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Some of life’s best lessons can be learned in the gym.
“As long as you’re determined to stick with it and keep getting better, it’s what’s going to happen,” said Nebraska senior gymnast Taylor Houchin.
It’s the message she preaches to any young gymnast who seeks her advice.
“That’s what I think is the most important quality for gymnasts, [it] is determination,” Taylor said.
The Republic native has displayed that quality through every vault, twist and dismount.
“She never faltered,” said Taylor’s mom Jenny Doke. “There was maybe one time in 20 years where she said ‘mom, I don’t want to do gym today’.”
That passion has driven Taylor to multiple first team All-American honors at Nebraska, ranking top three in the nation this year in the vault.
Now, the pandemic brings her career tumbling to an early end, just as the postseason was set to begin.
“It was definitely a bummer that I didn’t get to go to NCAA’s and compete to try to get to the top,” Taylor said.
While that won’t change, Taylor at least has her unique support system to lean on.
“I’ve had that dynamic for a really long time so I always include all of them. They’re all my moms and dads,” she said.
Taylor’s mom Jenny and her dad Marty both re-married when Taylor was young. She considers her step-dad David and step-mom Tracey to be her parents too.
Double parents can mean double the perks.
“It was always cool when I was little to get more Christmas presents, I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” Taylor said.
Meanwhile, those parents might be taking this abrupt ending the hardest.
“As a parent, she worked 17 years to be ranked up there with the top gymnasts in the country, and it just feels like something is hanging out there,” said Jenny.
A lost opportunity just hanging there, the way Taylor might be with her next dream of joining Cirque du Soleil.
“I think it would be a cool way to keep performing and keep doing a little bit of gymnastics stuff and just kind of avoid having to have a real job for a little while longer,” Taylor said.
It’s a dream Taylor can certainly achieve if she follows her own advice and shows her determination.
Taylor hopes to be a makeup artist someday and thinks joining Cirque du Soleil might help her make the proper connections.
She has one more semester at Nebraska and will spend next year as an assistant coach for the Husker gymnastic team.
