Nadia... I Wish!

I wish I could have been fearless longer.
I didn’t start gymnastics until I was 13, so not only was I a head taller than all the other girls in my class, but I seemed to be the most cautious of them. I think little kids can excel so quickly because they’re not afraid of the effects of that little thing called gravity.

I still relive my old routines in my head. More often than that I perform routines that I could never actually do in real life. Amazing giants on the bars with a double layout dismount. Back-handsprings on the balance beam. Sukaharas on the vault.
When I play out these daydreams in my mind I can almost feel my body doing them. Which muscles I’d have to focus on to do a giant, how I’d have to keep from arching too much on a layout. Having perfect timing on every movement in a tumbling run. How hard I’d have to punch the springboard. How tight I’d have to stay to land square on the beam after a front tuck.
If only I had started earlier. Maybe I could have done all these things. But at least I can be a Nadia in my dreams.

It’s kinda like Uncle Rico living too much in ‘82. “Oh, man! I wish I could go back in time. I'd take state.”
If I could go back to ’82, I could start my gymnastics career at age 4.