PASO ROBLES — The thrive gymnastics team just wrapped up their trip to one of the strongest regional championships in the country... But it was a competition season unlike any other and this team continued to grind in the midst of uncertainty training over 15 hours a week. Head coach Raleigh Carter says he is proud of the way his team prepared for the championship in this crazy season.
"Regional was exciting because of the pandemic and how it shut us down and we had to much time into training and there was a hodgepodge of training how do we ramp the body up and get them prepared?"
"Regionals was really, good, overall it went well for me. There were a lot of girls but I was glad to compete and travel," Paso senior Erika Matthews said.
Leading up to regionals wasn't easy, having to navigate the pandemic and stopping and starting training.
"As a child to constantly start over, you have the self-doubt come in - there is a lot of emotional and mental coaching," coach Carter added.
Thrive went on the grind once they were cleared to train again, with four girls qualifying for the regional championship. But what most might not know is that they train at least four days a week for four hours a day, because that's what it takes to be great.
"It takes a lot more mental side of things and training my mind to be strong. It's physically taxing," senior Kiana McCrea said.
"The girls took it like champs, as weird as the situation was it made our program stronger, to see them mature and step up in that way was huge for our whole program," coach said.
