Elm Student Achieves Her Goals in Gymnastics at States

Elm Middle School 8th grade student Madi Collins has finished a very successful gymnastics season at the gold level!

Madi competed in the state championships after receiving a qualifying score from her six competitions this season. At the event, she finished second on Vault, seventh on Bars, ninth on Beam, ninth on Floor, and ninth Overall for the Silver Level state finals.

“I like that gymnastics is something I can commit to,” Madi says. 

Growing up, Madi was always climbing on and flipping off of furniture. She was so active that her parents were worried about her safety. When she was five, they concluded the best way to get ahead of it was to put her in gymnastics, where she could use her energy in a safe environment. She decided to compete only a year after starting, and made the competitive team on her first try. Madi was born with tibial hemimelia, affecting her lower leg, and underwent a series of surgeries growing up. In third grade, when faced with nerve damage from the continuing treatments, Madi and her family chose amputation, which granted her improved mobility. 

She is competitive in everything she does. Her parents reflected on a story where the first thing she did after a surgery when she was younger was teach herself how to ride a bike. 

“That’s just who she is,” Wendy Collins, her mother, said. “She’s quick to bounce back.”

Madi says she likes the process of setting a goal, and her parents describe her as a hard worker.  This last season, she went into Valut feeling it was her worst event. After putting extra practice in and finding her balance, she finished second at State.

“She has a vision, she articulates it, and she achieves it,” Omari Collins, her father, says. 

At the beginning of the season, her goal was to get onto the Gold team, and through her hard work she has qualified for it going into next season. She has already set new goals to finish even higher in the next season and is working towards the Platinum team. 

Besides gymnastics, Madi stays busy with National Junior Honor Society, robotics, choir, and cheering her twin brother Josh on in Taekwondo. 

“All the time we are told people are inspired by her,” Wendy said. “And we always say she inspires us too.”