Gymnast leaves national team to go for Palaro gold

Levi Verora

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Sofia Gonzalez left the opportunity to play for the national team to go for the gold in Palaro 2013.

NATIONAL TREASURE. Gonzalez hopes to represent the country in the Olympics. Photo by Rappler/Levi Verora.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — For 14-year old gymnast Sofia Gonzalez, playing for flag and country means everything. But she is willing to wait for another year, vacating her slot in the national team to participate in this year’s Palarong Pambansa.

Gonzalez represented the Philippine Gymnastics and Athletics Association (PGAA) in last year’s POC-PSC Philippine National Games, a selection and ranking competition for national team pools.

She finished third, enabling her to be included in the junior national team for gymnastics but she waived the slot instead to be able to gun for gold in this year’s gymnastics event.

“I badly want the gold this year,” said NCR bet who won the bronze in last year’s Palaro vault event. Another reason why she wanted to compete in the Palaro is to gain more experience before entering the national team. 

Gonzalez’s grandfather enrolled her in a summer gymnastics camp when she was just four years old and from there, she embraced the sport and her parents were in full support of her endeavour.

“My mom told me that this is the right sport for me,” Gonzales told Rappler. “It could open doors.”

Goal still to make the Olympics

Normita Dimanlig-Ty, the current president of the PGAA and a former national team coach herself, has been training Gonzalez for six years and as she could recall her early beginnings as a quiet athlete who usually cried while in training.

For more stories on Palaro 2013, visit our microsite.

Gonzales knew that the training her coaches gave her helped in developing maturity and giving her strength for international battles.

Nicknamed “Speedy,” the pint-sized gymnast said that it is everyone’s dream to represent the country. “It really has been my dream [to be in the Olympics]. I want to get something for the country, not just to participate.”

For now, though, her goal is to make it to the 2015 South East Asian Games in Singapore, on top of gunning for the gold in this year’s Palarong Pambansa. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!