DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
SOARING INTO HISTORY
© NaimaLett.com/blog

© Ronald Martinez, Getty Images, photo source
VIDEO RECAP

What a way to soar into the history books!

Gabriel Douglas, aka Gabby, the 4’11” explosive gymnast from Virginia Beach, is America’s new golden girl!

Gabby became the only American woman to win gold in both the team and individual all-around Olympic Gymnastics, and the first African American gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. And she made it look effortless. (VIDEO RECAP)

Gabby led the competition from the beginning with a solid vault, followed by extraordinary performances on the uneven bars and balance beam, and a floor routine to be remembered. She was focused and meticulous the entire night and didn’t flash her million-watt smile until after her last event, the floor routine, knowing at that point that she’d done all she could.

When the final scores posted and everyone saw that Gabby was still #1, tears burst forth.
Gabby released tears of joy.
Gabby’s mom, Natalie Hawkins, boo-hooed and crumbled into her son’s arms.
Gabby’s competitor, Russia’s Viktoria Komova, sobbed and covered her face, upset to lose the gold medal by only 0.259 points.

Even Oprah cried and tweeted, “OMG I’m so THRILLED for Gabby. Flowing happy tears!!”

It was a moment worth crying over.

Gabby shared this morning on The Today Show that there was lots of blood, sweat and tears on her way to Olympic gold.

Talk about an amazing story.

Gabby entered into gymnastics at the age of 4. At the age of 12, she watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics and knew she would not get the chance to compete unless she had Olympic coaching. She asked her mom if she could train with the coach she saw on TV coaching gymnast Shawn Johnson to her 2008 all-around Olympic Gold. That coach was Liang Chow, an international Chinese gymnast who had moved to Iowa to coach American athletes.

Of course, Gabby’s mom, Natalie, said “No!” But Gabby was relentless.
And finally one day, Gabby asked her mom, “What would you do if you were this frustrated and could not get the support you needed on your job?”

That’s when Natalie seriously considered allowing Gabby to train with Chow, who presented a clinic in Virginia Beach where Gabby had the chance to actually work with him. But Chow lived 20 hours and 1,200 miles away in Iowa, and Natalie, now a single mom of 4, could not afford to move the entire family to Iowa. Gabby’s father was called for a 3rd tour in Afghanistan. Her parents were going through a divorce. Not an ideal situation.

But at the age of 14, Gabby moved to Iowa, not knowing a soul.

Coach Chow found a host family for Gabby. The first one didn’t work out and 3 months in was a disaster. Then, Travis and Missy Parton and their gymnast daughters offered Gabby a home away from home. There were times Gabby wanted to give up. She cried everyday from homesickness. She tried to quit. No one around her would let her – her mother, sisters, host family, coach. Talk about incredible support. And it paid off. She adjusted and begin to train.

And just a year and 1/2 later, Gabby stands on top of the Olympic platform, making history.

Is anybody else inspired?
I feel like I can soar too!
What about you?

Through incredible sacrifice, hard work and faith, Gabby did something no other woman has ever done before. Incredible!

Yesterday, Gabby posted on her Twitter the following praise:
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. PSALM 103:2

I love that psalm of David.

PSALM 103:1-5 (New Living Translation)
1 Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Gabby is certainly soaring like an eagle right now, and remembering to thank God every step of the way. Let’s praise God with her and celebrate her history-making accomplishments.

Be inspired, Fam!

Be inspired by Gabby’s dedication and sacrifice and willingness to do whatever it takes to reach her goals. And she did so without any unethical, morally questionable athleticism. She showed up every day in the gym and worked. Blood, sweat, and tears.

I also celebrate my husband, Kevin, today. I’m on my way to his promotional ceremonies at his secret-service-type gig. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the “I can’t really talk about that…”; but I’m so proud of his dedication and sacrifice and willingness to do whatever it takes for our family. Thank you, Love. He’s even being nominated for a national employee of the year award after a year and a 1/2, very much like Gabby’s training period. Blood, sweat and tears. Well, if anybody boo-hoos and snouts, that would be me. :=) Proud of you!

What goal do you have today?
Do you need an expert mentor/coach who has a stellar track record?
Are you willing to sacrifice and put in the hard work, training, maybe even move, in order to have a shot at reaching your dream?

At 16, Gabby has inspired, not just an entire nation, but an entire world.
Soar, Gabby, soar!

We’re soaring with you,
Naima

What’s your goal? Are you willing to do whatever it takes?

RESPOND TO BLOG
Below, or
Facebook or
Twitter – @naimalett

DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
LOSING ON PURPOSE
© NaimaLett.com/blog

© Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters, New York Times, photo source

Can’t make this stuff up.

8 OLYMPIANS – as in the BEST athletes in the world – have been disqualified for trying to lose their matches – on purpose.

Who knew badminton could be so scandalous?
Clutch the Queen’s pearls!

This VIDEO REPLAY reveals China’s Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and South Korean’s Jung Kyung Eun and Kim Ha Na competing for the World’s Top Worst Athlete: half-hitting the shuttlecock into the net (FYI: In my P.E. class in Augusta, Georgia, we called that feathered projectile a ‘birdie’), letting the birdie fall to the ground without even trying to return a serve, etc., obvious non-play.

I am adamantly against “booing” people, seeing firsthand how booing devastated several artists when I went to a taping of Harlem’s Showtime at the Apollo. But by the time the audience of PAYING customers started booing China and South Korea in the video, I was booing too.

Boo!
Boo!

Fans paid as much as £75.00 per ticket for the best seats in the preliminary rounds; £20 – 35 for the nosebleeds. That’s between $31 – $117 US dollars. How would you like to spend over a hundred dollars to see two teams try to lose?

Boo!

And then they’re in Britain, where the doggone sport originated during the 17th – 18th century! Historical 1800’s drawings show women in bonnets playing badminton’s precursor, battledore and shuttlecock, a game dating back to ancient Greece. And unlike Americans like myself who had one 6-weeks training of badminton in high school P.E. class, most of the British audience in that Olympic arena would’ve played the game from childhood. They LOVE the game. And they KNEW the game they were experiencing was being thrown.

Boo!

But before we get too boo happy, I have to ask the question, do we sometimes intentionally try to lose on purpose?

How many times do we sabotage our relationships?
Or slack off on the job, hoping to be ‘let go’ instead of having to ‘quit’, but we’ve already quit?
How many times do we non-commit because we’re afraid to fail and even more afraid to succeed?

Last Sunday, I preached a sermon called “Run to Win” based on Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 9:24-27.

Paul makes an analogy that those who compete in the ancient Olympic games do so to win a perishable wreath (our equivalent of a gold medal); but followers of Christ are out to win an imperishable reward. He says that he doesn’t run without aim or box the air, but trains and disciplines his own body in order to win. Paul says, “Run in such a way that you may win.”

We’ll unpack that scripture more when we get to Track and Field, as it has more direct correlation there, but Paul’s point is that nobody goes into a top athletic competition to lose. That’s absurd.

We are to compete to win.
Us. China. South Korea.

The teams who tried to lose on purpose did so in preliminary rounds in an attempt to rig their chances of winning in later rounds. The Chinese team apparently did not want to play their top Chinese team, which would’ve happened if they won the match against the South Koreans. Instead of China playing China and knocking each other out in a quarter final, they wanted to play other teams and have a chance to win gold and silver.

One problem:
Everyone can SEE you trying to LOSE.
We SEE you!

Isn’t it that way with us too?
Everyone can SEE you trying to LOSE.
Let’s stop the madness. Losing is not cute.

Compete to win.
Give it all you got.
Go out fighting.

Our Fab Five gymnasts fought for their gold medals – flying, tumbling, twisting, vaulting in the stratosphere. Yesterday, USA’s Nathan Adrian out-touched Australia’s James Magnussen by one-hundredth of a second to win gold in the 100m freestyle – 1/100 of a second!!!

That’s what we expect from our world’s top athletes, especially since there were so many other athletes knocked out of competing along the way. When we get to the Olympic stage, you’ve got to bring it.

Would we change the way we approach life if folks could boo us when they saw we weren’t giving it our best?

Would our relationships change if our spouses and significant others could boo us when we decide not to give them 100%?

Would my sermons change if folks started booing midway through if they thought I had not given it my all?

Something to ponder.
Let it never be said that we lose on purpose.
Let’s compete to win,
Naima

Anything you want to give your all to? Does this encourage you?

RESPOND TO BLOG
Below, or
Facebook or
Twitter – @naimalett

DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
CALL IT A COMEBACK
© NaimaLett.com/blog

Did you see Jordyn Wieber last night?

Just 2 days ago, folks wondered if she’d be able to pull it together from the amazing disappointment of finishing 4th out of 24 in the all around Olympic gymnastic trials, thus booting her from competing for gold in the individual finals.

In Monday’s blog, Can’t Dwell on the Fail, I commented that Jordyn had no time to dwell on the fail. She was expected to let bygones be bygones, in 24 hours, no doubt, and come back strong for Team USA in the team gymnastic finals.

And come back she did!

The 5’2″ 17-year old, reigning world all-around champion from DeWitt, Michigan (population 4500+) stepped out first to lead the team on the vaults.

If she was nervous, you couldn’t tell.
There were no remnants of Sunday’s heartbreak.
She came, game face on, to compete.

Jordyn did a practice twisty-turn of her shoulders, took a deep breath, then powered down the mat, nailing her vault, as seen in the video above.

The comeback never felt so good.

Next, 4’11” 16-year old, Virginia Beach native, Gabby Douglas, who secured the top USA spot during qualifications for the team and leapt her way onto the cover of TIME Magazine, followed Jordyn’s vault with incredible flips, turns and an immovable landing of her own.

“Unbelievable!” NBC’s commentator exclaimed.

Last, the 5’3″ 16-year old, 2011 world vault champion, McKayla Maroney, from Long Beach (shout out to Southern Cally!) put the crowd on its feet with a near perfect score. I watched her vault in slow-mo. She kept flying and twisting and twisting and flying. Nobody could sit after that phenomenon.

And the team, which also included Aly Raisman and Kyla Ross, kept powering away: uneven bars, balance beam, floor routines… flying, twisting, nailing – all the way to the gold medal podium. They’re only the 2nd team in US history to win gold in women’s team gymnastics… earning their nickname: The Fab Five.

It’s impossible not to be inspired, Fam.

They soared.
And we soared with them.
Yes, in my pajamas in my living room, I was flying and twisting and nailing and throwing my arms in the air! My spirit danced with them. It was magical.

And I was so happy for Jordyn.
She’s the epitome of putting the past behind and pressing on toward victory.

I recently quoted the Apostle Paul’s convictions in a similar post, but it’s so worth repeating today, especially since his audience would’ve attributed his imagery of winning the prize to the ancient Olympic games.

PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

When striving to know Christ in His death and resurrection, Paul says that he presses forward. He forgets the past and strains toward the goal to win the prize. Everyone who heard Paul’s letter would’ve had the picture of an Olympian with a champion’s wreath as that prize.

For Jordyn and our Fab Five, they pushed pass the past and got gold.

What’s holding us back today, Fam?
Come up short yesterday?
No worries.
Today is a new day.
Call it a comeback day.

Got to get one of those blinged out USA leotards!
Sparkle, watch out,
Naima

RESPOND TO BLOG
Below, or
Facebook or
Twitter – @naimalett