My Journey: Trust the Process

[QuietColours]

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:

• 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

 

[Aeris]

Thanks for the summary! This should have been Jade Carey's book name though.

 

[RAFIKI]

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.

I’m 9 weeks post ankle-dislocation and still on crutches (though I am going to the gym for conditioning and dabbling).

Thanks for the summaries QuietColours. Can’t decide whether to read this one or if I’ll just feel too inadequate.

 

[Passion]

Thanks for the summary! Maybe this thread will motivate me to finish reading it. So far I am up to the 2019 American Cup.

I thought it was funny she says they'd only been on two vacations and then over the next few chapters she kept listing more and more vacations they went on lol.

Younger me would have devoured this book. I would have pored over it monthly. It's the most detailed gymnastics book I've ever read. 2019 American Cup isn't even half way through the book and it only goes up to 2021 Worlds so there's 200 more pages of information just covering those three years of senior elite. It's a far cry from Shawn Johnson's book, where the entire year of 2007, including Worlds, was glossed over in five pages.

 

[QuietColours]

I thought it was funny she says they'd only been on two vacations and then over the next few chapters she kept listing more and more vacations they went on lol.

This struck me to. I get that the ones attached to meets were probably more like "working vacations" then truly relaxing ones for her (hopefully her brothers, who were just along for the ride, had fun. I have to wonder how much school they missed, though!). But things like going to California to visit family regularly for Christmas is still a vacation...

 

[OnlyBeansOnToast]

It's a far cry from Shawn Johnson's book, where the entire year of 2007, including Worlds, was glossed over in five pages.

Speaking of less-than-stellar gymnastics writing, and building on the mention of Wong's mother as co-author, this seems as good a place as any to note that the "how to be a gym parent" book written by Jordyn Wieber's mum and published in late 2012 features several extremely glowing, paragraph-long tributes to a man who made such a difference to her daughter's life, one Dr Larry Nassar.

 

[Peridot]

Thanks for the summaries! Maybe I will give it a read, I’m in the market for a new book! Gymnast + scientist is right up my alley

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 4:

• Won 2017 JO Nationals in her age group and was invited to that camp, but stayed back to train for qualifying elite
• Broke her foot in warmups (trying to change from doing a front layout to two front tucks to follow the line leader and overrotated). Stayed at the gym with ice, carpooled home, then got it looked at. Two weeks in a hard cast, 2 weeks in a boot but used crutches–didn't walk on it at all hoping to help it heal faster
• Did lots of PT and started taking a supplement called "Bone-Up" after injury. Couldn't swallow pills, so had to open the capsule and drink it with liquid.
• Learned inbars–took two years. Spent a lot of time on bars during her recovery and did fun combos
  • Hop full to giengers (misspelled in book)
  • Stalder hop change to layout Jaeger
• Same coach taught them their shaposh halves
• Felt coaches were patient with her recovery
• Injuries happen, and it requires patience for them to let them heal completely. In the mean time have to maintain mental and physical conditioning and use the time to strengthen another part of your body

Chapter 5:

• Never did TOPS or Hopes–GAGE doesn't use either program
• Noticed athletes who did TOPS were stronger than she was at the same age (when young)--grew up in environment where physical abilities were tested at every camp
• Participation is intense because there are monthly training camps and are incentivized to train big skills very early–feel that can lead to injury unless coach is knowledgeable enough
• Things gymnastics at a young age should be more fun than intensive and thinks those gymnasts were more likely to burn out
• Felt GAGE was good at pacing her and preventing injury for her
• 30+ training hours a week can burn people out–depends on the individual, sport is a marathon
• Al uses a spotting block system for step-by-step progressions, lots and lots of drills. Says he invented the trench bar. Doesn't buy mats–buys materials and trains someone (gym parent) to sew mats and covers
• GAGE does loots of clinic sand summer camps, hires friends and coaches to come via his mentoring program. Gives an extensive list of coaches she had. Never went to outside summer or college camps

Chapter 6:

• Went to public school through HS graduation (minus the COVID year). Only did twice-a-days in the summer
• Did school in the morning, left before lunch, and had practice the rest of the day. Didn't experience a whole day of school after second grade (Note: she did Montessori private school for K or K and 1, so 2nd may have been her only year of normal public schooling)
• Elementary school principal wasn't happy she left school early every day. 4th and 5th grade she missed science and social studies and had to make up the work on her own. In middle school she had to leave school by 12:30 to get to practice.
• In middle school, was able to do all core classes in the morning and take accelerated coursework
• High school did 3-4 core courses in person in the morning and electives through the school online. In school 7:40-11:30, home for lunch, left for practice at 12:30. Left the gym after 7 and had dinner in the car for 10 years. Did homework after getting home between 8 and 9
• Maximum of 32/week of training
• Coped with good time management
• Summer schedule was MTWF 8-12, 4-7; R 8-1 except the COVID year. In high school also did summer classes online while training for elite competitions–had to finish finals before Classic
• Usually spent the whole day at the gym because lived 45 minutes away
• Away from school 3-4 fays a month for camps
• Took all the online electives her school offered and then had to do others to get the credits she needed to graduate
• Gymnastics didn't count as her PE credit–still had to do that. Wore a garmin during the conditioning section of gymnastics to get the required active time for her PE credits
• Did some independent studies about her gymnastics for credit–essays about training, camps, competition; project on nutrition and fueling; tracking sleep, workouts, and energy levels and grading herself
• Took culinary arts and fashion and interior design as online electives
• Learned to cook and bake and liked recreating recipes healthier
• Started making hair bows as part of an online class. Eventually made ones for all her leos, and then when she got busy her mom started making them.
• COVID hit her junior year and everything moved virtual. Liked the flexible online schedule, so decided to stay entirely virtual her senior year
• Couldn't attend her graduation because it conflicted with Classics

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 7

• Compulsory elite qualifying score was 37.975
• All her gymnastics achievements are worded "And I was fortunate to…"
• Accurate explanation of how qualifying elite works and some of the judging differences between JO and elite
• Set small goals she wants to achieve and goals that let her prioritize what she's working towards
• Coaches liked the Parkettes qualifier because they were friends with the Strausses
• Prior to competition been having some wrist pain and trouble with the forward giant in the bar compulsory. At 13, couldn't swallow pills and never took pain killers–parents got her some chewable Advil for the trip. Changed it to liquid advil and took it before the meet
• Was able to hit the required two forward giants even though she couldn't tie her own ponytail
• Important to have organized warm ups to be ready for routines
• For optionals, did DTY, fell forward for a 13.4. Fell on pirouette full on bars and was missing a composition requirement for 11.7. Beam was a 13.7. Floor only had three passes but got a 13.0. Qualified elite with a 51.9 which was a success; next goal was to qualify for Nationals
• Did dum sum for a celebration. Al also ordered a whole fish (eyes and all)--Leanne was the only one who would try it.
• It was fun rooming with their teammates instead of parents
• Traveling with coaches was stressful in the beginning. Armine tried to teach them what to eat and order. Said once she was comfortable with them, she knew they made sure she had enough to eat and what she needed

Chapter 8:

• More information on qualifying elite, complete with URLs to the official rules
• First elite competition was American Classic 2017
• Had skills she'd never competed before, made her nervous. But went 4/4 with an AA of 54.5 and 34.8 E. Won first place in the juniors
• Competed at US Classic–first podium competition
• Did a city tour of Chicago with family before flying back (sounds like probably a day?), back in the gym the next day
• Championships were near where her father was from and parents went to school, so lots of support in the stands. She was 5th AA, 1st vault, 3rd floor, and earned a spot on the National Team
• Finished first level 9 season in 2015 was excited because Al began talking to her parents about taking her to National Tea camps. Armine didn't want her to go–wasn't ready to let Leanne experience the intense training and pressure at only 12
• Attending her first camp after making National Team in 2017. Only had one training camp at the Ranch before it was closed. Briefly mentions sexual abuse that took place at the camp

Chapter 9:

• Lots of uncertainty in USAG after the Nassar story became public–lots of turnover in leadership
• "Before Tom, I heard that the culture of the sport was that athletes appeared to have no voice, and many were forced to train while they were injured. The sport's environment was found to be 'unsafe.'"
• Sponsors terminated agreements, Li Li Leung came onboard
• National team clothes weren't very nice until Nike came onboard after Under Armor canceled their sponsorship
• Parents now allowed to view training camps. Leanne and Kara's moms traveled as chaperone, but Kara, Leanne, and Ja'Free traveled with the coaches. Travel expenses were covered for chaperones, and parents were allowed to stay a the same hotel for the first time
• During training camp at LSU, Leanne and Kara's moms were told they would not be allowed to watch from the mezzanine because the coaches weren't comfortable having parents watch them–first time they realized not all gyms let parents watch practice (both moms watched GAGE practices almost daily)
• Next camp at WCC was the first time meeting Simone in person
• First selection camp. Was named to the Jr Pan Ams team
• During next camp, Rhonda was called away in the middle of the camp and left the organization the next day
• Many gymnasts were close to Rhonda and very upset. Morning practice was cancelled. Al and Armine were frustrated that the camp practice was changing every few hours
• During practice Al posted Leanne's Amanar online