next week here in Michigan. Kind of random, but I'll get some cash. Then I'm going to coach at the gymnastics camp out here for the university. Then I'll be coaching at another gymnastics camp in Jackson Michigan. I'll cap off my little camp tour by coaching at International Gymnastics Camp in Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks. After that I'll finally go back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I'll probably also try to visit my brother Chainey and his wife Christina in Denver and then head out to Rochester, Minnesota to visit my other brother Greg and his future wife Alex.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support these last few years. Thanks for sticking by my side when I was injured and keeping my head up for the future. The year turned out a lot better than I could have ever imagined. Expect a lot more next season. I'm going to try and keep updates on my progress more often so my fans at home can keep tabs on me. Thanks again to you all and until the next update...God Bless!

Eddie

Take'm To Church!!!