Dream Big!

Chapter 1
An Inspiration is Born

Strong, unique, compassionate, unstoppable, humble, smiley, family-oriented, loving, selfless, and determined. That is how I’m described. As I take each word and analyze what they mean, I smile and realize how true they all are. I am your average twenty-two-year-old girl, but yet, I really am not so average. I am a world class competitive powerlifter. Not something people hear everyday right?

I guess you could say I was “born into” powerlifting. My dad started competing when I was three years old. He opened the door to this amazing life long before I really understood what lay ahead, and long before any of us knew the future I had in store for me.

I attended every one of my dad’s competitions, mostly because I had no choice in the matter, but also because I had a job. I was my dad’s number one cheerleader, and he needed me. From the second my dad sat down on the bench until the second he locked out the weight, I chanted “Go Daddy Go!” repeatedly. My mom gave me that job and it stuck. It kept me going to the meets and made me admire my dad even more. As I watched him lift and chanted for him, I was in awe. He was so strong, courageous, and admirable, everything a father should be and more. Even at such a young age I was proud of him, proud to call him my dad. He continued to amaze me more and more. I thought that there was no one in the world who was stronger than my dad. He was a real true hero, but more importantly, he was my hero.

As I grew up, the chanting continued. I became known as the “Go Daddy Go Girl” everywhere we went. Dad said he couldn’t lift without me, and I believed him. In a noisy room, I was all he could hear. The louder the crowd got, the louder I got. It was one little girl versus an entire crowd. I was his motivation, his reason to keep pushing, and his inspiration. Those were some pretty big shoes to fill, especially for such a small girl. But I took the challenge head on, not knowing that he was to become my inspiration as well.