Week Thirty-Four

     This week for me has been a wonderful week so far! The reason I say this is because on Saturday I went to the Beyonce concert and it blew me away. Before going I liked her but not to the extent i like her now after seeing her preform so well in concert. Also what made the concert so nice was the fact that I got to take my best friend and we also had amazing seats. There was one moment she was walking right past us standing in front of us considering we were second row on the floor. Another thing that made this a good week for me was the weather, not having school Monday and I also played lots of tennis outside in the heat as well as getting to ride my bike which was very nice. Since I have a pool, we finally got to really open it up this weekend and start slowly making use of it, especially on Memorial Day. What made it nice was having friends over and them getting in it as well, so overall, my week was full of activities which is what made it so great.

Speech (Gymnastics Olympic Medal)

Aliya Brooks

5/24/16

Dear ladies and gentleman, I want to start off by thanking all of you for gathering here, to listen to me speak about winning this amazing Olympic Award. Millions of young girls start gymnastics, dreaming that they will be where I am, accepting the Gold medal in the Olympics for gymnastics, as they stand on the podium, able to say they won an all around award. But few people really know what it takes. It took me over fourteen years to be able to truly say, I have mastered the sport of gymnastics.

I remember beginning gymnastics just at the age of five and taking classes. I started off not great but from the start there was one coach who saw something in me. The competitive team coach, Irina Kudina, quickly spotted me and asked me to join the more serious, competitive team. On this team I had five teammates. However, I felt out of place because they won tons of awards whereas I won none. Seeing this was tough for me, and I lost confidence in myself.

Once I reached age eight, I was practicing four hours a day, six days a week with the girls I joined the team with. My passion for the sport grew everyday. I knew that I not only wanted to go to the Olympics one day, but promised myself, I’d be in the Olympics one day.

By the time I made level 6 in gymnastics, I was becoming one of the better ones on my team which built up my confidence. Starting off as one of the worst of my team really pushed me to become better, along with my encouraging coach whom I had a close bond with. She saw my increasing love for the sport and noticed the amount of extra hours I put into it. I remember one weekend very vividly. I came into the gym on a Sunday ready to train alone to put in some extra time. But to my surprise, the big girls were there. Sometimes I felt intimidated by them because they were so good and I wanted nothing but to be like them. My coach then called me down to train with them just for this day, but because I did so well, I got to practice with these girls from then on. Her putting me with the better girls, gave me more belief in myself and drew my coach and I closer. After finishing level 6, I prepared for level 7 although the older girls were preparing for level 8. I noticed my skill level became harder than those of the girls who were my age, considering I practiced with the older girls. Months later, I became the first person my coach ever had skip an entire level of gymnastics, and this was a big deal for myself and other girls on the team. Everyone was intimidated by me. When high school came along, Irina suggested I begin online school, with my dream in mind of one day going to the Olympics. I agreed but my parents were iffy about making this huge step, until I convinced them how much this all meant to me. Sophomore year came and I finished level 10, which is the highest level of them all. By this point the older girls were off the college and my teammates were slowly dropping out of the sport. This same year, I packed up all my things and was on my way to Iowa, to train with a well known coach from China, in order to get training in for the Olympics.

Things like moving away abruptly, and deciding not to continue on with everyday school, were hard choices. Things I had to give up in order to make it here. I struggled to find myself within those periods of time, but without those rough patches, my coaches, parents, and close supportive friends, I wouldn’t have made it this far. The idea of giving up my social life did not please me at first, but I worked with it. It sucked feeling so alone and like I was in my own world on my own path. It was not only this that bothered me but the idea of leaving my family behind. These things made me realize the types of important things in life one needs to sacrifice for success like this.

Traveling and being away from them all was the hardest part but lead me down a path of excellence, made me stronger, and taught me things I know I would not have learned without this experience. I also know I would not have been able to achieve anything without the endless support of my family and amazing coach.

I am so honored to accept this award even though I had to put in a tremendous amount of work, I know it was worth chasing a dream that I never thought would really come true.

Week Thirty-Three

     This past week was a good one for me. On Monday, I promised myself I'd get my grades together so all throughout the week I was working on trying to push my grades before Friday progress reports came out. By this week of school I could feel everyones energy really dying down considering school is coming to an end. But it feels better knowing we only have a few weeks left, and really makes me want to do well in these last few weeks to see how well I can do in terms of my grades. Then towards the end of the week I got invited to be in a dance that will take place outside of school in a showcase called Dance for Life. That made my week better and definitely got me excited because it is a pretty big opportunity and I was glad to be picked. As for the weekend I had a pretty nice weekend and got to spend time with a few people which was lots of fun.

Week Thirty-Two

To sum up this past week, overall, it was pretty laid back. I did not have much dance or tennis which of course felt weird considering I usually practice both during the week. For dance it was a week off because last weekend we had our show which went amazing so in school in Gnd we just chilled and tuned things down. As for tennis, I did not attend at the beginning of the week because I pulled a muscle or so in my back after the dance show and it was messing up my strokes. Then as the week went on I just lost track of things and tried to stay focused on my work. Then on Thursday, my week was made! A few members of Gnd performed for a promposal which was really fun to be apart of but also very nerve racking because it felt as though the whole school was watching. However, in the end it was all worth it to see her face and how surprised and happy she was all in one moment. As for the weekend, I am planning to go over a friends house with lots of other school friends and then have dance as well as tennis. It is my friend Erica's birthday so I am hoping its a great weekend!

Week Thirty-One

     This week was very very hectic for me but I also had one of the best weeks I have had in a while. The beginning of the week felt slow because there was AP testing for students so lots of kids were low on energy which made me feel the same. As the week advanced, in dance, we had to begin getting people to get tickets for our show that would be on Friday and Saturday of this week. On Wednesday and Thursday, I was at school until 9pm rehearsing and doing dress rehearsal which was fun but also tiring because I did not have time to even do my homework. By Friday, the people dancing in the show were signed out throughout the school day and had a school show during school hours which did not include many people but we also had a 7pm show which happened to be sold out! This was a big deal for us. It felt great having the support of my friends and family there and it was a rush of emotions for me. On that same day I got tons of flowers from numerous surprising people which made me happy and excited for the next show. On Saturday, we had to be at school early once again and had a matinee show at 2pm which was not as full and was mostly grandparents and parents unlike Friday's show. However the night show was amazing. This show was also sold out and the crowd was great but not as hyped as Friday night. The vibe in the company that night also felt very energetic and sad because this was the last performance the seniors would do before going off to college so we all put everything into those performances. Then Sunday being mothers day was of course great but since I was busy all weekend I had lots of homework to catch up on including things I missed on Friday.