Gymnasts are an interesting breed of athlete, they don’t play against another team or athlete, they perform. This past summer three former Sacramento State gymnasts received a curtain call to perform in a major motion picture premiering this month in theaters across the country. Touchstone Pictures sifted through hundreds of potential gymnasts who could fit the bill for the movie.

“They were looking for girls that looked young and were seniors,” Stefanie Aeder said. The actresses needed to be seniors because they could not be currently competitive college athletes.

Aeder, Meloney Greer and Jessica Hoffman, who were picked for small roles in “”Stick It,” were four-year seniors on the squad that won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference title in 2005. The trio spent last summer in Los Angeles filming for the movie.

“We were all basically background gymnasts,” Aeder said. “It was probably the greatest summer I’ve ever had- I got into gymnastics because I like people watching me perform and it wasn’t that different. It was something completely different that I will ever get to do in my entire life.”

The ladies faced a rigorous schedule, waking up at 6 a.m. everyday while getting swept from their hotels to spending many hours pacing around the set until called on. These long filming days would usually last until late into the night, after doing the same scene over and over again until the crew was satisfied.

Aeder, Greer and Hoffman spent their spare time getting to know the other gymnasts on the set, including: Tiffany Chan and Nicole Doherty from UC Davis, Jennifer Greene from San Jose State and 2004 Athens Olympian Carly Patterson. Actor Jeff Bridges, coach Burt Vickerman in the film, also spent time in between scenes getting to know the ladies better. The entire experience was a bit surreal for the trio, but familiar at the same time.

“It was overwhelming at first, they were expecting a lot out of us. When we were asked to perform on different events we would just do our usual routines,” Greer said. Those routines were the same they performed at Sac State meets during their careers.

On Thursday Aeder, Greer and Hoffman went down to the Burbank Studios to watch “Stick It.” The three former Sac State gymnasts play small roles in the film and watched the premiere with the entire cast and crew.

“It was kind of weird seeing our faces up their on the big screen,” Aeder said. “It was like a big reunion seeing everyone again.””Stick It,” based on an rebel gymnast who gets in trouble with the cops and finds her way back to the top, is expected to be in theaters on April 28.

Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]