6/25/14

in motion.







my girl lola.
age 6.
a bit about her story.
she started gymnastics one month before her fourth birthday. we lived in gibsons. there are no gymnastic classes or facilities there. so twice a week we would take an hour ferry ride and a twenty minute bus ride to the closest rec center that offered gymnastics. we couldn't afford to drive into the city so much as ferry costs are high. so public transportation was our jam. friends and family thought i was crazy.
lola has always been strong and flexible and when she went to her first class, they put her in the highest level available. it was a recreational class and one of her earliest memories is peeing on the beam. once that class ended, a lot of people mentioned she should be training at a club that was geared for more training | stronger coaching. so off she went. friends and family were shaking their heads and couldn't understand why i would make such a trip. i guess they didn't understand lola's love of the sport.
the ferry rides turned into three times a week and the bus rides turned into an hour and a half. each way. at the new club, she was in a "pre competitve" class training three times a week. this lasted until the summer. which brought our ferry rides up to four times a week. after summer, and for the following year, she trained four times a week, in the evening from 5 - 9 pm. we were lucky to have another gym parent drive us half way to a bus stop closer to the ferry terminal in order to catch the last ferry home where she would finally get into bed around 11:00pm. on the nights we didn't get a ride, we walked nine blocks {usually in the rain} to catch the bus that would take us to my mother's house to crash  for the night. she was five and in kindergarten. three of those four days of training, she would leave school early in order to catch the ferry and missed a lot of good times at school. a lot of sacrifices were made. finances. friendships. family.
summer came and went and fall rolled around. this time, she wasn't happy about taking a ferry and bus that consumed so much of her time, so we moved in with my mom until we found a new place. an hour away. more commuting but at least it's not on a ferry or bus where so many suppers and homework and tired tears and falling asleep on my shoulders happened. this past year, she excelled, she grew, she worked hard. she was training and competing with girls three and four years older. the spring brought her training up to five days a week with the summer looking the same. but because of her age, she's too young to compete at the level she should be. so we wait. and train. and see what the fall brings. it hasn't been easy. her height, her body type, her age, have been points of concern. but because of her faith in God. because of her love for the sport. because of her hard work. because of her coaching. she will succeed. she might change and decide to quit. she might travel the world competing. this is her amazing story.

lola is wearing the come on out hoodie c/o limeapple.

also, limeapple has a really amazing opportunity for you to nominate and vote for an inspiring girl to win $1000. read more about this here.

dig it babies.

2 comments:

  1. this was a beautiful post. i genuinely wish lola the best for all of her hard work .

    ReplyDelete