Determination, Focus, and Practice equals Success

Following the Summer Olympics last year, Amira decided she really wanted to try gymnastics.  We found a gymnastics’ facility not far from our house and signed her up for a month worth of classes.  After two weeks of classes, her teacher decided Amira needed to advance to another level as she was already more than capable of handling the moves being presented in the entry level class. 

Realizing Amira really had a love for the sport, decided to keep enrolling her in classes.  During the second month of her classes, her teacher once again approached me and said there was a competition coming up in February and she really believed Amira would be a great fit for their team.  So began the competition training as well as continued weekly classes.

The competition was to be held at California State University Sacramento on February 23, 2013.  She was thrilled, excited and nervous all at the same time.  Amira is not a morning person, but on the day of the performance she had no problem waking up early…..lol funny how that works. 

We arrived at the gym early and found front row seats.  The energy in the air was exhilarating, and all the performers stood tall and proud.

There were four routines the girls could do, the beam, the vault, the floor, and the uneven bars.  Amira participated in all four routines.

After all the performances were completed and scores were tallied, all the gymnasts and their coaches sat in the middle of the floor awaiting their results.  You could feel the anticipation and excitement, I think even more from the crowd and coaches than the gymnasts themselves.

Amira received a 3^rd place in the vault, a 2^nd place from the floor, a 1st place on the uneven bars and a 1^st place on the beam.  It was all very exciting to see all the gymnasts approach the stage and receive their ribbons.  After the ribbons for each routine was passed out they then awarded medals to those that competed in the All Around (competing in all four events).  Amira was not awarded a medal in this event because she actually won 1^st place in this event, which afforded her a trophy.  She was so thrilled and beamed with pride at winning her first trophy.

I know I couldn’t be more proud of her for her accomplishment for she truly put her heart and soul into practicing diligently and focusing on what she was being taught from her coaches.

It’s been a testament and honor to watch what such determination can achieve.