Houston, TX – With the Paris Olympics less than 40 days away, there is a lot of excitement building in Houston. On Friday, June 21st, former Olympians and Paralympians from the Houston area will host a camp to engage and promote ideals of the Olympic and Paralympic movement at the Trotter Family YMCA.
“Kids get to be exposed to what the Olympics is in totality and how this movement can not only help you win in sports, but it can also change how you look at working hard,” Nia Abdallah, Treasurer and Taekwondo silver medalist said.
In 2007 Abdallah was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame and though she started taking Taekwondo at age 9, Niah had big dreams long before then.
“Funny enough, I was 4 years old when I told my momma I wanted to win the Olympics. It was just a lifelong thing I said I wanted and kind of put everything on pause; so be able to achieve it at such a young age, 20, to be able to achieve it, was incredible,” Abdallah said.
Abdallah was also the first U.S. woman to medal in Taekwondo at the Olympic games.
“When I first got it, I didn’t let anybody touch it because it’s silver it would tarnish, then I started doing more events, people were touching it, I noticed it didn’t tarnish and what that told me is that this was meant for the world, because they touch it, it keeps vibrant” Nia said.
Sean Townsend was a member of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and a member of 3 World Championships teams. Both Abdallah and Townsend have glorious memories of competing for Team USA, but their focus has shifted and on Friday they will be spending quality time with children, teaching them to play various Olympic sports.
“Gymnastics is a great foundation sport, for all sports. That’s why I love teaching it, giving back to the community like you said, creating hopefully another Olympian to follow my footsteps; but gymnastics is great,” Townsend said.
Olympic and Paralympic Day is a great time to learn about the beauty of hard work.
“We teach that in gymnastics, that discipline is first, then they can proceed to achieve their goals and skill set and training and just giving back to the community is great here,” Townsend said.