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October 28, 2022 • 15 mins

Do you want to turn your passion for sports into a career? Let's start with the basics first and learn about the origins of gymnastics! Our guest on this episode is an elite junior gymnast who has her heart set on competing in the Olympics. Join us on the Lingokids Podcast as our host Emily Calandrelli meets Hezly Rivera to find out how she balances school and her professional sports career.

Link to episode transcript.

Discover fun activities and songs that will teach your child all about collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication in the Lingokids app! 💙

Host: Emily Calandrelli. Guest: Hezly Rivera. Story by Sabrina Walasek. Sound Design: Juan Delgado.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
When I grow up, I want to be an athlete.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
What does being an athlete mean to you?

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Building a strong body to do amazing things. Athletes compete
to win big trophies.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
When I grow up.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
I wanna be a pilot with a uniform white, always
flying high up in the sky. When I grow up,
wanna be a firefighter putting out flames, or maybe a
police officer keeping people say. It's so fun to learn

(00:40):
what you can be growing up, growing up.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
When I grow up, I.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Want to be an artist that paints for trips. Wanna
be a scientist that does experiments. Oh, so many people
you will be.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
Growing up growing Yeah, growing up, growing up, growing up.

Speaker 6 (01:05):
Hi, and welcome to Growing Up with Emily, a Lingo
kids podcast helping amazing kids to grow up and be
even more amazing at Emily, It's me. You know, as
a kid, I was always asked what do you want
to be when you grow up? And I wanted to
be so many things. Does that sound familiar? Then I'm

(01:26):
glad you're listening, because you are going to find out
what it takes to be anything you want. Are you
ready to make sport your superpower?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:37):
Grow in?

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yay?

Speaker 6 (01:40):
Last episode. During halftime, we punted questions to CJ. Sapong,
a professional soccer player who volunteered to be coach for
the day. He explained that coaching is about improving player
skills while also helping them work as a team. Today,
we're leaping into a job full of twists and turns.

(02:03):
If you enjoy being active and have dreamed of being
an athlete, then.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
I know you'll flip for this episode.

Speaker 6 (02:10):
Today we're going to meet a real athlete with a
spring and her step a gymnast.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
This talented young.

Speaker 6 (02:17):
Lady is giving a halftime performance at the school's soccer game.
Before we meet her, let's roll back the clock to
see where gymnastics got.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
It start.

Speaker 5 (02:28):
Growing up, growing up, Did.

Speaker 6 (02:32):
You know gymnastics began an ancient Greece as a way
to train young men for war.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Oh, that sounds like a martial arts like kung.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Fu and karate, right, But here's the crazy part.

Speaker 6 (02:44):
The Greek word gymnos means naked, so you can imagine
you wo. Yeah, ancient Greeks were obsessed with myths, gods,
and warriors with buff bodies. Have you ever seen statues
of art from ancient Greece? Right hair, all naked, displaying

(03:08):
model male physiques showed the world they were powerful.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, I'd rather wear gym shorts into a cardwheel for fun.

Speaker 6 (03:17):
Totally Later in the eighteen hundreds, the equipment used for
gymnastics was inspired by National Pride. A German soldier Friedrich
Ludwig John believed people who could jump, roll and kick
together stick together, so he created the parallel bars, high bars,
balance beam, and the pommel horse.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
You could say he raised the bar of gymnastics.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
I watched gymnastics during the Summer Olympic Games, so do I.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
It's a real crowd pleaser.

Speaker 6 (03:49):
Artistic gymnastics was featured at the very first Olympic Games
in eighteen ninety six, with male athletes. Women started competing
in nineteen twenty eight. Oh, the performance is about to begin.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
There's the gymnast. She's waving to the crowd. Hello, WHOA.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
I wonder what she'll do first, the balance beam, uneven bars, or.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
The vault or maybe the floor.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
She's at the end of that runway, staring at the vault.
What focus, deep breath. She's like a bullet train.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
She needs a big burst of energy to hit the
vault with her hands and spring herself into the air. WHOA,
a double flip with a twist.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
She nailed it, perfect landing.

Speaker 6 (04:48):
Yeah, the vault is much safer these days. It was
redesigned in two thousand and one with a larger surface
and a rounded front to prevent injuries.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
I used to be afraid of the vault you did, Yeah,
but I got over it. Get it over it, vault.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
She's on the balance beam.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
Now here she goes this splits and next to handstand
and now she's balancing on one leg with her other
leg up by her head.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
And nice leap. She landed back on the beam.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Here comes the dismount. It's a backflip with a twist.
I've never seen a guy gymnast on the balance beam.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
You're right.

Speaker 6 (05:40):
Male gymnasts use the rings and the pommel horse, which
tend to require more.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Upper body strength.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh, that makes sense.

Speaker 6 (05:48):
Here's her chance to show upper body strength. The uneven bars.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
That looks really hard.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
WHOA, she's flying through the air.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Will she catch the lower bar or lose her rip? Well,
she did it, and she's back in the air for
the final flip.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
She landed with both feet together, sign of a pro.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Oh. She's walking over to the floor. My favorite.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
I love how it makes his dance, gymnastics and drama.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Would you say your head over heels?

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Did you see her do that double flip? She's so strong.
I wonder if she has to practice every single day.

Speaker 6 (06:36):
I bet she has a flexible schedule. Get it flexible?
I know I'm bending over backwards to be funny. That
was quite a halftime performance. Here's our chance to meet
the gymnast. See that poster of her hanging on the wall.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Can you see it?

Speaker 1 (06:56):
It says her name is Hesleie Rivera. She's taking a break.

Speaker 6 (07:01):
Maybe we can get her autograph on a poster. Are
you ready to meet a real gymnast? Yeah, hi there, Helsley.
I'm with Lingo kids and we want to find out
what it takes to be a gymnast. Can we ask
you some questions? Yes, of course, great, Helsley. What are

(07:25):
three things all gymnasts need to be a champion.

Speaker 7 (07:29):
I think that you definitely need hard work, dedication, and
the mental strength to be a champion. It's hard sometimes,
but you just have to push through the hard days.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
Very interesting, Helsley. Maybe you can give us some tips
at the end. On how our listeners can start learning
these skills. We also receive some excellent questions from our
Lingo Kids listeners.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Hesley. Is it true you started doing gymnastics when you
were five years old?

Speaker 7 (08:06):
Yes, it is true. I did start doing gymnastics when
I was five, and it all started after I went
to a birthday party in a gym and the coaches
told my parents that they should put me in gymnastics
because I had a lot of good potential.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Hesley. Do your parents get to come to your performances?

Speaker 7 (08:28):
Yes, they do, and they watch all of them.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
How old were you when you had your first performance?

Speaker 7 (08:35):
I was six years old when I had my first
performance and I was a Level three and I remember
I got second place, like.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
All around and how did it feel?

Speaker 7 (08:46):
Oh, it feels great. It feels really good because all
the hard work finally pays off.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
What is your favorite event?

Speaker 7 (08:55):
My favorite event is bars because it feels like I'm
flying around doing all of my stuff. And I like
to go from the low bar to the high bar
because it feels like I'm flying to.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
The high bar. Hesley.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
What do you like best about being a gymnast?

Speaker 7 (09:11):
Oh? I just love to flip around all the time, constantly,
and I love to be with my teammates and my
friends and to like spend that time together because we're
all doing the same thing.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
I love what you're wearing. Do you get to design
your own leotards?

Speaker 7 (09:30):
So I have not gotten a chance to design my
own LEO yet or leotard, and I definitely look forward
to it in the future because I really want to
design my own LEO. So actually my coach designs it
for me. So she designs all of our leos and

(09:53):
they're really nice.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Elsley, you are a star athlete and a student. Is
it for you to find the balance?

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Well?

Speaker 7 (10:04):
I do have a balance, but it was kind of difficult,
especially at first. I have to go to the gym,
do school in between practice, and then go back to
the gym, and then if I didn't finish anything, I
would have to come home and do it as homework.
So it's definitely it's definitely difficult, but I do have

(10:27):
the balance.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
I wonder what it's like to perform in front of
the crowd in jury.

Speaker 7 (10:34):
It is awesome because you just get team show all
of your new skills, everything that you've been working on,
and it's just so much fun, especially like when you
hit your routine and you know that you did it
so well and you can get a great score.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
It's so amazing, Heslie.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
I've seen Simone Biles on TV. She's a Have you
met her?

Speaker 7 (11:02):
Yes, I have met Simone. She is so great, Like,
she is so good. And she just came into our
gym one time and she was training like before the Olympics,
the twenty sixteen Olympics, and I was so in shock
and she was just standing on the beam and she
looked at me and she was smiling, and I looked

(11:24):
at her back and it was just awesome.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Wow. Did you learn ninety thing from her?

Speaker 7 (11:32):
I did learn to be more confident in myself and
because she just looked so confident and everything that she does,
so I just learned to be more confident and to
trust myself.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Wow. What a cool story.

Speaker 6 (11:49):
Thank you, Hesley, thanks for sharing with us. How was
what can kids do now while they're still growing up
to become a gymnast?

Speaker 7 (12:05):
Kids can definitely do whatever they put their minds to.
And if you love the sport, just go after it.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Any sport.

Speaker 7 (12:15):
And if you're just flipping around in your house and
you don't have anywhere to go. Your parents might see
that and they probably will put you in gymnastic. And
if you love it, keep going because it's definitely going
to be.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Hard, but you just have to push through and do
what you love.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Any stretches I can learn now, you.

Speaker 7 (12:38):
Can do some like arm stretches where you just go
like that and then you could swing your arms around
to like get movement in your shoulders. And those are
probably like the basic stretches that kids do on their own.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Kind of some sides.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Let's all stretch together, ready, Sure, so.

Speaker 7 (13:04):
We're gonna stretch the back of our legs and our
quads and the front of our legs. When you stretch
the back of your legs, which are your hamstrings, you
can stand up straight and then try to touch your
toes as far as as far down as you can go.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
I can do this.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
The way to the floor.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Can I try something else?

Speaker 7 (13:37):
You can do butterfly stretch, or you're sitting on the
ground and your knees go down and you can push
them down.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Look, my knees are almost touching your floor.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yay, great job everyone.

Speaker 6 (13:52):
Yay Housley. Thanks so much for these stellar performance and
for answering your questions.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Are the science posters you.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Growing Up Podcast.
Even if you never plan to be a gymnast, Flexibility,
balance and strength are great for your health.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Can you do the splits? What about a headstand? Tune
in next time when we meet a real school principle
and to have.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
A full interactive learning adventure, check out our Lingo Kids
up with tons of games and activities for endless fun.

Speaker 5 (14:34):
It's so fun to learn what you can be growing
up growing up, So come and join us.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Come everyone, so we can learn.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
While having lots of fun, because it's so fun to
learn what you can be. Yes, it's so funsu learned
what you can be rowing growing Growing up lame offs
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Host

Emily Calandrelli

Emily Calandrelli

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