Lily Swann, Gymnast
Hi! My name's Lily, and I'm a level
10 gymnast at AcroTex Gymnastics, in Georgetown Texas. I have been training
gymnastics since I was 6 years old, and in the ten years of experience from
it I know one thing is for sure: you're gonna hurt. The older you get the
more you hurt. Like my coaches say, there's no sport that's harder on your
body...
... and your mind, its also the sport that takes the most amount
of talent.
Getting to the point,
without Ken I surely would not have achieved all the goals that I wanted
to reach this season, that I trained 25 hours a week for. My back had been
hurting me for about two years off and on (but mostly on), and nothing seemed
to be making it better. The number of times I went to the doctor, I couldn't
say because I lost count. I also attended physical therapy regularly, and
had to stay off a lot of my skills in gymnastics. I couldn't compete in
my meets. Although the therapy helped, it was nothing compared to
what Ken did. Three trips to Ken made my back feel great! (well not during
the massage, but after it.) During the massage, well it hurts,
but its well worth the hour's pain. I was able to get back to doing my skills
and even qualified to the Junior Olympic National Championships. Now, about
3 months later, my back is still feeling better than ever! I can do all
my gymnastics skills without pain. It's amazing!
But then right before my national championships I sprained my foot pretty
badly. My mom was determined that I could absolutely NOT compete. It was
extremely swollen and very off-color. The doctors were sure I had broken
it; luckily not, but they thought it absolutely impossible for me to compete
at nationals. I was still determined to compete, and didn't want to give
up with one doctor's opinion, so my mom took me to another doctor- bad idea.
The doctor told me that my foot was severely injured and that I needed to
get it casted immediately and keep the cast on for 4 weeks. I didn't like
this at all! I called up my coach and asked him what I should do. He said
that it was just one doctors opinion, maybe another doctor more
specialized in feet would be better to look at it. So I thankfully left
the building castless, leaving my mother extremely fretful. She didn't know
what to do. She called her friend Ana, and asked her what she thought, because
she is a nurse. Ana thought that my mother did the right thing not to caste
it, and suggested we go back to Ken.
We hadn't realized he
could help with healing sprains too. Later on, I hobbled into Ken's office
with the boot that the first doctor had given me on my foot. Just a little
over an hour of working on me, I got up, and could not only walk on it with
no pain, but I could jump on it with no pain! It was amazing! It even looked
better! I went one more time the week of my national championships, and
he made it feel even better, and I was able to compete! I was ecstatic!
Two days later, I was on the plane for Orlando Florida for the national
championships! I had a wonderful time at Orlando, and I owe it all to Ken!
Thanks Ken for making all my dreams a reality!
thank you,
Lily Swann