Paddle Against the Flow
12/11/2024 5:00:00 PM | Gymnastics
In Japanese folklore, a popular legend about a koi fish tells a story of perseverance. The fish tries to swim upstream and up a waterfall to reach the top of the cliff. Once it reaches the summit, it is transformed into a beautiful, powerful dragon.
To many, it symbolizes the journey of battling through hardship, showing that personal evolution comes through pushing past adversity.
This can resonate with many – including Missouri gymnast Addison Lawrence.
"The journey – in this case swimming up the river – is not easy, but what you're pushing towards is worth battling for," Lawrence said.
The story impacted her so much that Lawrence decided to get a tattoo symbolizing the story.
"I love that one so much."
While challenges drive some away, it has only motivated Lawrence to become a role model and leader for others.
Beginning her gymnastics journey at age five, Lawrence has seen numerous challenges thrown her way including negativity and injury.
That hasn't kept her away from the sport she loves. She hopes to inspire more young gymnasts to fall in love with it.
These challenges are some of the main reasons for Lawrence's drive to embark on a career in coaching following her time as a gymnast. She keeps her goals simple – to show girls how much fun gymnastics can be.
The culture surrounding the perfection of the sport negatively impacted Lawrence's mindset by applying too much pressure on herself and her performance in competition.
Lawrence's "why" is to make sure younger gymnasts understand what she was unable to for so long – the sport is much more than being perfect.
Instead, its purpose should be building positive relationships and valuing having fun over competitive results.
"I had more of a pressure on myself to make it to the highest level," Lawrence said. "I am competitive with myself and had grown a relationship with gymnastics of, 'How far can I go and what is the next skill I can develop?'"
That relationship changed when Lawrence, an Olathe, Kansas native, first arrived at Mizzou.
"College gymnastics is about embracing everyone, we are all on this stage no matter your appearance or your path to get here," Lawrence said.
That message from Mizzou's gymnastics coaches is what "flipped the script" for Lawrence.
Lawrence posted a 9.800 or better on beam for 11 of her 13 routines during a debut 2023 season, including her first score of 9.900 or higher with a 9.975 at Arkansas.
Lawrence was then presented with more adversity, undergoing hip surgery which kept her out of the 2024 season.
In her mind, it just added more obstacles to an upstream swim. That battle against the current became a symbol that helped Lawrence remain focused working through the struggle for a bigger reward at the end.
"I have an overwhelming amount of people in my support system who want to see me work through this," Lawrence said. Looking back at the time, she recalls how hard it was to continue to work through pain on some of the hardest days.
One of the most important groups of that support system was her coaching staff – something that she wouldn't have imagined in her youth.
If she were on staff with the Tigers in the future, the first thing she would tell recruits is the culture that Coach Welker and his staff have built is real. Everything about the program and everything the coaches do is real.
"They care about everything you do, as a person, gymnast and student," said Lawrence. "We just have real people as coaches and that is one of the biggest things is just being genuine."
The staff's impact on Lawrence, from the coaching staff, athletic trainers, the mental health department and everyone in between, has been prominent during her collegiate career.
As a coach, Lawrence wants to put communication above all else. The person-to-person communication is what has impacted her most as an athlete, and she wants to continue that cycle forward. Communication is not only important to a coach and gymnast relationship, but during competition, too.
"In gymnastics, you need to be able to talk to me about anything that is going on in your brain because it is such a mental sport," said Lawrence.
Passion in an athlete is another non-negotiable for Lawrence. Remembering her toughest days bouncing back from injury, it would have been easy to call it a career there, having achieved more than most others could even dream, but her desire to continue improving pushed her forward.
"As a gymnast, you need to have the drive to do it and they want to be there," Lawrence said. "I don't ever want to feel like the person is being forced to do anything."
Despite the struggle, the junior manages to stay grateful for her opportunities. Lawrence tries to never miss a moment to reflect and count her blessings.
Her journey has never been easy, but battling through the current truly has allowed Lawrence to continue making progress toward the top of the waterfall and becoming an individual to deeply impacts others.
