March 7, 2007
Former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi once said, "The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price."
If anyone understands this concept most, it is Ali Gilmore, one of three seniors on Missouri's gymnastics team for the 2007 season. Of all Gilmore's strengths, it is her hard work that distinguishes her from anyone else on the team. It could possibly be attributed to the fact that she is not regularly in the lineup. Perhaps her motivation to have her score count in different meets encourages her to put forth the extra effort.
Since her father was in the military, Gilmore lived in many places around the country. She was born in Louisiana, moved to California shortly thereafter, and finally came to Missouri. Her exposure to different places led to a variety of athletic experiences as well. When she lived in California, her parents encouraged her to try swimming.
"I wasn't very good at all, so I decided to try out gymnastics just to be involved with something," Gilmore says.
The sport's lack of popularity in California meant less than adequate training programs. When she moved to St. Louis, Gilmore was exposed to more opportunity. As a result, she became more serious about gymnastics and training.
Her weekly training regimen consisted of 20 hours of training (four hours a day for five days). For a time, she also played softball, but quickly realized that she could not do both. Gilmore also had to concentrate on her academics--something in which she took and still takes great pride. Her hard working spirit was thus born at an early age. Though she never thought she would use this hard working attitude for a gymnastics career in college.
In middle school, Gilmore's interest in gymnastics was merely to reach Level 10. She had no thoughts of continuing her athletic career past high school graduation until her junior year. When she was on a college visit to MU, Gilmore decided to check out the gymnastics team at one of their practices. She was thoroughly impressed with the team's interaction. They were not just teammates, but close friends too. The spirit of the team was inviting. She also felt this way with the team's coaches. Ultimately, her first visit here made her think: "This was something I had to be a part of."
Gilmore's experience at MU has been much of what she saw on her first visit. In fact, the most rewarding thing about being on this team "is [developing] the bonds that [I] have, being with different girls." Gilmore calls this "a family-like atmosphere that [no one] can understand unless they experience it." Her closeness to her teammates, too, is what she will remember the most when she graduates.
And, in addition to the team's camaraderie, Gilmore will remember most are the times her score counted towards the team score. After this recently occurred on bars, she said a teammate asked her, "Doesn't that just make it worth it?" And by that, her teammate meant her hard work and perseverance. Gilmore ecstatically said, "Yes, it was totally worth it."
On Saturday, March 3, she made the bars lineup against Pittsburgh for the fourth time in her MU career. During that outing, she scored a personal best 9.875 to win her first career title.
While Gilmore was not a regular starter with the program, she "has no regrets."
"I wouldn't change anything because the whole thing has been a learning experience,"
Gilmore has learned the value of hard work and dedication--even if it does not immediately provide success. She knows that the hard working attitude she has deepened at MU will stay with her for the rest of her life. Gilmore says, gymnastics "wasn't something I had to do every day, but she chose to do it because I loved it." Likewise, she wants to carry this attitude of dedication and motivation in her future career endeavors.
And having a career is important to Gilmore. Following graduation, she will attend the University of Texas to pursue a graduate degree in advertising. She does not know exactly what a career in advertising will entail, but thinks she would like to be a copywriter. While her future in advertising is only somewhat certain, her future in gymnastics is even less certain.
"Gymnastics will always be with me," Gilmore says. "My heart with always be with gymnastics. It is just something that has taken so much of my life; to just leave passively would be sad."
The dedication and motivation she has exemplified on the team and will show in her career provide a strong example to others. People who know her most readily say she is one of the hardest workers on the team. And perhaps this attitude could inspire others to do their best--either on the gymnastics team competing alongside Gilmore or in the future.
