At my middle school, in the fifth grade, we hosted a Renaissance fair, & all the 5th graders dressed up as different characters. Two people from the whole grade got to be the jesters, & the jesters got to do cartwheels down the aisle in the church service before the fair. I REALLY wanted to be one of those jesters, so I taught myself cartwheels in my bedroom. I didn't get the part & I was sooo upset! So I worked & worked on my cartwheels & showed my teacher again the next week. She ended up allowing a third jester because she saw how hard I had worked & how much I'd improved.
After that, I realized gymnastics could be fun but for some reason I never told my mom I wanted to do it until my sister did a cheer camp that summer. I finally started in November 2009 in 6th grade & haven't looked back ever since! It's so crazy how "Oh let's try this for fun" turns into the activity that governs your life. But I wouldn't trade it for anything else!