FOCUS Plant City 13-12

SPONSORED BY CHILI’S

S 3001 James L Redman Parkway, Plant City, FL 813-764-8548 www.chilis.com

HALEY FRANGIONI STICKIN’ IT! ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

BY ASHLYN YARBROUGH | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY HALEY FRANGIONI

I

t’s a full time job. It demands every last bit of your mind, body, time, and strength. Gymnastics isn’t just a hobby to be taken lightly; it’s a highly competitive, extremely skilled sport. One that fourteen-year-old Haley Frangioni has excelled to extreme heights.

Haley has been a gymnast for eight years. She is currently competing with Elite World Gymnastics in Lakeland, Florida as a Junior Elite. Haley competes in TNT, which is ’trampoline

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and tumbling’. “My favorite part of gymnastics is the tumbling,” explains Haley. “I just love all of the power and energy involved with it!”

Gymnastics is as close to a full time job as a middle school student can get.

On average, Haley spends between 20 and 25 hours a week at the gym for usually six days a week. This is in addition to being a great student at Tomlin Middle School. “All I really do is gymnastics and school. I don’t really have

time for anything else,” she expresses.

Just last month Haley qualified and competed at the World’s gymnastics meet! This competition took place in Daytona Beach, Florida from November 13 through November 16. The event that she competed in was – of course – power tumbling. At the competition, Haley threw two passes. The first: roundoff, full, whip, whip, whip, whip, back handspring, and double back pike. The second: round off, whip, whip, whip,

whip, back handspring, full (in pike position). And she stuck the landing! (In case you don’t understand gymnastics lingo, that’s a lot of flipping!) Haley placed 3rd in her flight and 8th out of 22 overall. That is definitely an excellent way to represent the town of Plant City and Elite World Gymnastics.

With all of this time she has invested and accomplishments she has achieved, there is no way Haley could do what she does without an abundance of love and support. “My biggest supporters are my coaches, Kristina Katchalova and Andrew Muzzareli, and my mom, Heather Bennett,” Haley states. “They always push me to be the best that I can be.”

Each athlete has an inspiration or someone they admire. It could be a former professional athlete, a parent, or even a coach. For Haley, it’s her teammate, Harley Merritt. Harley is a 17-year-old gymnast who has been in the sport for almost ten years. “I look up to Harley because she inspires me and pushes me to my limit. She’s just fantastic!” describes Haley.

Haley’s goal in the future is to be able to compete in gymnastics at the collegiate level. When asked for inspirational advice, she answered, “if I were to give advice to a new gymnast, I would say: ‘Even through the tough times, keep on pushing and never give up.’”

Haley Frangioni is, by all means, an outstanding young athlete. With more hours at the gym and tumbling passes to stick, the possibilities are endless for this talented gymnast.