I had done gymnastics ever since I could remember. Being the rambunctious three year-old that I was my parents decided to enroll me in gymnastics. Over the years, the gym had become my second home. I loved the smell of the chalk on my hands, the feel of my sore body as I left the gym, and the excitement of the next challenge. I especially enjoyed witnessing all the hardworking girls ,just like myself, strive for their dream. Every little gymnasts’ dream, including mine, was to go to the Olympics, to compete at the college level and achieve overall greatness in the sport of gymnastics.
However, as I got older and progressed through the sport, that dream that every little girl dreams about started to slowly slip away. The reality was that by the time I had reached 8th grade I was no longer at my pinnacle. I had hit the dreaded growth spurt. From then on I had to constantly make physical adjustments to compensate. My balance and center of gravity changed and I start to lose a lot of flexibility that I once
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Looking back I do not regret my decision of quitting gymnastics because cheerleading was the best that could ever happen to me. I fell in love with cheerleading because it had a lot of the same aspects that gymnastics had. But what I loved most about cheerleading was the team aspect. I have loved being apart of a team knowing that I am important and play a big role on the cheer team. Something I would have never gotten from gymnastics because it is not a team sport, no matter what other gymnasts say at the end of the day gymnasts are competing against each other. Cheer teams produce such a love and family atmosphere that it's addicting. I plan to continue cheering and I cannot wait to hopefully cheer in college. I am glad I had the gymnastics background and was able to recognize that I needed to give up gymnastics because you know what they say: when one door closes another one