Sophomore Madi Cheo flies off the bars in the gym at the Red Brick 5 days a week thinking, “Someday, this will be worth it.” As the only competitive gymnast at Aspen High School, Cheo hopes to continue pursuing her passion in college. This requires focus, determination, and a lot of hard work in order to achieve her goal.

“Gymnastics requires strength, flexibility, and stamina, to be at the level that I am at,” Cheo said.

Gymnastics has four events, vault, bars, beam, and floor.  Although this makes gymnastics unique, it also means four times the training.

“It’s hard to train without friends that understand everything that I am going through, sometimes its tough, but I know that one day it will all be worth it,” Cheo said.

There are many other challenges in gymnastics that Cheo always keeps working to overcome.  Time out of the gym is unacceptable as a gymnast. Cheo is at her peak in gymnastics right now and needs to shine to be successful. When on vacation, she needs to train so she does not lose her strength and flexibility.

“To be a gymnast, you need to be physically and mentally strong,” says Coach Ashley Henning.

Cheo has been working really hard in hopes of competing in level 9 of 10 levels this winter during competition season. She mostly travels to Denver for competition because that’s where her biggest competitors are. She says that results don’t matter to her, its more about how she performs. As long as you are consistent and do your best, that is all that matters.

“My favorite part of gymnastics is when I have been working really hard on a skill for months and then I finally get it.  It makes me realize that my hard work is paying off, “Cheo said.

Cheo’s favorite event is bars because she loves the feeling of being up in the air and the thrill of swinging around them. Cheo always takes corrections from her coaches so she can improve as much as possible.

“I really enjoy coaching Madi because she is easy to work with, determined, and a very hard worker,” Henning said.

Although gymnastics is tough, Cheo learns so about herself. This carries over not only in the gym, but in her everyday life.

“The biggest thing I have learned is how to overcome fear. This is something that I will always remember,” Cheo said.

Cheo spends about 18 hours in the gym each week, and she is still able to maintain her grades and turn in all of her work on time.

“It’s quite easy to maintain good grades because I know I have a tight schedule so I just have to do it. It has taught me great time management skills,” Cheo said.

Cheo will continue doing gymnastics for as long as her body and mind will let her, and hopes to continue the sport throughout college. “I have kept up with gymnastics for all this time because I enjoy the discipline and the challenges I am able to overcome each and every day,” Cheo said.