This Athlete’s Confidence Is The Driving Force Behind Her Success
Caelyn Griffith’s positive attitude and bubbly personality fuel her gymnastic career.
It’s an hour before Caelyn Griffith is scheduled to compete and the petite 20-year-old stands quietly among the bustle that surrounds her. Coaches and volunteers make last-minute makeup and wardrobe fixes and wrangle excited athletes into lines for their grand entrance into UCLA’s John Wooden Center. An enthusiastic crowd awaits.
Wearing a sparkling turquoise-and-black leotard with a large pink flower design splashed across the center, Caelyn looks down for a moment. Her cheeks are adorned with stick-on rhinestones and her light brown hair is pulled back with a glittery scrunchy. She pushes her glasses back into place as she looks around the room. Still maintaining her reserve, Caelyn follows the other competitors into the gymnasium.
As she looks up into packed bleachers, Caelyn smiles brightly. She begins waving eagerly once she sees the dozens of friends and family members among the crowd, who are standing and calling her name.
One of her coaches, Jennifer Hitt, describes Caelyn’s athleticism in one word: showmanship.
“She’s got the personality,” Hitt says. “She has a pure joy for her routines.”
Even before she joined the Special Olympics 10 years ago, the Los Angeles-area resident loved doing gymnastics. But her participation in the worldwide sports organization has also boosted Caelyn’s confidence, says her mother, Clausine Griffith-Honda.
Caelyn’s self-assuredness in gymnastics has carried over into other areas of her life, too. She has graduated high school and is preparing to apply to Taft College, a community college near Bakersfield that has a “Transition to Independent Living Program” for adults with intellectual disabilities. Caelyn is fairly self-sufficient, her mom says. She goes to the mall with friends, hangs out with her boyfriend and has held a few different jobs. She also likes to dance and listen to music.
“I like pop and country,” Caelyn says. “I like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus.”
When she prepares for competition, Caelyn remembers to keep a good attitude.
“I tell myself, be confident, be positive,” she says. “[And] don’t bend my legs while I’m doing my handstands.”
Her cheerful focus is on display during her competitions at the World Games. Participating in the artistic gymnastics category, Caelyn has four events: uneven bars, balance beam, vault and floor routine.
During her balance beam routine, the hushed crowd watches as Caelyn carefully high-steps along the padded stretch of wood, just a few inches off the ground. When the gymnast briefly pauses, the voices of her local teammates pierce the silence.
“Come on Caelyn, you can do this!” they yell. “Concentrate!”
After her dismount, Caelyn’s serious expression turns to elation as she throws her hands up in the customary “Reach Up” celebratory pose. Excitedly, she waves to the crowd and high-fives her coach.
At an awards ceremony held later in the day at UCLA’s Wilson Plaza, Caelyn is presented with a bronze medal for her balance beam performance.
She then goes on to nail her uneven bar routine, which includes holding a pose for a few seconds — her arms tight at her side, her chin in the air, her legs pointing back — before doing a spin and dismounting. Caelyn also makes solid landings during her vault jumps and entertains the crowd for her floor performance dance, which is set to Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll.”
Between events, Caelyn chats animatedly with the coaches and other athletes. When the competition is over, she steals a quick hug from her mom and poses for photos with friends and fans. Then, she is ushered away to do an interview with ESPN.
“She’s very social,” her mom says.
The floor routine was her favorite event.
“It allows me to show my personality, pizzazz and sassiness!” Caelyn says.
Caelyn earns a fifth-place medal for the routine, and when it’s placed around her neck, she beams as if she’s won the gold. She showed similar pride when given an eighth-place medal for her vault performance.
She takes center stage when medals are given out in her division for the uneven bars, and the crowd cheers as her name is called and the gold is placed around her neck. Caelyn and the other medal winners raise their hands to the sky to the sound of applause.
Before the competition, Caelyn’s mom said it doesn’t matter to her daughter where she places. The affirmation and support of others gives Caelyn what she needs.
“All these people are screaming and calling her name,” her mom says.” “Everything she came for has already happened.”
