Dependable Filicity State-Qualifying Ferris Gymnast Proves She Can Be Counted On

Filicity Frederick can’t keep track of all her nicknames.

There’s Felix, Fil and Fizz.

There’s Felica, Felicia and Facility.

And Zena and Ricity.

Oh, and in fifth grade it was Filisophiny.

“People just call me the first thing that comes to their mind,” the Ferris High senior gymnast said. “… most people can’t get it the first three times. They say it wrong.”

No matter which nickname Saxons coach Bill Christianson throws out, he doesn’t have to worry about Frederick responding. One of her unofficial nicknames is Dependable.

Frederick, who turns 18 today, consistently has placed in the top three or four in the Saxons’ lineup this season. She’s making her third trip to the state meet this weekend at the Tacoma Dome after qualifying on the balance beam and on floor exercise last year. She helped the Saxons win their first regional title last weekend, the district meet the week before and the Greater Spokane League title for the first time in 20 years.

“She’s always dependable,” Christianson said. “She’s always there. She gets upset but just shakes it off.”

Frederick has accepted her role for the Saxons. She has never been the star and just recently won her first all-around meet, at Rogers on Jan. 20.

Christianson was thrilled to see her win.

“She’s stood in the shadows every year,” he said.

Frederick said what made the victory so sweet was that in other meets this season she had lost to Shadle Park’s Leah Borg and North Central’s Amber Baines, both of whom are her good friends and former club teammates.

“It’s nice to be first once in a while,” Frederick said. “But not all the time. That’s too much pressure.

“I’m not going to go out and not do a good job. I do the best I can do. I put a lot of stress on myself.”

Frederick is the one who helps her teammates deal with their stress. If someone is upset, she approaches them for a cheerful chat.

She makes them laugh in practice. If she’s down about something, it’s hard to detect.

Ferris junior Ivy Plewman said Frederick is the funniest person she knows.

“She makes every workout lighthearted,” said Plewman, Frederick’s close friend and former club teammate. “She works so hard but keeps things up and funny. She’s so full of personality.”

Frederick said there was a chance her name could have been a little humorous, too.

Her mother, Victoria, a disc jockey for KKZX, wanted a unique name for her daughter. It was between Filicity and Synchronicity. Her father didn’t like either, but Victoria won out.

Frederick is glad she got Filicity. It always stumps substitute teachers, she said.

She’s been coaching 3 to 13 year olds at Lilac City Gymnastics Center for a year and a half. There, she just asks to be called coach. It’s too confusing for the youngsters otherwise, she said.

Frederick enjoys working with children. She plans to attend Gonzaga University in the fall to study education. Since GU doesn’t have gymnastics, she said she will try out for the Bulldogs cheer squad.

She already knows plenty of moves.

Frederick started in gymnastics in an after-school program when she was a third-grader in Seattle. She also participated in a YMCA program for six months.

She tried ballet but said she didn’t like it. She wanted to tumble.

And there wasn’t pressure from her parents either way. Frederick’s mom is busy and just this season was able to see many of her daughter’s meets.

“She let me do my own thing, which helped a lot,” Frederick said.