The four inch beam came before me, and in that moment I knew I had to stick the landing to my dismount if I wanted a chance to go to the National Gymnastics Competition.  Sadly, I did not stick that landing or qualify for nationals, but I still walked out of that meet with a smile on my face, proud of all I had accomplished. That marked my last gymnastics meet after spending ten years of my life to the sport. Gymnastics is a sport that requires time commitment, mental toughness, and balance. AJS Pancott Gymnastics Center was a brick building, attached to business buildings.  The gym was made by Steve Pancott, in 1997, and has grown competitive gymnastics still today. The gym held a giant red floor, over ten balance beams, four chalky sets of uneven bars, two vaults, and even a back room for strength and jumping on trampolines. AJS Pancott Gymnastics Center, the gym I trained in, was my second home during my childhood. Although, the place smelled like feet all the time, it grew a feel of at home throughout the ten years I trained there. Over the course of the ten year period I trained at AJS Pancott, I learned what it meant to dedicate myself to something I love, work hard to reach my goals, learn discipline, and create inseparable friendships.  The life lessons and morals AJS Pancott has given me are going to last a lifetime, as they already have provided me the right direction of life. It all started at the age of 4.

At age four I watched the 2004 Olympics, and dreamed of becoming a gymnast.  The following year my mom and dad agreed to sign me up for gymnastics classes.  A couple days before my first class my mom and I went shopping for leotards. I picked out the three most sparkly leotards on the shelves in Kelly’s Sports, as they had brought me amazement.  On the first day of class, I hopped into my bright pinkish-orange leotard, and jumped into the car. The smell of the gym was strange at first, especially being a place unknown to me. The second I entered the building I became shy and in a shell, not wanting to leave my moms side.  While waiting to be called to class, I did not think I would know anyone after peering all around to a bunch of unfamiliar faces. A couple minutes later, two of my childhood best friends walked in, Carlee and Sean. My face lit up as I raced over to greet them by saying, “Hi guys! Are you doing a class here?”  Being at such a young age, I did not process the fact that they obviously were taking the class, as they were both dressed in the right attire and at the gym at the same time as the class was supposed to start.

Responding to my dumb question Carlee exclaimed, “Yessss! I am super excited!”  Immediately after that Mr. Steve, my first coach, opened the door and guided us into the gym, Then, the three of us skipped into class, with bright, wide smiles on our faces, all eager to learn gymnastics.  We started off class by stretching. I learned after my first class, loving every second, that each class consisted of learning a new skill or mastering a skill we learned last week on each event. I picked up learning majority of the skills pretty fast, and within a month was the most advanced in my class.  Each week all I would look forward to was gymnastics.

I always was asking my mom, “What time is gymnastics?” Or “Can we leave for gymnastics now?”  She did not mind me asking these questions because she loved how involved and happy I was. The class my parents signed me up for was an eight week class, about two months.  During my last class, Mr. Steve led a ceremony for everyone in my class where we received ribbons and lollipops.

After the ceremony was over, Mr. Steve pulled me aside to say, “I would love to invite you to join AJS’ preteam.  At the time, preteam was equivalent to a level four team. A level four team means that I would begin to compete in competitions.  I was surprised when Mr. Steve granted me with that news, I immediately scampered out of the gym to go ask my mom if I could do it.  

I interrupted the conversation she was having with Carlee’s mom by screaming out to her, “Mom I made it to pre team, can I please please do it?”  She looked down at me, annoyed that I disrupted her conversation.

A couple minutes later, after she had finished her conversation, she exclaimed, “Aw honey, I am so proud of you, yes you can do it as long as you promise me you still love it.”  

I replied. “YAY,  I love it and you so much!”  I walked out of class that day realizing, even at such a young age, that if I want to be successful I have to work for it.  That is exactly what I did and I got what I wanted, to move to the next level of gymnastics.

Next, at age eight I advanced to level six.  The first fly meet occurred during that year.  My gym, from level six and up had decided to start doing fly meets.  The first fly meet we went on was to California. I was attending practice now for four days a week, and was ecstatic about it. The increased practice time meant more commitment and dedication.  I did not realize it until the skills I was learning were getting tougher and tougher as time went on. Being a level six was like being the youngest of the older, more advanced girls. Monday, Tuesday,  Thursday, and Friday it would be routine to arrive home from school, grind out my homework, and go to practice from five o'clock to nine o’clock. In the winter of my level six meet season, all my team was training for was our fly meet at the end of February in warm, sunny California.  Each practice was constant routine after routine until I got as close to perfect as possible, and there was minimal yelling from my coach. At level six my coach, Ms. Kyla, served as both a best friend and mentor, who I still look to for advice today. As the fly meet got closer the yelling from Ms. Kyla increased, as did my stress levels.  In school all I would think about was gymnastics and how many routines I was going to have to do or the amount of strength I would be punished with if I did something wrong. At this age, I learned discipline in order to make me an overall better gymnast. Ms. Kyla would push my limits. At practice one day, a couple days before the fly meet, I had a mental block on one of my tumbling passes of my floor routine.  My mental block refers to me telling myself I couldn’t do my roundoff back handspring backflip pass. The first time I had this mental block I didn’t know how to react or help myself get out of it. I had yet learned what Ms. Kyla’s tolerance was on these situations.

Furthermore, she pulled me by my leotard to the side of the floor and asked, “What is going on?”

I whispered to myself, “Do not cry.”  Then, I quietly said, “I am scared to do my tumbling pass.”  From the no change on her face, I realized she had been through mental blocks before.  

“Go to the strength room and do two rope climbs, whatever strength the girls back there are doing, and then once you are done come back out and you are going to do your tumbling pass.”  Scared out of my mind I sprinted as fast as Usain Bolt to complete the strength she had just given me. After completing that, tired out of my mind, as practice was supposed to end thirty minutes ago, but Ms. Kyla did not budge on letting me leave without doing my tumbling pass.  As scared as I was, I wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. Trying to show no fear I went for the tumbling pass, and ended up on landing on my back as a result of over rotating. Then, Ms. Kyla stated, “That’s all I needed to see, you are ready for the fly meet.” Although I was confused I also understood that she just wanted me to commit myself to accomplishing something I was afraid of.  That was one of the few lessons she taught me. After those few days went by excitement was building, as the fly meet was the first time I was traveling to California. The fly meet was a huge success, and one high point of it was sticking the landing to the tumbling pass I had a mental block on a few days before. Ms. Kyla and the year of being a level six taught me what hard work and dedication truly meant in the long run.  

At the age of twelve I jumped three more levels, and became a level nine.  Level nine was extremely competitive and not many gymnasts make it there before quitting.  I was lucky enough to get there. The beginning of my level nine season was tough because Alexis and I were separated into two different groups.  I had been chosen to enter the higher group with a tougher coach. I did not know what was in store for me. Troy was our new coach, and he knew what he was talking about even though he was excruciatingly mean.  He increased our practices to five days a week, and a total of 26 hours of practice of week. The time management and learning not to procrastinate were essential at this point of my gymnastics career. I had no social life, my entire life revolved around what I told myself I loved to do.  Troy made sure that their wasn’t a single practice where any of us walked out without blood, ice, or tears running down our faces. My teammates and I grew a hatred for our coach Troy, as he did not know the right way to treat young girls. I fought threw those six months of competing, I was constantly in pain, but all I wanted was to be the best and reach success.  At the end of my level nine season, I qualified for the regional competition. This was a big deal, as if I got a certain score their I could have qualified for the national competition,one of my biggest goals.

When I arrived at regionals I told myself, “This one's for me, nobody else.”  I said this because I needed to stay calm, not look to impress my coaches, and just do what I loved.  After scoring high scores on vault, bars, and floor qualifying for nationals came down to my beam routine.  My time came to shine, and as I rose on the beam all I was thinking was no matter what happens, I tried my best.  Although, I did not stick my dismount landing of my routine which led me to not qualify for nationals I still held my head high after all I had accomplished.  

The best feeling was when Troy came up to me after the meet and announced, “Good job kid, I am proud of you,”  The satisfaction that resonated from the toughest coach I ever had was the best feeling. After my level nine season I had started talking to my parents about trying new sports, and putting gymnastics to rest.  They insisted that I continued to do it, as they knew the time and effort I had put into the sport, and they wouldn't let me quit just like that. I knew to myself that I had the tools I needed to adventure into new activities and sports that I never got to experience.  Many tears and long talks with my mom, resulted in a sad day at the gym talking to my coaches about quitting. I had to explain to them my desire to try new things, as it was something they all had taught me over the years with new skills. I thanked them for giving me the strength and power to lead myself in whatever direction I had desired.  Closing the chapter of my gymnastics career, and AJS Pancott as a whole was the hardest to close because of all I had learned and gained from spending those eight years there basically more than at my house.

AJS Pancott Gymnastics Center and all the people that became a part of my life because of that gym are a part of my life forever.  To add to that, the life lessons I picked up on at such a young age from being pushed as a young gymnast were incredible tools to carry into my life.  Deciding to quit was the hardest decision I had made in my life. Leaving the friends that had been through incredibly tough pain and the best times with me was what made it so hard.  I decided to leave the place I grew up in, and learned all my morals in. AJS Pancott had given me the essential tool to mental toughness. Being a gymnast for over eight years taught me that even when times are at their lowest and I was in the most pain, I still knew how to push through with hard work to reach goals.  Being mentally tough had carried over into my life after leaving the gym, when starting new sports. When I began to play volleyball I had to be mentally tough in order to reach success, as one of the biggest factors to being a great volleyball player is the mentality aspect of the game. Another tool I gained and used after my training at AJS was the nutritional values.  Being healthy had always been a big part of who I am as a person, and I learned that from my coaches who taught right from wrong nutritionally. As well as these two tools that AJS gymnastics gave me, it also provided me with consistency, respect, teamwork, and discipline. I never thanked AJS Pancott Gymnastics Center for the life skills it blessed my life with when I was lost, leaving the gym and not knowing where life would take me.