04/26/2026
From the tiny town of Mancos, we head, winding through mesas and mountains to another meet. I guess I will never really retire although I have replaced my stopwatch with a iPad for video review, I have become the volunteer Grandmother Coach.
Some things never leave you like how to run toward a bar that looks too high. You plant. You trust. You lift. Sometime you clear the bar other times you land on it, and wow does that bar hurt! Either way - you re-set.
That’s the pearl. I see confidence rising higher than standards. I see athletes who once hesitated now attacking their jumps I see inches gained, but not just in height, but in belief.
It shows up at the runway. These kids have been putting in the work, counting approach steps, adjusting mid marks, driving knees, using their arms learning to lean in. It’s their tall posture fast last two steps, arms reaching upward. Arms matter, lifts matter, beliefs matter most..
As they take in that breath and they listen and they adjust their steps, they swing their arms harder. They believe a little stronger.
And I get to witness the moment it clicks when they realize the bar isn’t the enemy. Doubt is.
And then they choose to run anyway. Watching these kids learn to jump higher, especially when they don’t think they could. That’s the view that takes my breath away and yes, sometimes the bar hurts but believing in yourself that lifts you every time.