Woodside vaulter to compete in World Equestrian Games Woodside vaulter to compete in World Equestrian Games (September 04, 2002)

By Andrea Gemmet
Almanac Staff Writer

Jill Main says she was always the sort of kid who could be found playing on top of the playground equipment. So it's little wonder the 20-year-old Woodside resident took to vaulting, a competitive sport involving gymnastic-like moves performed atop trotting horses.

When she was 9, a friend introduced her to the sport of vaulting, and after her first lesson she was immediately hooked, she says.

"It was the coolest thing I'd done up to that point," Main says.

This month, she will be vaulting as a member of the U.S. team competing in the World Equestrian Games, held in Jerez, Spain, September 10 to 23.

It will be her second appearance at the games, which are a sort of Olympics for equestrian sports. At the previous World Equestrian Games, held in Rome in 1998, she was a member of the U.S. vaulting team that took home a bronze medal.

Before the games start, she is spending a month in Germany training on a borrowed horse, because of the expense and difficulty of bringing horses from the United States, she says.

"It's been a long road," she says.

After her introduction to the sport, she joined the Woodside Vaulters, first vaulting as an individual (solo on a horse) and then began competing as part of a team (three vaulters on horse) in 1995, going on to compete internationally, she says. During high school, she spent 20 hours a week vaulting, competing with the team all over California, she says.

Since graduating from Palo Alto High School and leaving to attend UCLA as a pre-med student, she switched back to competing in the individual vaulting events.

It's been difficult to continue with her training since she started college -- she has to travel farther to practice and she only sees her coach, Isabelle Bibbler of Woodside, when she comes home for school vacations, she says. She also misses the camaraderie of vaulting with a team, she says.

"It's been difficult," Ms. Main says, but adds that she's glad she continued with it this year.

"I wish I could have put more time into vaulting. I'm not as good as I would like to be," she says.

For information on the World Equestrian Games, visit the Web site at www.Jerez2002weg.com.