Meet Our October Athlete of the Month: Hadley Sue Trowbridge
Hi, it’s Coach Katie, again. We’re excited to continue our new Athlete of the Month program, celebrating the students who bring dedication, positivity, and spirit to Gem City. This month we’re celebrating a standout member of our tumbling team, Hadley Sue Trowbridge.
Meet Hadley
Hadley has been part of Gem City since first grade and has spent the past four years on our competitive tumbling team. This season, she’ll compete as an Advanced tumbler, the second-highest level in the program. When asked what she loves most about the gym, she didn’t hesitate. She said it’s catching up with her friends during stretch time before practice.
A Busy, Well-Rounded Student
Hadley is a seventh grader who stays busy both inside and outside the gym. She’s on high honor roll, serves as her class vice president, and participates in her school’s news crew that films, edits, and produces daily broadcasts. She’s also a lifelong dancer who takes four classes a week and has been performing since age two. Her favorite subjects in school are math and history.
A Heart for Helping Others
Outside of sports and school, Hadley is deeply involved in her church community. She helps teach the kindergarten and third-grade classes and serves as an elementary worship leader. Her kindness and energy shine just as brightly there as they do on the floor.
Coach’s Take
Coach Zeke shared, “Trowbridge is an athlete who goes above and beyond no matter the situation. She is hard-working, respectful, smart, kind, and a fantastic teammate. She has a bright tumbling future, and I see her as a positive force and leader on my team for many seasons to come.”
More about Hadley
Hadley comes from a close-knit family and shares her middle name, Sue, with both her mom and grandmother. She loves family trips to Colorado and looks forward to trying new vacation spots each year. Her 13th birthday falls on Halloween, which makes celebrating extra fun. When she looks ahead, she dreams of becoming a cosmetologist or nurse.
Hadley truly embodies what it means to be a Gem City athlete: talented, hard-working, and community-minded. We’re proud to celebrate her as our October Athlete of the Month.
Click to read an extended version
Hey there, it’s Katie again. We’re happy to announce that Hadley Sue Trowbridge is this month’s Athlete of the Month! Hadley was so willing and excited to be interviewed, but with her busy schedule it also meant that she was going to be eating dinner during our interview. Fully appreciating her taking the time to come to gym early, I gladly took in the scent of her delicious pasta as we chatted!
Hadley has been on our competitive tumbling team for four years. This season will be her first year competing as an Advanced tumbler, which is the second highest level! She has attended classes at the gym since first-grade. Growing up in the gym has its perks; she says her favorite thing about the gym, whether its competitions taking her on the road or just coming to gym for practice, is getting to catch up with her friends the first few minutes of practice while they’re stretching.
I mentioned how busy Hadley is and it’s no joke! Aside from being on high honor roll she is also the student council vice president for her seventh grade class, she is a dancer (she takes four classes per week) since the age of two, she is on the news crew at school (a position that she had to apply for, upon acceptance she had to audition, and then she was awarded the position) that films, edits, and releases daily news coverage for the school! Her favorite subjects at school are math and history, which was refreshing to hear; I don’t get that answer very often asking kids about school!
On top of all of these amazing groups and sports that Hadley is into, she is most proud to tell me about her church life which she attends with her family! She not only attends church but she also helps teach the kindergarten class. Then, once a month she gets to help teach the third graders. I asked her which age group she prefers, and she said she loves the little ones so much! Another role she also has at church is the elementary worship leader.
While speaking about family she said she enjoys spending time with her mom, dad, 16-year-old brother, and 18-year-old sister. When I asked for her full name, she mentioned her middle name was Sue; she said that is also her mom and grandma’s middle name.
Hadley’s favorite place to vacation with family is Colorado. However, she says it’s her family’s tradition to try and pick a new place to vacation to each year! One story she told me, upon asking her about a time in her life that she had to be adventurous or brave, was when she was on a family vacation. She was in Alabama and someone had signed her and her sister up for karaoke. She was so nervous and didn’t want to do it, but she got brave (this was years before she started taking choir) and went up there with her sister and did it! I laughed so hard when she was telling me the story! I would have never guessed getting up in front of people would be something she would fear! And the song that made her brave, Call Me Maybe.
Part of the way through our interview I asked Hadley if she could only eat one food for the rest of her life, what would it be? She smiled, looked down at her bowl, pointed to her pasta she was eating and said, “Pasta!” She smiled big and laughed, a little embarrassed as she said it. Her coach, Zeke, happened to walk by as this line of questioning was going on and shouted his approval as he too loves pasta. I later asked Zeke what qualities he admires most about Hadley. He said, “Trowbridge is an athlete who goes above and beyond no matter the situation. She is hard-working, respectful, smart, kind, and a fantastic teammate. She has a bright tumbling future, and I see her as a positive force and leader on my team for many seasons to come.”
I myself have seen Hadley also be involved in community events. I happened to be part of a set up crew for a local charity event and Hadley showed up with a friend to help set up for the event. Seeing the younger kids donate their time and help out for a community event is so nice, and the help was so appreciated!
If you’d like to see Hadley on the stage, her dance studio will be putting on the locally infamous Nutcracker later this year! Her dance recital isn’t the only thing she’s looking forward to; she has her 13th birthday coming up ON HALLOWEEN! What a cool birthday to have – spending time with family and friends and tons of candy! She also is looking forward to trying out for track and cheer at school, so we wish her luck (which she won’t need) with both! Hadley is so talented, so we’re sure she’ll give the tryouts her all.
When looking very far ahead in the crystal ball, Hadley says she would love to be a cosmetologist or a nurse when she grows up. She said she already does her and her sister’s hair; she likes to look up videos to learn how to do fun, new hairstyles and makeup trends. I said that sounded backwards; aren’t older sisters suppose to do their younger sister’s hair? She laughed when I said that, and said she loves to do her hair!
We are proud to highlight Hadley this month to share how awesome, down to earth, and well-rounded one of our competition athletes can be. She may not have a lot of free time, but she sure does know how to manage her time and talents while also giving back to her church and community.
