Kia ora tātou, I am writing to give you an update on my gymnastics journey since Arowhenua kindly supported me for the Singapore competition I attended in November 2014.
During that time, I was at a lower level (step 9), whereas this year I have progressed up to step 10 where there are more difficult requirements that require consistent scores.
I experienced a challenging obstacle in early July when I tore ligaments in my left foot while performing a double somersault on my floor exercise. This discontinued my intense training for a month. I was unable to consolidate the difficult skills I had achieved prior and it stopped me from going to the following competition in late July. However, I continued to train to the best of my ability without overdoing it. I knew I had to keep a positive attitude and accept the fact that injuries happen. I had to rest to heal.
In early August, I made the decision to compete in Waitara, performing limited skills. I put a lot of pressure on myself because I needed to get the overall qualifying score to be able to compete at the national champs.
My hard work paid off and I got a qualifying score, enabling me to compete at the nationals in October. The nationals were not only the New Zealand championship competition but also a trialling competition to see whether I would be selected to compete in Hawaii in January 2016.
I will continue to train hard and keep a positive attitude to get this amazing opportunity. At present, I am training like I did before my injury occurred and my confidence has returned. If I do get the opportunity to represent New Zealand again I will be very appreciative and grateful, and I hope to do as well as I did in Singapore last year when I placed first on floor, third on vault and New Zealand was the first team overall. I will keep you all informed. E noho ora mai.
Nā Millie Manning.
Millie Manning.