I attended a Pac-10 women's gymnastics meet at the University of Washington with my family to watch our niece compete last Friday.
Katie did great. Took first in vault and tied for first in floor.
She has an amazing story to tell.
Katie worked very hard to get to where she is. That part of the story is not atypical of many good athletes. Hard work, starting from a young age, a goal and lots of drive, determination and self discipline.
The amazing part about Katie's story is she is lucky to even be able to walk...let alone jump off a vault, perform on a balance beam and do beautiful floor routines.
Lucky isn't the right word though. Maybe blessed...maybe special...certainly unique and a very strong young woman.
Katie was great at gymnastics from the time she was a small girl. She had a bright future, competed in the Junior Olympics, and was destined to fulfill her dream of becoming a Division 1 athlete (Division 1 schools are the biggest colleges and universities in the US).
Then her life changed.
Her curvature of the spine (scoliosis) reached a point where she would require major surgery. She had worn braces for some time but the condition reached a point where it could only be treated with surgery.
Katie had a major operation that involved implantation of a rod in her spinal column, and removal of bone from her hip to be used to attach the rod to her spinal bones.
For most people that would be a major setback in life. For almost anyone but someone with a strong will and a special character it would certainly be the end of athletic competition.
Not for Katie. She worked very hard (as she always had) recovered from the surgery, went back to competing and last Friday took first in the vault and tied for first in the floor.
A young woman who is an inspiration for us all.
-----------------------------------------
My daughters, as I've mentioned before, are inspirations for me. They work hard at school and in sports. Although this is not as drastic as Katie's story I won't forget the day Becca, Betsy and I were in the orthopedic surgeons office and he told Becca her basketball playing days were over.
Becca, not unlike Katie, had a promising future as a basketball player. She had worked hard and was on track for being at least a top high school performer and if she wanted to be, a college player.
Becca proved that surgeon wrong. She did play basketball again and is doing a great job of it. Both Katie and Becca are in their senior year of school athletics...so that stage of their lives is winding down.
I'm positive they'll do wonderfully well in the next phase of their lives given the character they've shown as young women.
-----------------------------------------------
There were young kids performing during the break at the gymnastics meet and at the last high school basketball game I attended.
The basketball halftime performers were cheerleaders ages 6 to maybe 16 or so. It was quite impressive. They are good at tumbling, dancing, jumping and basically just in good physical condition and having fun. It's nice to see a program like that for kids to be involved in where they are interacting with their peers, adults and learning good skills.
The performance at the gymnastic meet was again young children (boys and girls this time). Maybe 4 or 5 to about 10 years old. Really cute...and impressive. However the thing I can't get out of my mind was a song they played in the background when those little ones performed.
It went something like, "come on...do your best...remember to smile...that's it". It was obviously a song used in their training since it had specific points that the kids were keying on (when to back up or move forward..things like that). It was very repetitious (not in a bad way) and included sounds of a crowd clapping. I wish I could find it so you could listen to it. I can't describe it adequately.
In any event let's remember today to smile, do our best and think of the people who love, and have loved, and who care about us; clapping in the background.
