- Jan 31, 2021
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I'm reading through Leanne Wong's book and thought I'd post chapter summaries if people are interested in them.
Notes on commentary: This written in a very direct style, probably with middle and high schoolers in mind (although my library has it categorized as an adult biography). Three or four times a chapter, there will be some kind of inspirational phrase in all caps like TRUST THE PROCESS as the motivational take away message. I will probably largely skip those, since I think people here are more interested in her experiences and opinions than being inspired by fairly cliche messages.
There is no mention of a ghost writer, but her mother has co-author credit (and in the preface, Leanne states that mother helped with recollections from early years, reasonably enough). She jumps between ages and years, so for reference she was born in 2003
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Notes on commentary: This written in a very direct style, probably with middle and high schoolers in mind (although my library has it categorized as an adult biography). Three or four times a chapter, there will be some kind of inspirational phrase in all caps like TRUST THE PROCESS as the motivational take away message. I will probably largely skip those, since I think people here are more interested in her experiences and opinions than being inspired by fairly cliche messages.
There is no mention of a ghost writer, but her mother has co-author credit (and in the preface, Leanne states that mother helped with recollections from early years, reasonably enough). She jumps between ages and years, so for reference she was born in 2003
Chapter 1:
- Father wanted her to be an ice skater, did that before gymnastics. She didn't like the cold or the hard falls. Mother tried several layers of diapers on backwards for padding, but didn't help enough
- Dad saw Al Fong being interviewed for the 2008 Olympics and started looking into gymnastics. There were many closer gyms (GAGE was about 40 minutes), but he wanted a high quality gym if they were going to do a technical sport like gymnastics
- Initially did 30 minute private lessons once a week because of parents' work schedules
- Enjoys both the practicing and competitive aspects
- Aware she was fortunate with parents who could support her in the sport, who supported her in general, that there was an elite gym nearby
- Didn't realize the sacrifices made for the sport until older
- Only had two vacations: One trip to Malaysia to visit her mother's family and one trip to Italy when she was 7
Chapter 2:
- Two significantly younger brothers (6 and 9 years younger)
- Always liked the general medical field but hated the dentist. Always bit the dentist as a kid. Had to do full sedation to have procedures done
- Mom from Malaysia, came to US for higher education. PhD in pharmacology. Dad from Utah, MD/PhD in biochem and molecular biology
- Maternal grandmother helped care for Leanne for the first two months, then paternal grandmother for a month. Then parents took Leanne to work and put her in a conference room closet, which worked for a newborn with a predictable feeding and sleeping schedule
- Babysitters and daycare as a toddler
- Started piano at 5
- Kept her in private Montessori school in early elementary because she didn't make the age cutoff for public school
- Regularly went to work with her parents and was a 'helper' in the lab as a small child
- Always wanted to be a scientist; most of her family is in medical sciences in some fashion
- Liked gym summer camps until her friends stopped going
- Mom stopped working when pregnant with youngest child
- Dad traveled a lot for work, which meant they got to travel too–trips to Italy, France, UK
- 2010 visited Mom's family in Malaysia. Last vacation for 12 years, and hasn't had a chance to go back since. Mom didn't go back until 2019
- 30 cousins in Malaysia
- Future vacations were timed during Christmas breaks (visit Dad's family in California). Mom and Leanne would often leave early so she wouldn't miss practice
- Family likes to swim, brothers also play golf and piano. Leanne played piano until high school, competed in state competitions–was too much with gymnastics and school work in high school
Chapter 3:
- Explains difference between JO and Xcel
- Coach Diana, Katelyn Ohashi's mother, was one of her main early coaches
- Did levels 4-5 in 2009-2011, training 10-12 hours. Coach Diana moved away and Coach Amy became the level 4 coach. Coach Amy gave big presents as motivators–leo after getting a 36.0 and winning the competition. Still has it. Also got a pep talk from Terin Humphrey during same meet, even bigger gift.
- Didn't have a beam at home–had a travel beam that she would take to meets so she could practice in the hotel room.
- Did level 6 2011-2012. Coach Lindsay, previous coach, left for school and Coach Tiffany took over until she was a L10, along with Mr. Brett, UB coach.
- Level 7 2012-2013- Met Jordyn Wieber and Chellsie Memmel–too young to dream about the Olympics, but it was really cool. First meet outside her state. Remembers watching Ragan Smith at the elite qualifier–Wong wanted her to see what the qualifier looked like
- She calls him Mr. Al
- Level 8 2013-2014–Started training 30 hrs/week at the age of 10, doing 2-a-days in the summer. Handpicked for the 2-a-days by Armine after her L7 season. When she showed up, other athletes said, "What are you doing here?" GAGE athletes very competitive among themselves, creating some hurt feelings. Hurries to also say they were also very supportive
- Broke her little finger, couldn't train for three weeks–her first injury
- Got her first custom routine from Armine in L8–finally felt like she was doing "Big Girl" gymnastics. Used the same music from 2013-2019, dance and tumbling changed
- When talking about high tech GPS systems, she cites Garmin and Google Maps
- More talk about how old and dated the tech was back in 2013, similar to Aimee's book
- Attached family vacations to many of her meets–whole family came to everything
- Made her first Regional Meet as one of the top eight scores in their age group–Regional Super 8 group, no longer exists. Was with GAGE L9 and L10 athletes, who were competing to make it to Regionals. Her first podium meet. Lonely–she was the only one competing as Super 8 from her state from GAGE, and was in a different session from her teammates, who went home before she competed
- Armine doesn't allow gymnasts to swim before meets because of an incident where a gymnast got an ear infection from swimming prior to the competition
- Coaches never wanted their gymnasts to take time off, especially immediately after a competition (discouraged from taking additional time off after the competition)
- Level 9 2014-2015:
- Made Western Championships
- At Regional Championships, got 1st AA, vault, beam; 2nd bars; 5th floor. Al wasn't happy because she didn't have a strong floor performance–lunging into her tumbling passes, which wouldn't be okay at elite. She felt like she didn't deserve to win after he lectured her. He wanted her to learn the habit early. Then she says she understood his point of view and focuses on fixing the problem because excellence doesn't leave room for pride–you always have to assess and improve
- Did well at Regionals, Al was happy with her performance
- Level 10 2015-2016
- 12 her first year at L10. Regionals were intense because she had five other teammates (Kara, Aleah, Alexis, Hannah, and JaFree) all trying to make the Region 4 team, all in the Junior A group
- Aleah's mom bought them faith-themed bracelets ("Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. If you just have faith in the size of a mustard seed, anything is possible"). All five made it–Alexis and Hannah were alternates who were calledup
- Nationals wasn't a great meet for her. Also didn't receive a leo gift from the region because she fell on her bars dismount and didn't go 4/4
- Learn to trust the process
- Excited to meet Ragan Smith there
- Mr. Brett left GAGE, replaced by Mr. Sai.
- Level 10 2016-2017
- Broke her left foot two weeks before the start of the season, went to practice every day and conditioned
- Two months out competed bars without dismounts. Three months out full bars and beam.
- Petitioned to Regionals and had to do all 4 events to qualify to Nationals. Came in 2nd AA
- Spells Ja'Free as both Jafree and JaFree and never as Ja'Free
- Drove to many of the meets under 5 hours away
- Frequently notes bits about money saved–frequent flier miles earned in different places, exact dollar amounts saved on hotel parking by not having a car
(though I am going to the gym for conditioning and dabbling).
