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Health & Fitness

An Olympic Hero Without A Medal

How much did she love her daughter that she was willing to make that kind of sacrifice?

It has been a busy couple weeks, but on several occasions I had an opportunity to watch the Olympics. It is an amazing event, and I’m always pleased to see so many citizens from so many countries making personal contact. I can’t help thinking when we as people meet and talk, the differences between our governments narrows.

I wanted to talk about a hero from the Olympics that amazed me for reasons to follow. I want to talk about Natalie Hawkins. You may know her by another name; she is Gabby Douglas’ mom.

As I understand it, Mrs. Hawkins is a single mother with four children. She is not someone who has a lot of money. I understand she recently filed for bankruptcy.  Yet, in an effort to make her daughter’s dreams come true, she made every sacrifice a parent could make for their child.

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Gabby was a child with potential and talent. But the area of her talent was a sport that required specialized training, which was expensive. There are only a certain
number of coaches who have the skills necessary to train a world class gymnast.  By all rights, this child would not be able to achieve her potential. But Gabby had one thing in her corner that would change everything—a mom who didn’t know how to quit.

It would be hard for someone who is not a parent to understand how hard it would be to take your child to camp, drop them off for a week, and then drive away. But Mrs. Hawkins went further; she took her daughter halfway across the country and dropped her off for several years. The Huffington Post reports that Mrs. Hawkins thought, “What kind of mother does that?” My thought is the opposite: How much did she love her daughter to be willing to make that kind of sacrifice?

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I’m not sure how many kids are enrolled in gymnastics, but my guess is thousands and thousands. There are, of course, different levels of skill involved, but it would be safe to assume over a thousand would have the potential skill to qualify for the Olympics. So when Mrs. Hawkins dropped off her daughter, it was not with the assumption that she would win, but only the thought of giving her daughter a CHANCE to win that guided her. Natalie Hawkins understood the odds of her daughter even making the team, let alone her chance of winning. Yet, Natalie thought it was worth the risk.

Another issue must have entered Natalie Hawkins' thought processes. Your child is only young once. You can only attend one 16th birthday party per child. Once the day of any celebration or milestone has passed, it can never be repeated. By taking her daughter away from home to train, Natalie Hawkins waived her rights to see her daughter attain certain milestones. Still, Gabby’s mom took her for the training.

It is often said that in order to be ready for what comes next, we first have to live today. Every experience prepares us for the next step in this journey called life. Often we take steps and they seem so counterproductive, so contrary to our goals we are tempted to give into despair and quit. Many do quit and live forever with the darkness of knowing they quit and never achieved their potential.  The quitters are often lonely, angry and irrational. Why then do some quit when around the next corner could have been the game changer? They don’t know the rules of success, and they don’t trust themselves or the world. 

None of this happened to Gabby Douglas because her secret weapon would not allow her to quit, would not allow her to rationalize and would not tolerate average.

By giving up so much, Natalie Hawkins gained the world. Her daughter will walk through doors pushed open to allow her unimpeded access to the riches of the world. Her daughter will be forever famous and will be a role model for thousands of young people for years to come. 

The world will be watching Gabby, but dads like me will marvel at the lady who guided Gabby. Thank you Mrs. Hawkins, the lesson was beautiful and we appreciate you bringing it to us.

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