When 7-year-old Amalya Knapp took the beam at the New Jersey state gymnastics finals last month, her excellent performance symbolized a far more complicated balancing act.
Although she would have ranked fifth in her age group, eligible for a medal, her individual scores were discounted. She was unable to compete on a Saturday because of her Orthodox Jewish family's observance of the Sabbath.
Mel Evans/AP
"I was upset," said gymnast Amalya Knapp, age 7, "but my mother told me there are decisions you have to make."
"I was upset," Amalya said, "but my mother told me there are decisions you have to make."
USA Gymnastics made an effort to accommodate her and let her compete the next day, a Sunday, and permitted her scores to factor into her team's overall rankings.
But the national governing body held that because she hadn't competed at the same time as girls of her skill level and age group, her scores: 9.7 on vault, 9.575 floor, 9.5 beam and 8.75 bars — would not count toward individual medals or rankings.
The news disappointed the second-grader, who competes with the United States
Gymnastics Development Center in Leonia, N.J. She had placed first in the all-around category in five previous competitions.
"She tried so hard, and practiced for months, and really put in her all, but just couldn't get that final award for her efforts," said Chavie Knapp, Amalya's mother. Knapp emphasized that her family appreciated USA Gymnastics' efforts to discuss the issue with them and try to reach a compromise.
"I wasn't bitter, and wasn't angry and worked with the organization and tried to work within the system," Knapp said.
Knapp said she and her husband encourage Amalya to engage in the sports and activities she loves, including ice skating lessons and playing for a Jewish youth soccer league that never practices or competes on Saturdays. Amalya said she wants one day to be an Olympic gymnast.
If she had to choose again between competing or observing the Sabbath, she said, "I would do the religion things."
She isn't the only young athlete faced with reconciling her passion for sports with religious obligation. Experts say the issue arises in all faiths, in nearly every sport, and at all levels of competition.
Last month, a standout Iowa high school wrestler, Joel Northrup, refused to compete against a girl at a state tournament, citing his Pentecostal religious beliefs against contact sports between men and women. His position caused him to relinquish any championship hopes.
One of the most memorable instances of an athlete embracing religion over team duty was the refusal of Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series. Koufax was observing Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and atonement considered the holiest date of the Jewish calendar.
It was Koufax's story that Amalya's parents chose to explain to her that the Sabbath — for which observant Jews abstain from working from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday — would always take precedence over the sport she loves.
"My father told me stories of people who had to do this, and I felt better," Amalya said.
Chavie Knapp said Amalya, who attends school at the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, was disappointed to miss her first state finals competition in a sport she had loved since she was a toddler. She practices up to 12 hours a week and dreams of competing in the Olympics one day.
"We had to try to help her understand how we really feel strongly that she can be a great gymnast and still be a committed
Orthodox Jew," Knapp said. "We want her to be able to combine the love that she has for both of those things into an appreciation for both, and not a resentment of either."
