Learning from Simone Biles' Youth
What Iowa Sports Prep students learn from the most decorated gymnast in history
The 60-Second Story
Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast ever—37 World and Olympic medals, skills so difficult they're literally named after her. But her story didn't start with gymnastics. It started in foster care.
Born to a mother struggling with addiction, Simone and her siblings were placed in foster care before being adopted by their grandparents. That early trauma forged something essential: a "survivalist" resilience that translated into aerial courage.
Her coach, Aimee Boorman, rejected the brutal training culture that dominated gymnastics. Instead of 40+ hours per week of grinding, they trained 32 hours with a focus on quality over quantity. The result? Sustainable excellence instead of burnout.
What Your Child Will Learn
| Lesson | The Principle |
|---|---|
| Quality Over Quantity | Biles trained ~32 hours/week when others trained 40+. Her coach's mantra: "I would rather you do three hours of conditioning than poor technique on your gymnastics." Better reps beat more reps. |
| The Democratic Coach | Unlike the authoritarian model that dominated gymnastics, Biles' coach encouraged her to voice her physical and emotional state. Autonomy creates intrinsic motivation—you work hard because YOU want to, not from fear. |
| Fuel, Don't Restrict | In a sport plagued by eating disorders, Biles practiced intuitive eating—"fueling for performance." She ate pizza in the Olympic Village. Carbs are fuel, not the enemy. |
| Mental Health Is Training | After a breakdown at her first senior competition, Biles started working with a sports psychologist. She learned to separate "Simone the person" from "Simone the gymnast"—failure on beam didn't diminish her worth. |
| Difficulty Stacking | Biles' strategy: build such a high difficulty score that she could afford a fall and still win. This reduced competition anxiety—if perfection isn't required, you can relax and perform better. |
The Story Behind the Lessons
From Foster Care to the Podium
Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1997, Biles' earliest years were defined by instability. Her biological mother's struggle with addiction led to Simone and her three siblings being placed in foster care. She has described being a "very brave child" who often faced hunger.
At age six, her maternal grandfather Ron Biles and his wife Nellie adopted Simone and her younger sister, relocating them to Spring, Texas. This intervention provided two critical assets: emotional security and socio-economic support for the expensive world of elite gymnastics.
The early adversity may have created what psychologists call a "steeling effect"—a heightened threshold for stress. In gymnastics, fear is the primary limiting factor for skill acquisition. The psychological "bravery" forged in the uncertainty of foster care became the raw material for her aerial courage.
The Accidental Discovery
Biles' entry into gymnastics was accidental—a daycare field trip to Bannon's Gymnastix at age six. Unlike many elites groomed from toddlerhood, she was a "late" starter by Eastern European standards.
But her immediate aptitude was undeniable. Instructors noted her ability to mimic skills of older, competitive gymnasts on her first day—exceptional proprioceptive awareness that suggested something special.
The Boorman Method
Aimee Boorman became Biles' coach when Simone was eight. Boorman had no prior elite experience—she wasn't part of the traditional gymnastics establishment. This turned out to be an advantage.
The prevailing model for producing Olympic champions relied on early specialization, 40+ hours of weekly training, caloric restriction, and authoritarian coaching through fear. Boorman rejected all of it.
Her approach:
- 32 hours/week maximum (vs. 40+ industry standard)
- Quality over quantity: "I would rather you do three hours of conditioning than poor technique on your gymnastics"
- Democratic feedback: Biles was encouraged to voice her physical and emotional state
- Human first: Boorman ensured Biles attended family vacations and maintained a life outside the gym
This prevented "identity foreclosure"—the trap where a child sees themselves ONLY as a gymnast.
The Homeschool Decision
In 2012, at age 15, Biles made the difficult decision to switch from public school to homeschooling. The requirement to train twice a day was incompatible with a seven-hour school day.
She enrolled in Bridgeway Academy's "Total Care Elite" program, designed for high-performance athletes. The asynchronous curriculum allowed her to study during her midday break between morning and afternoon sessions.
Her typical day at age 15:
- 7:30 AM: Wake, light breakfast
- 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM: Training Session 1 (high intensity, new skill acquisition)
- 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM: Recovery, lunch, Bridgeway coursework
- 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Training Session 2 (routine repetition, dance polish)
- 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM: Dinner, study, family time
- 10:00 PM: Sleep (HGH release, CNS repair)
The crucial element was the 12:00-3:00 PM break—time for active recovery and cognitive switching, allowing her to enter the second practice with renewed energy.
The 2013 Breakdown
At the 2013 Secret US Classic—her first senior season—Biles suffered a catastrophic meltdown. She fell on floor, fell on beam, and was scratched from vault. The media labeled her "mental" and "uncontrollable."
This disaster led to working with sports psychologist Robert Andrews. He diagnosed that Biles was carrying "the weight of the world" and focusing on uncontrollable external factors.
Andrews taught her:
- "Control the controllables": Focus exclusively on mechanics and cues, ignoring scores and outcomes
- Visualization: Rigorous mental rehearsal priming neural pathways
- Compartmentalization: Separating "Simone the person" from "Simone the gymnast"
- Understanding the "twisties": How stress affects motor control
The psychological tooling worked immediately. Months after the US Classic disaster, Biles won the US National Championship and then the World Championship—becoming the first African American woman to win the World All-Around title.
The Anti-Diet
In a sport historically plagued by eating disorders, Biles' nutritional approach was revolutionary in its normalcy.
She practices intuitive eating, explicitly rejecting calorie counting. Her philosophy: "fueling for performance." She eats when hungry and stops when full.
Her typical diet:
- Breakfast: Light or skipped; oatmeal or fruit if she eats
- Lunch: Protein and fiber—salmon or chicken with vegetables
- Snacks: Plantain chips, Core Power protein shakes
- Dinner: Fish with rice, or on less intense days, pizza or pasta
The viral image of Biles eating pizza in the Olympic Village highlighted her rejection of "clean eating" purity culture. Carbohydrates are the primary fuel for high-intensity tumbling. Restricting them leads to fatigue and injury.
The Difficulty Strategy
Biles' competitive strategy was mathematical: build such a high Difficulty Score that she could afford a fall (1.0 deduction) and still win.
This wasn't arrogance—it was strategic anxiety reduction. If you don't NEED to be perfect to win, you can relax and perform better. The math gave her freedom.
The Biles Challenge
This is a 14-day commitment to the Biles philosophy of quality over quantity, mental health as training, and proper fueling.
| Day | Challenge |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identify ONE skill you want to improve. Do 10 perfect reps instead of 50 sloppy ones. Log it. |
| 2-3 | Practice the "check-in"—rate your energy and mood before training. Adjust accordingly. |
| 4-7 | Eat to fuel performance—no restriction. Note how proper nutrition affects your training. |
| 8-10 | When you fail at something, practice "compartmentalization"—the failure is data, not a verdict on you. |
| 11-13 | Take a full rest day. Note any guilt—then release it. Recovery IS training. |
| 14 | Reflect: How did quality over quantity feel? What did listening to your body teach you? |
| Final | Create a 60-second "You Teach" video: What Simone Biles taught you about sustainable excellence. |
Earning:
- 🏅 Biles Badge on your MyPath profile
- 📈 +5 Mental OVR boost
- 🎬 Content for your personal portfolio
In Their Own Words
"Don't ever compete against someone else... You go out there and be the best Simone you can be."
"I would rather you do three hours of conditioning than for you to do poor technique on your gymnastics."
"We're not just athletes. We're people at the end of the day."
"I'm not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I'm the first Simone Biles."
Related Athletes
- Williams Sisters — Family support systems and unconventional coaching
- Michael Phelps — Managing mental health as a performance variable
- Stephen Curry — Overcoming physical limitations through technique
Why Biles Matters for Iowa Kids
Simone Biles represents a new model of excellence—one where mental health isn't weakness, rest isn't laziness, and fuel isn't the enemy. She proves that you can train smarter, not just harder, and still become the greatest of all time.
For young athletes watching the sport destroy their peers through burnout and eating disorders, Biles offers a different path: sustainable excellence built on quality, autonomy, and treating yourself as a human being first.
That's what ISP teaches. That's what your child will learn.