OU women’s gymnastics coach KJ Kindler said she’s encountered few people with as much fight in them as Natasha Kelley.

The junior from Katy, Texas, has been fighting constantly to do what she loves since she arrived in Norman four years ago. Her Sooner career was slowed by four major injuries in the last five years, consequences of the punishing lifestyle of elite gymnasts.

After suffering an Achilles tear in her right foot during preseason training this season, Kelley announced Wednesday she is retiring from the sport.

“Gymnastics was my life and will always be close to my heart,” Kelley said. “I have fulfilled my dreams [at OU].”

Kelley was homeschooled before coming to OU, giving her more time to pursue being an elite gymnast. To reach that level, Kindler said athletes begin training 40 or more hours a week before age 10.

“More than a lot of these athletes, gymnastics was her life,” Kindler said.

And the hard work paid off for Kelley. She already was among the best gymnasts in the world before coming to OU. She was a four-time U.S. National team member in high school, earning a silver medal at the 2006 World Championships and winning the U.S. Junior National Championship the same year.

Kelley’s first major injury required a titanium rod in her tibia, holding her out of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. An Achilles tear in her left foot forced her to miss her freshman season at OU.

A month before her redshirt-freshman season, she tore the ACL in her right knee, the same injury that cut short senior wide receiver Ryan Broyles’ OU career last fall.

But rather than miss two seasons in a row, Kelley decided to fight through the pain and competed without an ACL during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Through everything, Kelley continued to fight. She refused to let anything get in the way of her dreams.

“Tasha has come back from three potentially career-ending injuries already,” Kindler said. “It takes a tremendous person to push through heartbreak that many times to rise again as a national contender.”

She earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2010 and won 17 total individual event titles in the pair of years, including two straight Big 12 beam titles and All-America honors on beam and bars.

Her most recent injury, though, was just too much.

“When you look at the laundry list of things she’s been through, [her decision] would probably seem obvious,” Kindler said. “But this is like a grieving process for her — like losing part of herself that she’s had for 20 years.

“I don’t know that any of us can fully understand what that’s like.”

Her retirement in no way means she’s throwing in the towel, though — it means she’s shifted her focus to fighting for something she believes in beyond gymnastics.

As a kid, Kelley dreamed of being an elite gymnast. Now, she’s shifting her focus to helping kids achieve their dreams.

Kelley plans to graduate in May with a communications degree and already has been accepted into graduate school at OU to pursue a master’s degree in elementary education. She said she wants to teach second- or third-graders.

“If she pours as much soul into her profession as she has into gymnastics, she will be the most-requested teacher at school,” Kindler said.

Her teammates, who have watched her fight through adversity her entire collegiate career, will fight on also because of the example Kelley set.

“She has taught herself, her teammates and all those who have worked with her what it means to love something so greatly you will do anything to continue,” Kindler said.