This week on Life in a Leo, I interviewed the amazing Betty Okino. Betty was part of the 1992 USA Olympic Team. This was the first team to win a medal at the Olympics. This was a time when the athletes had to compete both compulsory and optional routines. Betty was known for her beautiful lines and gracefulness. She has a couple skills named after her. The most famous being the triple turn on beam.  What I loved about talking to Betty was how much mental toughness she displayed through her career in the sport. She had so much drive and determination that she was able to overcome her fears ..read more

This week on Life in a Leo, I interviewed Marla Ranieri, a physical therapist specializing in gymnastics. As an elite gymnast herself, Marla completely understands what these athletes go through and what they are striving for. She is working to make sure injuries don't keep them from reaching their dreams.  This is done by performing an injury prevention assessment to find out what strength, range of motion and biomechanics deficits a gymnast has that may put them at risk for certain injuries.   It was fun to learn what got Marla to this place in her career and what she is working to ..read more

Just a quick update and apology for not having an episode ready for you. We have more in the works and I’ll have a new one next week. Happy holidays and don’t forget to point your toes ?. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lifeinaleo/support ..read more

This week I got to interview the incredibly accomplished Jill Hicks. Jill runs a business called Jill Hicks Consulting where she helps athletes in seven different sports navigate the college recruiting process. Her expertise is gymnastics but the other sports include women's soccer, women's basketball, track & field, cross country, acro& tumbling, and cheer!! In addition to helping young athletes navigate the recruiting process, Jill was an elite gymnast at SCATS and received a scholarship to compete for the Oregon State gymnastics team, where she ended up becoming the assistant coach ..read more

Happy Friday and welcome to Life in a Leo! This week I got to interview, 10-year-old gymnast, Anabelle. She is training level 7 at San Mateo Gymnastics and just qualified as a TOPS National A Team Member! What a huge accomplishment. Her favorite gymnast is Laurie Hernandez because she looks like she's having so much fun out there. What a great thing to admire! We hope you enjoy the episode. Are you watching World Championships? What do you think? What are your favorite moments so far? You can send us an email at Rebecca@leotard.com or you can reach us on Instagram, @Rebeccasmomleo. We hope to ..read more

Thank you so much to everyone that answered my question on Instagram regarding topics you want to hear on the show. This week I explore a topic suggested by @abriannagallo on time management. I talk about what I did when I was still a gymnast, some of the tools I use now as an adult, and ways to plan your time. Check out https://monday.com/ if you want to learn more about one of the tools I live by these days. And remember, we are all human and mistakes happen. We can't always plan our time perfectly, so be kind to yourself and learn what works for you! Good luck to everyone competing this wee ..read more

This was so much fun. I got to interview one of my new co-workers who grew up doing gymnastics in France! It was great to learn a little bit about what that was like, her favorite event, her disgusting competition leotard, and some great advice for young gymnasts. It was a little challenging at times with the language barrier, but we figured it out. Let us know what you think? Have you ever done gymnastics in a different country? What was it like and what did you learn? Did you or are you growing up outside of the USA? How is gymnastics different? Let us know - Rebecca@leotard.com. We hope to ..read more

I started a new job and am finding it difficult to create new episodes. I'm so sorry!! But, I'm still here and I'm going to try and get new episodes out. What do you want to hear? Email me - rebecca@leotard.com and let me know. Have you started competing this season? Let us know how it's going. What level are you doing? Are you competing in excel? Are you heading to World Championships? Now that's exciting!! We can't wait to see who makes the team. Finally, we are running a contest to promote Miss Val's new book - Life is Short, Don't Wait to Dance. Create a video dancing, whatever you want, a ..read more

Happy Friday and welcome to #Lifeinaleo! We hope you enjoy this week's interview with Sophie Kleinberg. Sophie is training level 10 at a small gym in NYC. She started gymnastics at 7 years old after someone commented on how well she did cartwheels. Once she started training she caught the bug and was hooked. I'm sure there are a lot of things you can relate to as a gymnast in this episode. I know I certainly did. We can't wait to see how things work out for you in your first season as a level 10. Good luck and keep up all the hard work. If you want to share any ideas with us about the show, we ..read more

Happy Friday! This week I had a great interview with level 5 gymnast, Ana Villela. Ana was so fun to talk to. Her passion and excitement for the sport of gymnastics are contagious. She has only been in the sport for four years but has continued to grow and progress. Ana is so focused and such a hard-working young athlete. We discuss Ana's favorite college gymnastics team, UCLA, and how attending the camp and meeting the team have continued to inspire her through her day-to-day training. We also discuss some of Ana's goals, greatest achievements so far, and things Ana likes to do outside of gym ..read more