Cassidy was just featured in her local paper, happy to have a photo of her with Nastia at the WOGA gymnastics camp earlier this summer:
It’s not every day that an 8-year old from Anaconda, Mont., … can say that they are friends with an Olympic champion (Liukin won the women’s all-around late Thursday night), but for Cassidy McAlpine, that’s just another day in the gym.
What happened next is the stuff of fairy tales for a young gymnast.
After the first seven-hour day of training, when all the rest of the campers headed for the swimming pool, Cassidy asked if, instead of swimming, she could drive over to the Plano facility, where Nastia was training, in order to watch the current world champion. Valeri, who remembered Cassidy from her first visit, gave her permission.
“Her dad Keith drove her over, and, with Valeri’s urging, Cassidy just sort of walked right through the observation area, in to the gym and plunked herself down,” … “During the run-up to the Games, Nastia was training by herself, so the gym was pretty quiet. After about 10 minutes of watching from the sidelines, Cassidy just got up, walked over to where Nastia was getting ready to do uneven bars, and started talking to her.”
It’s unlikely that most gymnasts would have had the guts to walk across the gym of her idol — uninvited — during practice, but Cassidy isn’t your average 8-year-old. …
read the entire article – CDA Press
Cassidy isn’t the only little girl inspired by the Olympics. There are hundreds of thousands just like her.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 