Amanda Borden

Gymnastics demands so much of our time. We train all week and travel and compete on weekends. The people you're surrounded by really become your second family, your best friends, your sisters. My coach was like a second mother for me.

Gymnastics, for me, gave me a lot of self-pride: that drive to want to be great at something for myself. But it also gave me a sense of appreciation toward God. Now that I'm getting older, I really appreciate the talents God gave me. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.

I do read a lot, and I think in recent years the ratio between the amount of non-fiction and fiction has tipped quite considerably. I did read fiction as a teenager as well, mostly because I was forced to read fiction, of course, to go through high school.