Goodbye Gymnastics, Hello...Cheerleader?

I have been asked how I feel about Kendra quitting gymnastics.  The answer is...FANTASTIC!!

Those in her gymnastics realm were shocked, and I think they are still shocked.  I don't think unless one has been around the gymnastics arena one can understand what an amazing gymnast Kendra was.  She would definitely have gotten a scholarship to a great gymnastics university, which is pretty much like making the Olympics in another sport.  Kendra was one of the best gymnasts in the nation at her level (9) of gymnastics.  This year she would have been at the top level and I know she would have done amazing just like she always has done amazing.  Getting any place lower than 3rd was a bad meet for Kendra.  She got used to being 1st place.  She would have been at the top level a few years ago if it weren't for the big break she had to take due to my illness.

Kendra spent 30 hours a week training.  That does not include meets, traveling, or any extras.  Kendra spent her summers at the gymnastics training center Monday-Saturday.  She had two, one week vacations throughout the summer and those two weeks were not in a row.  At her gymnastics center the gymnasts were expected to be at all practices.  We were unable to take family vacations or drive up to the cabin for a quick trip.  It was hard to ever go anywhere or do anything because life revolved around her gymnastics schedule.  Gymnastics is a year-round sport with no breaks.  She even had gymnastics training during Christmas vacation.  Her school year schedule went as follows:

School:  7-12:30
Gymnastics:  1-7
Eat dinner and do homework (she has all Honors classes): 7:30-midnightish

Her coaches and teammates were a gymnastics family.  So, she didn't just quit a sport, she had to stop spending time with people that have been part of her life since she was 4 years old.  She misses having a six pack and having cut muscles.  It is amazing how fast that can disappear.  There is no high school sport or training (including Crossfit) that comes anywhere close to her gymnastics workouts.

3 years old

 5 years old

This was some time after she took a 2 year break due to my illness.  She came back with a vengeance.  She was 1st in state up until the last event when she had a fluke fall on the bars.  She ended up placing 2nd.

 
 This was one of her favorite teams to compete with because they are AWESOME gymnasts.

 This was at Regionals held in California that year.  She obviously did amazing!

Regionals

  *She loved this team.  They were all amazingly talented gymnasts and super sweet girls.  1st place again.

Hardest worker

These girls are all about pushing their limits

 *Kendra's favorite event was beam.  She was solid.

 *Always laughing

 *I think Kendra got 1st at all of her season meets in 2017.

 bars

 *Kendra was chosen as one of the top gymnasts at her level to represent Arizona at Regionals.  They competed against California, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.  Kendra was the top gymnast on the team.

 *Doing a pivot on the bars.  My stomach would hurt every time Kendra competed on bars and beam.

 * I wish I had gotten a picture of her flipping high in the air above the beam.

 *I never kept track of scores during a meet.  I never knew how well Kendra was scoring compared to the other competitors.  She always did wonderful.  She usually was always in the top two since she started competing at a young age.  She never got lower, from my knowledge, than a 9 on any event.

 *Level 9 girls

 *Kendra adored her coach Zena who had coached Kendra since she was 4 years old.

 *Another 1st place.

 *Kendra usually always placed in the top 3 on every event

These were the National qualifiers - the top gymnasts from California, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona to compete at level 9 Nationals.  The only thing higher than level 9 Nationals is level 10 Nationals which Kendra would have competed at this year if she had stayed in gymnastics.  She got 1st place on bars and 3rd overall.  Her routine on bars was featured on the GK Elite website (a brand like Nike).  

*Again, Kendra was in first the entire meet at level 9 Nationals, and on the last event, beam, she wobbled.

The moment Kendra quit gymnastics we told her that she can't take a break sitting on the couch watching all the shows that she has missed out on due to gymnastics.  We told her that she has to pick something to be involved in at school.  Her athletic choices at the time were cross country and cheerleading.  She was NOT happy at all.  Top gymnasts joke around about cheerleaders.  I will say, cheer and pom, even the top squads, are a joke to gymnasts.  There is nothing like the athleticism of a top-level gymnast.  Well, Kendra did not want to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to go running.  She also did not want to be a cheerleader.  Kendra has a gymnast mentality.  She is all bloods, guts, and glory.  She does not show emotion when competing.  She had to choose something, so she chose cheerleading.  She learned the routines the day of try-outs and made JV Cheer (Freshman can't be Varsity Cheerleaders) at Highland High School.  Even the hardest workouts on the cheer team have been a piece of cake for her.  She has a hard time if anyone whines.  A girl broke her fingers and is now not cheering because of her broken fingers.  Kendra has a hard time with it since every gymnast on her team had injuries and still worked out and competed.  She said, "You are telling me that she can't hold some pon-poms?!"  Kendra broke two of her fingers about a year ago and never said anything to her coaches.  She did everything with her broken fingers.  She also had a bad sprain (her ankle blew up like a balloon and was black and blue), so she wrapped it up and went full out on her training.  Nothing changed because she was injured.  It would have taken her braking an ankle to stop her from doing everything full out.  One time she was on the beam practicing her flick-lays (flip in the air) and she landed on the side of her upper thigh.  She hit so hard that she almost blacked out and now has permanent tissue damage. So, the mentality of a school "sport" (I guess they have officially made cheer a sport which is hilarious to me and Kendra) is not the same as an elite athlete.

 *Kendra fell hard on the beam twice.  The second time caused permanent damage to her tissue.

*This is a blurry picture, but this is what Kendra's hands and wrists looked like 24/7.  She was out on recess in sixth grade and an aid told her that she was wanted in the nurses office.  When she got to the nurses office the nurse asked, "What are those sores from?"  Kendra told her that all her sores and scratches are from gymnastics.  The nurse was asking Kendra about the sores and scratches because there were a few adults that noticed and thought she may be cutting herself.  I am grateful we were able to laugh over the situation.  I am also grateful for teachers that are looking out for children.

 *I wish I had gotten pictures of Kendra's broken fingers and her badly sprained ankle.  I think because it was her every day life I just didn't think about it.  Kendra never cried or complained about her injuries.  She is one tough cookies.

*Kendra was actually one of the lucky gymnasts.  Most of her teammates went through periods of time when they had casts or operations.  Kendra never took a break due to injuries.  The only thing that stops a gymnast is if a major bone is broken or ligaments have snapped, something more major than some broken fingers or a black and blue ankle the size of a balloon.

Kendra was embarrassed to be a cheerleader.  She had a very hard time acting peppy.  She felt dumb when her gymnastics teammates found out.  Her attitude has changed drastically since the time she first tried out for the cheer squad.  I have had plenty of talks with her about enjoying doing something different and getting to know the girls on her squad.  There is no reason to be embarrassed about something fun and interactive.  There is no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed over a worthwhile activity with good people and coaches.  It has taken most of the year, but she is finally enjoying cheerleading.  Cheerleading will never push her to her limits physically or be highly competitive for her, but she has learned other values and lessons that she would not make in gymnastics.  She has started getting to know the girls on her cheer squad.  They are very kind girls.  She is also learning how to compete with a group instead of by herself.  She would rather compete on her own than with a group, which I told her is so opposite of 99 percent of the people on the earth.  She is now smiling when she performs.  There are valuable lessons to be learned working with a group for a common goal.  It has opened her mind to helping others and allowing them to help her.  I think it has been a humbling experience.  Gymnastics taught her many valuable lessons and shaped her mind and body to be strong and determined.  Gymnastics was part of her identity and when it was gone she has had to try and figure out who she is without the sport of gymnastics.  I told her that gymnastics helped grow her muscles, and now she is growing her spirit.  Her mind has been opened to others.  She no longer makes fun of cheerleading.  She is letting loose and enjoying her time.  And she has even started telling me that she has been sore in areas that she didn't know had muscles.  LOL.

As for me, I look back on Kendra's gymnastics experience with mixed emotions.  From the time Kendra was in 3rd grade, she spent more hours on gymnastics than kids in any other sport at that age.  By the time she was in 5th grade she would leave school early to get to gymnastics.  It wasn't until Kendra was in the upper-levels of the sport of gymnastics that I started having a difficult time.  I did not work so hard to have children to have them raised in a gym.  The only time I really saw Kendra was after gymnastics while she was eating dinner, and she always seemed in a rush to get to her homework.  We always made sure we had Family Home Evenings and we tried very hard to have scripture study in the mornings.  Kendra going to her youth activities on Wednesday nights were a must.  So, right when she got out of gymnastics at 7:00, she would rush to her Mutual activities and not get home until close to 9:00 just to start all her homework.  It was very hard for her to balance everything.  On top of gymnastics she loves playing the piano, so she would have a lesson once a week, but only be able to practice for 15 minutes 3 times a week.  She would work on her Personal Progress goals on Sundays because it was the only time she had to work on them.  I wanted her to have a life outside the gym, so I would make her do something social on Saturdays after her gymnastics practice.  I am so happy that I made sure she had a social life outside of gymnastics.

When she was in level 7 I started feeling that things were not right.  It did not feel right to have my child at such a young age be doing tasks all the time just to keep up with everything.  Kendra would wake up very early to do a chore that she was assigned for the week.  I felt that if I did not have her do her part in our family and around our home then I would be doing a disservice to her.  Gymnastics is great and all, but how would she take care of herself once she moved out of our home?  I wanted her to enjoy her childhood.  She is a very hard-working, determined child and so I think that for her it was normal to be working so hard at everything.  I, on the other hand, wanted her to have more down time to just have fun and let loose.  Kendra was driven and determined to get a gymnastics scholarship, so I tried to be supportive.  Once Kendra got to be training level 10 I had another break down in the bedroom with Brian. I just felt that Kendra was unable to ever let loose and just be.  I have prayed and prayed about Kendra being in gymnastics.  I never felt that I should make her quit, so I tried to be as supportive as possible.  It is also hard to tell one's child that she has to stop doing something she has done her whole life, and even harder when coaches and the gymnastics world is starting to take notice of her.  She was a very talented gymnast.  I am happy that Kendra came to the choice on her own.  I guess she had been praying about her future and suddenly she was not interested in getting a gymnastics scholarship.  She realized that she did not want to do gymnastics in college, so what was the point of continuing going to practices and meets if she did not want a future in the sport.

Honestly, I think gymnastics taught Kendra some very valuable life skills and built her character, but I do not miss her being a gymnast one bit.  In fact, I used to love the sport of gymnastics, but it is just alright to me now.  I feel a bit resentful.  I guess I feel like it took my daughter away from me when I could have been with her and we could have had more experiences as a family.  I do feel that it was good of me to leave the decision to Kendra.  I LOVED watching the US women's gymnastics team, but now it just makes my stomach hurt.  I feel bad for those girls.  Whenever those girls talk about how they never went to a prom or on a date or that they gave up hanging out with friends or they never knew how it felt to be involved in other activities or go to football games...I used to think, "Wow!", but now I just think, "How sad!  It's the only time in your life you could experience so many different things, but you were in a gymnastics center."  That time will never come back to them.  And for what?  A scholarship?  The Olympics?  It's not worth it.  Yes, gymnastics is the most physically challenging sport, but so what?   Yes, gymnasts are amazing athletes, but my daughter has soooo many amazing things about her.  Gymnastics does not define who she is!  She is amazingly talented in anything athletic.  She loves music.  She is a brainer and a half!   She wants to choose the right.  I love that she is a good girl, but she has a mischievous side to her.  More importantly, she has been blessed with a kind heart.  The sound of her giggles uplifts anyone's spirit.  I see Kendra now and she is much more balanced and happy.  She misses competing and her six pack, but she is doing things and learning things she would have definitely missed out on.  I LOVE that she is around the house much more now.  She never would have gotten to know Jonathan as well.  She was always a nice sister, but now she has a deeper connection to Kessa than before.  She was involved in church, but now she seems to have a deeper meaning of the gospel.  She has had the opportunity to get to know more people.  I could go on and on.  It has been challenging because it is a huge change in her life, but it has definitely been worth it.  I love my Kennyroo so much!  This mama will never regret that her daughter quit gymnastics.  I am grateful that Kendra has had a relationship with her Heavenly Father since she was young and has gotten answers to prayers.  I am very grateful that she listened to the Holy Ghost and obeyed the promptings that she received, even though she was scared and worried about what it meant for her future and how much she would be disappointing her coaches, teammates, and others that invested their time and hopes into her.  That is the definition of bravery to me.