Inspired

We’ve watched some of the Olympic trials over the past few days.

Since watching the gymnastics, Alyssa has been inspired to move, to stretch, to bend and to jump.

Four years ago, Alyssa was nine years old and taking gymnastics classes. She’s mastered the backbend, the back handspring and a few other skills. She was swinging from the bars and trotting across the balance beam. She did pit crawls and worked hard each week at class.

It’s been three years since she had a gymnastics class. The last time she did a bridge was at track practice/meets when she was warming up for the high jump.

She told me on Monday that her goal is to be able to do a backbend by the end of summer.

She did one yesterday afternoon.

I love that watching other people do amazing things inspires her. I love that she’s got the drive and the stamina to work out for several hours a day (she did this yesterday) to improve her health and her skills. She wants to do this for fun, not to be competitive but seeing other who are so good makes her want to be just a little better.

I could learn a lot from this girl’s work ethic, her sense of self and her motivation.