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INCREDIBLE  KIDS  OF  SAN  DIEGO

                                      HAILEY TOLLIVER


                              A Trampoline/Gymnast Superstar


                                                      By Nini Hodge
                                                  Photos courtesy of Nini Hodge
           HIS PROFILE IS PARTIC-                                                          of gymnastics. It’s also one
        Tularly close to me                                                                of the first tickets to sell
        because I know this girl per-                                                      out at the Olympic Games.
        sonally and we go to school                                                        With Artistic there are four
        together, this story is about                                                      events, vault, uneven bars,
        Hailey Tolliver, a trampoline/                                                     balance beam, and floor
        gymnast superstar. Hailey                                                          exercise
        is 12 and lives in Poway she                                                         So Cal TTC has sent one
        goes to school at Twin Peaks                                                       gymnast to the Olympics al-
        Middle School and is the                                                           ready, Hailey has her sights
        oldest of three kids in her                                                        set on being the next one
        household. Hailey is quite                                                         to go. Hailey was diagnosed
        different than most 12-year-                                                       with dyslexia in 2nd grade,
        olds, she has been a com-                                                          (Dyslexia is a learning disor-
        petitive gymnast for 5 years                                                       der that involves difficulty
        now, and in April she placed                                                       reading due to problems
        3rd in the state finals, she                                                       identifying speech sounds
        had high enough scores                                                             and learning how they
        that she was able to travel                                                        relate to letters and words).
        to Las Vegas to compete in                                                         School has always been a
        the USA Gymnastic regional                                                         difficult area for her, and she
                                                                                           has never felt like it would
                                                                                           be the area she shines, gym-
                                                                                           nastics, however, has helped
                                                                                           her to gain confidence and
                                                                                           security within herself as
                                                                                           well as her abilities. One
                                                                                           thing Hailey likes to say to
                                                                                           herself is, “you don’t have
                                                                                           enough time to doubt your-
                                                                                           self when you are flipping in
                                                                                           midair.”
                                                                                             Hailey like other kids her
                                                                                           age like socializing, hang-
                                                                  Photos Courtesy of Becky Hsu



        championships. Hailee went    Did you know there       es on each other, while
        with the sole purpose of   are 5 types of gymnastics,   members of the team throw
        getting experience, and she   Artistic, Rhythmic, trampo-  and catch their teammates.
        wound up winning the com-  line, tumbling and acrobatic   Rhythmic gymnasts perform
        petition. Hailey tumbles and   and in 2017 trampoline and   jumps, tosses, leaps and
        does gymnastics at her local   tumbling were introduced   other moves with different
        gym So Cal TTC (trampoline   in the Olympics. Acrobatic   types of equipment. This
        tumbling and cheer). Hailey   is where the athletes are   is currently a female-on-
        loves to travel while com-  the equipment. A two- to   ly sport in the Olympics.
        peting “it’s one of the perks   four-gymnast team per-  Artistic attracts the most
        of being in a competitive   forms all types of hand-   participants and is generally
        sport” she says.           stands, holds and balanc-   the most well-known type

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