This year was most definitely my most physically and mentally intense year. Most of my year was spent deviating between pole vaulting, gymnastics, and school. Both pole vaulting and gymnastics require insane amounts of physical and mental focus to not get seriously injured. In the first half of the school year, I was doing 7 hours of these sports combined and my daily schoolwork. This was obviously detrimental to my mental and physical health. I noticed that after a while, I was almost completely unable to fall asleep. Although I would finish working at 1 AM, I would not be able to fall asleep until 4 or 5 AM. I would constantly wake up feeling worse than the day before and eventually, I could not take it anymore. Even though my passion for both sports burned like the eternal fires of Hestia, my physical being could not take it anymore. Something, anything had to give for me to keep going.

Soon after the second semester started, the competition season for both sports had begun. 11 weeks straight. 1 or sometimes even 2 competitions per week. At first, my mindset was “I made it this far, bring it on!” But I would soon realize that competition season could dish a lot more than I could take. As the semester progressed it became more and more obvious that I could not survive anymore going full force in both sports. The fatigue of my ever-worsening sleep quality had begun leaking into my practices and competitions, causing my performance to tank in my schoolwork and sports. I realized that I had to pull back on one of my sports. I knew that this day would come eventually, but I did not want to face the reality because I was extremely passionate about both sports.

For a while, the question had been looming around me like vultures encircling a fresh carcass. I did not want to address it but the time had come. Which sport was I going to drop? In both sports, I had a very bright future but nothing was ensured. 

In gymnastics, I had reached the highest level for juniors in my freshman year of high school, something that most others don’t do until their junior or senior year. I was likely on track to go D1 and possibly to the Olympics, but did I really enjoy it? I had been doing gymnastics for 9 years up to that point. Having spent ⅗ of my life doing gymnastics I had made so many friends and made so many promises to coaches it had almost become a chore without me even noticing. 

In pole vaulting, I showed great potential. Due to the immense strength, muscle control, and air awareness I had built through gymnastics, I took up pole vaulting naturally as if it was another gymnastics skill, and I became Fountain Valley’s top vaulter in my first competition. I surely had a great future ahead of me, and pole vaulting was something that I was truly passionate about and I did it for myself and because I loved it. But there was an elephant in the room that I could not ignore. Because I am only 5’3” it would automatically be harder for me later on in my pole vaulting career. As I get on longer poles, the distance between me and the base of the pole would grow farther away a lot faster than someone who is 6 ft tall (the lower end of heights for most professional pole vaulters.) This could be demonstrated through the Pythagorean Theorem, but as that distance between the base of the pole and you grow further you tend to struggle a lot more, and because I am so short this would happen very fast. I was very passionate about pole vaulting, but taking it over gymnastics would be a lot riskier in terms of college and my chances as a professional athlete.

(Drawn by me!!!)

The decision was a very tough one. It was either, I don’t enjoy it very much, but I am nearly guaranteed a spot as a collegiate athlete in gymnastics or, I enjoy it a lot, but my chances as a collegiate athlete are a lot lower. I followed my heart and ended up taking the rest of the season off in gymnastics, and my pole vaulting ended up being nothing less than spectacular. I ended up soaring over 13’6” putting me around #12 on our school’s all-time best list for pole vaulting. All of this happened over one year, which was a very good sign. I did not regret my decision at all, and I eventually started slowly doing gymnastics less and less to me now, practicing about once per week. Although it was very tough I ended up making what I think was the correct decision and the benefits definitely showed. I still have some mild sleep problems, but for the most part, I sleep better, which improved the quality of my school work and pole vaulting a lot. Although I was adamant about staying in both sports, it was self-evident that as a human being, I could not handle 35 hours a week of intense practice on top of schoolwork. This taught me a valuable lesson that sometimes it’s best to take a step back. In the end, my one step back from gymnastics boosted me many steps forward in pole vaulting.