Pledging moral support

January 14, 2001 

Since their freshman year at Crown Point High School, basketball star Alex Webster (left) and state champion gymnast Lisa Diederich have helped each other deal with the spotlight of being a top athlete. See 'Pledging Moral Support' below. (Post-Tribune photo by Leslie Adkins)

CROWN POINT — In middle school, Lisa Diederich and Alex Webster were competitors, not friends.

At Taft Middle School in seventh and eighth grade, Crown Point’s most visible female athletes competed for the Female Athlete of the Year award.

“We didn’t like each other and it was because of our competitiveness,” Webster said. “When we were little, we never really got past that. She also didn’t get recognized as much as I did in middle school because she did well in the smaller sports.”

Webster was naturally gifted in basketball and Diederich had a natural talent for gymnastics. Webster won the award in seventh grade while they shared it in eighth grade.

“I was all about winning back then and I remember being all mad at her because she won in seventh grade,” Diederich said. “I thought she got it because of her sport being more popular. I didn’t like her at all, but I didn’t know her as a person then.”

Once they got past the competitiveness, they realized during their freshman year they had a lot in common because of sports and personality and they have been inseparable ever since.

“Once we met in high school and got to know one another, we saw how alike we really were,” Diederich said. “We realized we respected and liked each other.

“We’ve faced all of the same challenges in sports and in high school and it has helped us to go through experiences together.”

They both know what it is like to constantly be in the spotlight and be publicly scrutinized by everyone, whether people know them or not. They are constant spectators at each other’s sporting events.

“We both have big targets on our chests because she’s a state champion (the 2000 state floor champion) and everyone wants to stop me in basketball,” Webster said. “We know that comes with the territory and we know what it’s like to face all the critics. It can be frustrating, but it’s easier to talk about it with her.”

Diederich said she’s always admired Webster’s ability to not care what other people think.

“I always feel like there are people out there waiting for me to mess up because their expectations are so high,” Diederich said. “She doesn’t get caught up in that at all and I wish I could be more like her in that respect.

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“We’re both perfectionists so we’re hard enough on ourselves without others doing the same.”

It is that same perfectionist attitude that makes the seniors such standout student-athletes. Webster maintains a 3.8 grade point average and has verbally committed to play basketball at Division I Southern Mississippi. Besides winning the 2000 state floor title, Diederich has qualified for three state gymnastics meets and maintains a 3.5 grade point average.

“People’s expectations are so high, but I know mine and hers are still higher,” Diederich said. “We both want to be the best at what we do in our lives and we get frustrated because we want things to go well all the time. It is not possible and we help one another fight through it.”

With their families being so close, they are not only friends, but they are also like sisters.

“I come into her house all the time and make myself at home here,” Webster said. “We take trips with one another’s families and we have extra parents.”

Despite being tall, Diederich has always excelled in gymnastics. She played middle school basketball, but did not pursue it in high school.

“Alex tries to teach me how to shoot all the time, but then I tell her to get up on the beam,” Diederich said. “But she is very open-minded because I can talk to her about my gymnastics and her eyes don’t glaze over on me.

“But she does tease me about how I run like a gymnast. Then, I say she runs like a basketball player which is worse.”

Webster’s mother Jackie put her in a gymnastics class when she was little, but she instantly had a dislike for the sport. She appreciates how hard the sport is and she can talk intelligently about it because of Diederich.

“I give her a lot of credit for what she does because gymnastics is tough stuff and I couldn’t do it,” Webster said. “I really do not understand all the hugging in gymnastics though. It is also strange to go in the locker room before her meets and see all of them putting on makeup.”

Despite their intensity in the competitive arena, they have a similar sense of humor and do what they call random things.

“We do crazy things all of the time and no one understands it besides us,” Webster said. “We have so many inside jokes that no one else would understand.”

Like most competitive gymnasts, Diederich likes structure and precision, but Webster gets her to deviate from that.

“I like structure, but I like to be spontaneous also,” Webster said. “I’m the bad seed that has rubbed off on her and she’s my safety net when I get crazy.”

Even though they are similar in personality, they have very different ideas on appearance and clothes.

“I’m more like the jeans and T-shirts person and she likes to dress up a lot,” Webster said. “I think it’s a torture to have to put on a dress, but she looks nice all dressed up. She still looks nice even when she goes scruffy.”

A little known fact about the two is they are both scared of the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

“It’s supposed to be this real feel good movie, but it scares us to death,” Webster said. “I just cringe when that boat scene is on because Willy Wonka looks all sinister with the children.”

Webster is into professional wrestling, her favorite wrestler is Triple H and Diederich likes country line dancing.

“I’m not sure what it is, but I have this obsession with cowboy hats,” Diederich said. “She always says she’ll get me one.”

Despite their friendship and mutual respect now, they still remain competitive.

“If she beats me at anything, I still get mad,” Diederich said. “Sometimes, I’d like to have my own thoughts because we seem to always be on the same wavelength. We finish each other’s sentences and it’s so scary.”

Reporter Annette VanDeCar can be reached at 648-3141 or by e-mail at avandecar@post-trib.com.