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46 | June 14, 2018 | The Mokena Messenger sports
mokenamessenger.com
Young gymnast jumps, flips, vaults to Top 10 in nation
T.J. Kremer III, Editor
Like many other children
his age, 12-year-old Jimmy
Hawksworth of Mokena enjoys
being active in sports.
Unlike his peers, however,
Hawksworth spends an average
of three-and-a-half
hours per day, five days a
week practicing his prefered
sport, gymnastics, and that
doesn’t include the time it
takes to drive to the training
facility in Downers Grove.
All that practice paid off,
as Hawksworth placed 10th
overall out of 100 other competitors
at the Men’s Junior
Olympic National Championships
in Oklahoma City in
May.
The soon-to-be seventhgrader
at St. Mary Catholic
School also placed third
in the pommel horse and
fourth-place in the floor routine,
his favorite portion of
the competition.
“I know my strength is
tumbling because I can do
a lot of cool skills,” Hawksworth
said.
Those “cool skills” include
a double backflip, a
double frontflip, a two-anda-half
flip, and a double fullflip.
Some real Ninja Warrior
stuff.
And just like some Eastern
philosophies teach, Hawksworth
uses the visualize it
and do it approach.
“Before I start my routine,
I go through my routine in
my head and I picture myself
doing it perfect,” Hawksworth
said. “And then … if
I make it [past my first pass]
I get the jitters out of me and
I’m not as nervous because
I know I can make all the
skills in my routine.”
Hawksworth began training
at 4 years old and he’s
had some pretty good coaches
along the way.
In fact, one of his coaches
— Paul Hamm — is a threetime
Olympic medalist, and
his main coach is Georgi
Videnov, a seasoned Olympic
coach whom Hawksworth
has been training
with for the past five years at
Premier Gymnastics Academy.
Hawksworth is a Level 8
gymnast who competes in
Region 5. The levels go up
to 10 and are structured to
allow a gymnast to increase
in level with age and ability.
Region 5 is considered one
of the toughest regions, and
includes the states of Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan
and Ohio. In order to
make it to the national competition,
Hawksworth first
needed to make it through
state and then regional competitions
with a high enough
score to qualify.
“More in the beginning of
my season, they’re just regular
meets, and they’re important,
but not as important,”
Hawksworth said. “And
when it comes around to the
end, state, regionals and nationals
are the big ones.”
But he said he has no intention
of stopping at nationals:
He wants to one day
compete in the Olympics,
too.
“Learning the new skills,
watching the Olympics
or men’s gymnastics and
watching all the skills that
they do really encourages
me to put the effort in to doing
those skills and trying
the skills and keeps me in
gymnastics,” Hawksworth
said.
RIGHT: Jimmy Hawksworth,
of Mokena, performs on
the rings as part of the
Men’s Junior Olympic
National Championships
held in Oklahoma City
in May. Hawksworth
placed 10th overall, out
of 100 competitors. Photo
submitted