When Diane Price drove her daughter to daycare each morning on her way to work, she passed a building with kids going in and out. Diane didn’t know what was going on, but finally stopped out of curiosity.
Elizabeth, 3, was a handful.
“She was driving me crazy at home,” Diane said. “She was always jumping off the furniture and tumbling on the floor. I thought, ‘Let me see what this is about? Maybe she can burn some energy.’ ’’
The structure was Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Diane and her husband, David, knew nothing about the sport, but signed up for a one-hour weekly class.
It was a life-changer.
Soon after, an instructor approached them about adding classes. Elizabeth was already exhibiting her athletic and creative skills.
“That was not our plan for her,” said Diane. “Once we saw it was going to be a financial commitment, we had to talk about it.”
Both worked long hours as engineers and had two young sons. But when they realized how much Elizabeth enjoyed herself, they agreed to take it step by step. Never could they have imagined she would become an elite international gymnast, earn an athletic scholarship to Stanford, and become an NCAA champion.
“She was very determined to accomplish what she set out to do,” David said of his daughter, now a junior and six-time All-American.
Elizabeth joined a club team at age 6. She quickly rose from level three to seven, 10 being the highest before elite gymnastics.
“Each year I would progress and learn more,” said Elizabeth, nicknamed Ebee by her father. David coined it because he thought her name was too long to spell out and didn’t particularly like other names associated with Elizabeth. It stuck in a big way.
“I had a great grandmother named Eliza who lived to be 100,” he said. “Eliza is the first part of Elizabeth and that’s sort of how I came up with it. E for Eliza and B for Beth. It has a nice ring to it.”
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Homeschooling
When Elizabeth reached the seventh grade, Diane and David realized she was hooked. Elizabeth finished first in the all-around and uneven bars at the Region 7 Level 10 Championships. She qualified for the Junior Olympic National Championships and competed as an elite gymnast at the 2008 USA Championships.
That’s when Elizabeth, with her parents’ blessing, chose to be homeschooled.
“It was hard and we waited for her to make that decision,” said Diane. “Her gym actually wanted her homeschooled earlier, but I thought she was too young. I didn’t want her to get burned out.”
Elizabeth was training 40 hours a week, traveling to Texas for monthly camps, and missing chunks of school for meets. She started doing cyber programs online, then switched to a book program in the ninth grade. Diane administered the tests.
“My whole life since I was little I had to sacrifice going to birthday parties,” Elizabeth said. “It came with the territory of gymnastics. I loved school.”
She continued to socialize with friends and attended football games and proms. But gymnastics always came first.
“I think what I love most is there is always more to accomplish,” said Elizabeth. “You’re always trying to get better and striving for perfection.”
Adversity
From 2010-12, she competed for the USA Junior National Team. Elizabeth won numerous international titles in all-around, vault, bars, beam and floor, and was named an alternate to the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.
The latter was a crushing blow. Elizabeth just missed out, finishing fourth in the all-around and fifth on the bars at the Olympic Trials.
“I think the maturity she showed as an alternate as opposed to a competing member is, in my mind, what separated her from a lot of peers,” David said. “It made us very proud.”
It is hardly the only adversity Elizabeth has faced. She has undergone five surgeries, including three on her right knee. The most recent came at the end of her sophomore season last year.
Elizabeth and all elite gymnasts understand injuries are part of the sport. It’s how you deal with them that matters.
“I know athletes who have never had an injury,” she said. “On the other hand, some are constantly injured. It just comes with the tricks we do. There’s a very fine line when it comes to doing them perfectly and having correct landings.”
Simple Approach
Her approach is pretty simple.
“You don’t have to be fearless,” said Elizabeth. “It’s good to be scared of landing on your head. You have to have perseverance and dedication because it’s not a sport that comes easily.”
Prior to starting classes in 2015, she suffered a foot injury while participating in a summer engineering program at Stanford. Not that it slowed her down.
Elizabeth won the NCAA title on vault with a 9.9333 and earned first-team All-America honors in vault and bars. She won 13 events and scored 9.900 or higher in 21 of 25 performances. Against Oregon State, she received a perfect 10 on vault, becoming only the third Cardinal gymnast to accomplish the feat.
In 2016, Elizabeth was selected Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year and repeated as a first-team All-American. At the NCAA Championships, she finished fourth in all-around and bars, ninth on vault, and 12th on beam.
Shortly after, she underwent knee surgery.
“It never occurred to me to discontinue the sport,” said Elizabeth. “I knew I could come back if my body would let me.”
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A Force
Although limited at times this season, she remains a force. Elizabeth was named a first-team NACGC/W Regular Season All-American on bars, first-team All-Pac-12 in the vault and bars, and second-team All-Pac-12 on floor. She will lead Stanford into the NCAA Seattle Regional this weekend.
“Everything she does is big, explosive and dynamic,” said Cardinal head coach Kristen Smyth. “It kind of makes your jaw drop. And then she does it with such beauty, which is hard to do.”
Now in her 16th year at Stanford, Smyth has worked with many talented gymnasts, including current team administrator and former Cardinal standout Ivana Hong. Price is near the top.
“She’s one of only three national champions,” Smyth said, referring to Larissa Fontaine (vault, 1998) and Carly Janiga (bars, 2010). “She has beautiful lines, beautiful artistry, great ranges of motion and she’s a great dancer. All of the gifts you could possibly want.
“She’s also a feisty competitor, someone you can count on every time. A world-class athlete and person.”
Elizabeth and Hong were teammates for two seasons.
“She’s someone I looked up to,” said Elizabeth. “When I was little, she was one of the best gymnasts in the country. When I came here, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so cool! I get to train with Ivie.’ ’’
That was news to Hong, who was flattered.
“I think we all knew what her potential was when she came here,” Hong said. “Her gymnastics in elite was very powerful and we knew it would carry over. It’s very hard for anybody else to keep up with that explosiveness. I could train 24/7 and still not do half the things she does.”
Path to The Farm
Smyth recruited Elizabeth and was elated when she applied to Stanford. Though some speculated Elizabeth would delay enrolling in college to continue her elite career at the World Championships and possibly the 2016 Olympics, she never considered it.
“When I was little, I always wanted to do college gymnastics,” Elizabeth said. “I can’t say Stanford was on my radar until high school. Most of the schools the girls from my gym went to were big state schools.”
That changed in 2012, when she and her family made their first visit to The Farm during the U.S. Olympic Trials in San Jose.
“It wasn’t a school she had ever mentioned,” said Diane. “Of course, I knew its reputation. That was it for Elizabeth.”
Diane and David forced her to consider other options. Both earned degrees in electrical engineering and knew about Stanford’s difficult admissions process.
“It made us very nervous,” David said. “But it became clear it was the place she wanted to go. She has always been determined and focused.”
David worked on cell phones and often brought them home for Elizabeth and her brothers, Ethan and Elijah, to tinker with.
“We would play with the mini circuit boards that go inside computers,” Elizabeth said. “We thought they were the coolest things ever.”
Big Transition
Switching from elite to college gymnastics is a big transition, especially 3,000 miles from home. Practices are shorter and more intense, there are meets every week, and it is all about the team.
But there was another challenge: She was the only freshman recruit.
“I think the most impressive thing about Elizabeth is that she came in by herself without a class, and that’s a difficult situation to be in,” Smyth said. “Nobody else could have done that except her.”
A biomechanical engineering major, Elizabeth is interested in developing inexpensive medical devices for underserved countries. Her advisor is Scott Delp, founding chairman of the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford.
“I took a class last year that focused on health problems around the world,” Elizabeth said. “Through that, I saw a couple products that really helped people in these underdeveloped countries. I think it would be really cool to simplify the technology we have.”
Elizabeth was accepted to the ACE Civic Engagement Program last summer. Student-athletes from Duke and Stanford collaborate in a three-week international service experience, but she was unable to participate due to knee surgery. Elizabeth serves on a student-athlete advisory council that seeks ways to give back to the community, and is making the most of Stanford.
Enjoying Life
On a whim, she and several teammates rang in the New Year in San Francisco in 2016, then flew to Los Angeles to watch Stanford beat Iowa in the Rose Bowl. She returned early the next morning for a meditation workshop.
Elizabeth describes herself as fun, friendly and compassionate. She has been fountain hopping on campus, and ran in the always colorful and zany Bay to Breakers (“I don’t run and thought my legs were going to fall off!’’). Her next challenge is sky diving.
“She certainly has a playful side,” said Smyth. “She works hard and plays hard. She has very good balance in her life.”
Elizabeth embraces the opportunity to be a role model and is determined to change the world.
“A lot of us look at Stanford as the gateway to opportunity,” she said. “We want to make our mark. Stanford is the launching pad.”
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