The Windsor Wire recently had the privilege to learn more about one of our amazing students. 

 Courage is fear turned inside out; it is caution that has learned to be brave.                                                                                   ~William Arthur Ward (1921–1994)

           This is Abigail Listro, a well rounded Freshman who not only excels in her academics but also at gymnastics. She has been a gymnast for seven years, and watching successful gymnasts has been her inspiration to master this vastly challenging sport. 

She dedicates three and half hours for five days a week to practice gymnastics at the Gymnastics Training Center in Simsbury.  Along with practice, Abigail also stays in good physical condition by eating healthy and keeping her body nourished.

She acknowledges how hard it is to balance her social life and self-care as a student and gymnast, but overcomes the challenge by scheduling time for all her tasks and valuing the importance of sticking to the schedule, asserting that, “You  do what you have to do.”

While maintaining good physical health is important in becoming a successful gymnast  she also states that the sport is very mentally challenging as it takes courage to do because you’re often at risk of bodily damage that could be detrimental or even fatal to the athlete.  The complexity of a skill varies based on the gymnast’s experience as an individual. 

The skill that Abigail finds the most difficult to accomplish is the free hip handstand on bars ( To do one, you need to pull yourself up onto the bar, swing your body under it, and then bring your body back up and over the bar for a complete rotation.) 

The skill she is most proficient at is the back handspring ( A tumbling move where a gymnast takes off from one or two feet, jumps backward onto the hands and lands on the feet.)

Her favorite part about being a gymnast is bonding with her teammates and coaches, and advises anyone who wants to pursue  gymnastics to be extremely brave.

If she were to do any other sport, she says it would be Dance, as it is very similar to gymnastics. Even though she is not considering doing gymnastics after high school, without a doubt she will be able to direct the many different fundamental skills learned, to other areas in her life to overcome its many challenges.