If we lived in China, they would have already taken Hassie Clare away from us and she would be training 18 hours a day at the Chinese Olympic training center at 5 years old. The girl has mad skills. The scary thing is that she is mostly self trained. She will see something on TV and try it. She has had little to no formal training. The most instruction she has received was from a dance school owner that came to the girls school for 45 minutes once a week during the school year and taught tumbling. She was a great teacher but had her hands full with 25 kids, one helper and in tight quarters. Long story short, there are 4 levels - 4 being the highest level. The kids in this class ranged from pre-k to 6th grade. Quinn loved it and received a Level 2 certificate like most of the kids in the program. Hassie Clare was the only kid to get a Level 4 certificate and she is in the pre-k! CRAZY The teacher was always pulling me aside and encouraging me to check into formal training at a competitive gym. I kind of just brushed it off thinking she was too young and it was to much of a commitment.
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| Hassie Clare |
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| Quinn |
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| End of the year tumbling show - 2012 |
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| Quinn, Elaina and Hassie Clare |
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| The girls with their tumbling coach - Mrs. Lori from LRP Studios |
Fast forward a few months and the girls were at camp at this place called The Kids Only Gym. They have a balance beam, uneven bars, etc. Hassie Clare was in heaven. After 2 days of wowing the instructors, a competitive gym in Memphis called us and asked if we would be interested in coming to their gym. This gym put out 6 girls last year on full athletic rides in gymnastics to various Div 1 colleges. 24 girls in the past 9 years. They are not interested in Quinn, which breaks me heart, but thankfully Quinn has no interest in being pushed in gymnastics nor does she want to do anything scary (she thinks the uneven bars are scary). So ... Jamie and I have some decisions to make. Huge commitment time wise and financially. Truth be told ... I'm a "ball" sport person. And God forbid she decided she wanted to be a cheerleader some day. EEEKKKK BUT this is her life. Jamie and I have decided that she was blessed with this God given talent, her desire to learn the sport is through the roof and who are we to deprive her of this opportunity. We have decided to make a 6 month commitment and re-evaluate it at the end of the 6 months. I'm shopping around at competitive gyms and meeting with the coach's. If we are going to do this, we are going to do it right! I'm secretly hoping she loses interest by the end of the 6 months and at the same time I'm secretly hoping that she falls madly in love the sport and wants to do it the rest of her life. She told our waitress at Newk's the other day that she was going to be in the Olympics ... but not until she is 13. I'll cheers to that!
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