Vanessa is a member of the UCLA gymnastics team. As a freshman in 2009, Vanessa was 3rd All-Around at the NCAA National Championships. She earned first-team All-America honors in the all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise and second-team acclaim on uneven bars to become only the sixth UCLA gymnast ever to earn the maximum five All-America honors in one season. She also scored 3 perfect 10.0's on vault as a freshman.
As a sophomore in 2010, Zamarripa won the 2010 NCAA vault title and helped the Bruins to the National team title. She then decided to test elite and had a fantastic summer elite season, qualifying to the Visa Championships and being named to the US National team. However, in the fall of 2010, Zamarripa tore her achilles tendon and did not compete at all in 2011.
As a club gymnast, she trained at Midwest Twisters under coaches Mickey Orr and Jenny Haden and won nine Level 10 individual National titles from 2003-07.
