April 5, 2007 - Tessa was chosen for the cover of Inside Gymnastics magazine for the May/June 2007 issue. Thank you to everyone who supported her!

Tessa has also written a new message.

March 13, 2007 - Make sure you vote for Tessa for the next cover of Inside Gymnastics in their online poll. There will be several rounds of voting!

March 5, 2007 - Tessa turns 16 today! Happy sweet sixteen, Tess! 

March 4, 2007 - Wow, it's hard to believe it's already March! We have added 12 photos from the 2005 U.S. Classic, 20 photos from 2005 Nationals Prelims, and 29 new photos from 2005 Nationals Finals! As always, the new pictures are added to the bottom of the page.

And speaking of beautiful photos, Tessa was featured in International Gymnast Online's "Pictures of 2006" Gallery doing German giants at Nationals! 

Lastly, if you're an avid YouTube fan, you may have seen some videos of Tessa competing as a Level 7 way back in 2001! We apologize for the delay in getting them up on the website, but there are now links on the video page.

January 9, 2007 - We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Tessa has written a new journal and with the help of some friends, has created a new YouTube video for you to watch! Lastly, there are some new pieces of winter artwork.

November 9, 2006 - We apologize for the lack of updates recently but there are 41 new photos from 2006 Nationals Finals for you to check out!

Tessa is also featured in the recent issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine as a gymnast who is at the "head of the class" in the "School of Style!" Click on the image below to enlarge the scan. Thanks to Paula for scanning this!

September 26, 2006 - Two new videos have been posted from Nationals! More will be coming shortly, including Tessa's floor from finals.

September 15, 2006 - 30 new photos have been added from Nationals Prelims!

August 23, 2006 - Although she did not compete as well as hoped, Tessa was once again a fan favorite at U.S. Nationals and earned her third consecutive Junior National Team spot! She wore her new yellow and black leotards from her recent photo shoot and also showed some new skills! She did a new beam mount, a standing full on beam, a toe-on + stalder hecht combination on bars and also unveiled a new dismount: back hip circle to immediate back tuck!

She was 16th after preliminaries with a total of 56.150 - after sitting down her Yurchenko 1 1/2 and counting a fall and a step out of bounds on floor. During finals she improved her scores on vault and floor to rally to 9th place! Her totals from both days put her 31st on vault (27.250), 7th on bars (29.250) and beam (29.600), and 21st on floor (27.950). Her combined all-around total was 114.050 - which would've put her in 11th place in the senior competition!

Joining Tessa on the 2006-2007 Junior National Team are Shawn Johnson (Chow's), Bianca Flohr (CGA), Samantha Peszek (DeVeau's), Rebecca Bross (WOGA), Ivana Hong (GAGE), Corrie Lothrop (Hills), Sarah DeMeo (GAGE), Catherine Nguyen (WOGA), Jordyn Wieber (Geddart's), Cassie Whitcomb (CGA), Rachel Updike (GAGE), Bridget Sloan (Sharp's), and Samantha Shapiro (All Olympia) - the top 12 from the all-around plus two "wild cards" picked by Marta Karolyi.

Photos and videos will be up soon!

August 11, 2006 - Tessa will be competing next week at her THIRD USA National Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota! She will begin Thursday's preliminary competition on vault (2nd up) and Saturday's finals on bars (7th up)! Also competing in her rotation will be Katelyn Mohr (Byers), Hannah Toussaint (Olympic Dreams), Olivia Courtney (Capital), Shawn Johnson (Chow's), Kimberly Jacob (Gymcarolina), Bridget Sloan (Sharp's), and Ashley Stott (SCEGA).

In order to make her third consecutive National Team, she must finish in the top 12. A four-person team will also be selected at Nationals for the upcoming Junior PanAm Games in Canada.

For quick hits, results, and photos of the meet, be sure to visit USA Gymnastics, International Gymnast, or Inside Gymnastics! There will be no updates to the website until after the competition is over. Good luck Tessa!!

July 30, 2006 - Tessa decided to forego competing at U.S. Classic in order to continue training new skills so that they can be ready for Nationals in a few weeks. But congratulations to her friend Shawn Johnson who won the all-around!

July 24, 2006 - Tessa will be competing this weekend in Kansas City, Missouri, at the U.S. Classic. There are two sessions of juniors because there are nearly 60 gymnasts competing this year! Tessa is competing in session 1 and will be starting on bars (check out the full competition draw) at 10:30 AM. Junior session 2 starts at 1 PM and the Senior session starts at 7 PM. If you live in the area, tickets are only $36 for an all-day pass. For more information, visit the US Classic's website.

In order to qualify to Nationals, juniors must either score a 53.000 at the Classic or an international assignment. Tessa scored better than that at both the Pacific Alliance and Gymnix International so this meet is just for experience and to show off some new skills! Good luck Tess!

July 12, 2006 - Tessa is featured in the Kids Klub section of International Gymnast magazine for July/August! 

June 20, 2006 - Tessa's site has a new layout as promised! Almost 20 new video clips have been added, as well new sections (Animations, In the Media). The icons and routines pages have been updated and a photo gallery of Tessa's photo shoot with Dale Seibert is up! Please let us know what you think about all of it by signing the guestbook.

June 17, 2006 - Tessa has written a short message and there is also a new video to watch of her photo shoot last month. Photos from the shoot will be added soon - after the site is redesigned!

June 11, 2006 - Forty two new photos have been added from PACs! The video links have also been updated.

May 6, 2006 - Tessa has written a new message! 

April 22, 2006 - We have added videos from the Pacific Alliance Championships, as well as photos from PACs and the Gymnix International!

April 16, 2006 - Happy Easter! Tessa had a wonderful competition today during the event finals! She nailed her landing on vault to score a 14.925 (5.5) to place 2nd to teammate Shawn. On bars she was excellent and scored a 15.550 (6.2) for the gold medal; teammate Bianca Flohr won the silver. Finally on floor, Tessa entertained the audience and landed all of her difficult tumbling passes cleanly to score a 15.225 (5.9) for another silver medal behind teammate Shawn! For full results from all the event finals, visit USAG's PAC News page. 

Congratulations on a great competition Tessa! We are SO proud of you!

A new video link has been added! It's an interview of Tessa from her days at Konal Aerial Gymnastics as a Level 5! 

April 14, 2006 - Tessa had a pretty solid competition yesterday during the team and all-around competition! The USA placed 1st with a score of 181.450, nearly one full point over Canada's 171.300 and China's 171.050. Tessa scored high enough to placed third individually but only two gymnasts per country could place in the all-around. She scored a 14.700 (5.5) on vault, 15.200 (6.2) on bars, 14.600 (6.3) on beam, and a 15.200 (5.9) on floor for a total of 59.700! She qualified to all the event finals except beam and so she will be competing again on Sunday! (Full results)

Tessa's teammates Shawn Johnson and Bianca Flohr finished 1st and 2nd respectively. Congratulations and GO USA!

April 9, 2006 - Shantessa will be competing in her native Hawaii this week for the Pacific Alliance Championships! After a very successful appearance at the Karolyi National Team Camp, Tessa was selected along with Rebecca Bross (WOGA), Bianca Flohr (CGA), and Shawn Johnson (Chow's). The USA senior team will be Nastia Liukin (WOGA), Chellsie Memmel (M & M), Jana Bieger (Boca Twisters), and Shayla Worley (Orlando Metro). 

The international field will include gymnasts from... 

Australia - SR: Monique Blount, Hollie Dykes, Daria Joura, Monette Russo; JR: Ashleigh Brennan, Amber Fulljames, Britt Greeley, Jasmine Webb

Canada - SR: Marci Bernholtz, Alyssa Brown, Aisha Gerber, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, JR: Nansy Damianoba, Charlotte Mackie, Brittany Rogers, Kristina Vaculik

China - JR: Leng Junxi, Xiao Sha, Li Shan Shan, He Ying Hui

Japan - SR: Mayu Kuroda, Sakiko Okabe, Ayaka Sahara, Miki Uemura, JR: Sayuri Minobe, Eri Nakagawa, Momoko Ozawa, Koko Tsurimi

Russia - JR: Alena Pronina, Margarita Stepchenko

...and other gymnasts from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, and the Philippines. 

For more information on the event, please visit USAG's Pacific Alliance website. Congratulations Tessa and GO USA!

March 21, 2006 - Thanks to our good friend Paula for uploading and Velu for the coverage, we have videos of Tessa's event finals routine: bars and floor!

March 19, 2006 - Tessa had a complete turn around at the Gymnix International during today's event finals! She earned the gold medal on bars and shared a silver on floor with Charlotte Mackie of Canada. Tessa won the bars gold with a very high score of 15.300!

Her teammates Sam Peszek (1st V, 3rd UB, 1st BB), Shawn Johnson (2nd VT, 1st FX), and Bridget Sloan (3rd VT, 2nd BB) also won many medals. Congratulations to Tessa and her teammates for a great job in Canada!

Uneven Bars Results:
1. Shantessa Pama (USA) - 15.300
2. Kristina Vaculik (CAN) - 14.800
3. Samantha Peszek (USA) - 14.350

Floor Exercise Results:
1. Shawn Johnson (USA) - 14.600
2. Shantessa Pama (USA) - 14.200
3. Charlotte Mackie (CAN) - 14.200

VIDEO UPDATE: Thanks to Velu, we have videos of Shantessa's performances from the all-around! Just open the link, download the file and then unzip it to have access to all four videos. Again, we ask that if you find the link has "expired" and the video can no longer be downloaded, please send us an email!

March 18, 2006 - Results are in from the first day of the Gymnix International! Shantessa finished fourth in the all-around and qualified to the uneven bars and floor exercise finals - despite three falls on bars! Tessa fell on her low bar transition, giant blind change, and her double front dismount.

She scored a 14.6 for her Yurchenko 1 1/2 vault (5.5 A Score), a 12.7 on bars (6.6), 13.4 on beam (5.8), and a 14.4 on floor (5.8) for a total of 55.100! She finished fourth on vault, seventh on bars, ninth on beam, and third on floor. Full results can be found at the Gymnix website.

All-Around Results:
1. Sam Peszek (USA) - 58.800
2. Bridget Sloan (USA) - 58.200
3. Shawn Johnson (USA) - 57.950
4. Shantessa Pama (USA) - 55.100
5. Nansy Damianova (CAN) - 55.000
6. Charlotte Mackie (CAN) - 54.700
7. Brittany Rogers (CAN) - 54.550
8. Kristina Vaculik (CAN) - 54.450   

March 17, 2006 - Shantessa and her teammates have left for Canada! We will keep you posted on how she is doing in the competition.

You can also read the article about Tessa that is in the current Backflip Magazine! Just click on the images to enlarge them:

March 5, 2006 - Today is Shantessa's 15th BIRTHDAY! Be sure to leave her a birthday message in her guestbook!

March 2, 2006 - Photos of Shantessa's new leotards are up as promised! She has also written a short note after returning from camp.

Hi everyone,
Camp went great and I am so excited for the girls who are going to American cup! Good luck Nastia, Jacquelyn, Shayla, and Bonx! I can't wait to go to Canada and compete with Sam, Bridget and Shawn! Everyone at camp looked really, really good and I don't think the new code will be as bad as I thought.

My birthday is this Sunday and I am going to the UCLA meet! I can't think of a better way to spend it. I am so excited!

I love my new leos! Dreamlight made them and my mom made the designs. I love the yellow one because it reminds me of Hawaii. I got the idea for the Chinese ones from a leotard company called Milano and I like them because they are just so different. I hope you like them. I will write more after I get back from Canada. Thank you for all of your support!

Aloha,
Tessa

February 27, 2006 - Tessa has returned from camp with exciting news! She will be competing at the Gymnix International in Canada from March 17th-18th. Her teammates will be Shawn Johnson, Samantha Peszek, Bridget Sloan. Tessa is very excited! 

She is going back to camp in April to try to get a spot for the Pacific Alliance Championships in Hawaii. She has also received her new leotards and is really excited that she designed them so we will post pictures soon.

The link to Shantessa's montage has once again been updated. Please refrain from posting this link on message boards as it limits the number of visitors to Tessa's website who can watch it.

February 20, 2006 - Tessa has written a long, new message about her new skills and what she has been doing outside of the gym lately!

February 17, 2006 - The montage has a new link today!!

January 19, 2006 - A newer link has been posted!! All the links in the previous updates work as well.

January 5, 2006 - A new link has been posted of Tessa's montage!

2005 Updates Archive