James Jones fell in love with the art of gymnastics while watching the sport on TV. In his hometown of Columbus, Georgia, he often watched the boys in his neighborhood use concrete and grass as springboards, flipping and flying along the pavements. But the idea of competing wasn’t something he’d imagined for himself. Because no gym existed in his community, his dreams of flying were confined to screens and the books he’d check out in the library.
It wasn’t until his elementary school assistant principal saw his talent on the playground that his dreams led to him earning a gymnastics scholarship at a gym across town. When he requested an extension to that scholarship, Jones discovered that the assistant principal had been paying his tuition the whole time.
That act of kindness, faith, and nurturing of his abilities stayed with Jones. He vowed to pay it forward for younger boys who looked like him…