Susan Blackaby - G.O.A.T.--Simone Biles: Making the Case for the Greatest of All Time

You never know how plain old chance will change your life forever. For Simone Biles, it was bad weather and a cancelled field trip. On a rainy summer morning, the day care center that Simone and her little sister, Adria, attended was supposed to have a field day to visit a farm. Their older brother Adam, who worked at the center, quickly came up with a dry and easy Plan B. He took the kids down the street to Bannons Gymnastix instead, and the rest is history.

Almost.

At the gym, six-year-old Simone instantly felt right at home. She watched the gymnasts vaulting and cartwheeling, spinning and flipping, and she couldnt contain her excitement. She wanted to copy the gymnasts every move and try out every piece of equipment, or apparatusbars, beams, springboards, and mats. Simone had already spent a lot of her short life airbornebouncing on beds, jumping on trampolines, bounding from bunks, scrambling up to perch on her brothers shoulderstwirling through space on her way back to the ground.

Catching up to Simone as she bounced around the gym, Adam challenged her to do a back flip. Simone told Adam to go first and laughed when he crash-landed. Then it was her turn. Simone already had a knack for back flips, but shed never gotten to do them on a springy floor before.

Sproing! Sproing! Sproing!

Showing off for Adam, Simone even added a little twist as she stuck every landing. It turned out that Adam wasnt the only person watching. One of the coaches approached as Simone landed another flip. The coach asked Adam if Simone had had any formal training and suggested that she sign up for a class. Simone left the gym that day with an invitation to enroll.

Momma Biles was not that impressed. She assumed that every kid came home with a flyer. Then she got to thinking about her energetic little ones tumbling around the house. Maybe the gym was worth a try after all. Simone and Adria were soon signed up to attend classes twice a week.

The first class had hardly begun when the coach knew without a shadow of a doubt that Simone had a special gift for gymnastics. Just like that, she had landed in exactly the right place.

It wasnt the first time.

Simone Biles was born March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. Her older sister, Ashley, was seven years old, and her brother Tevin was three. By the time Adria was born two years later, Simones home life had started to unravel. Her single mother, Shanon Biles, was having a hard time taking care of herself, let alone her family. Social Services stepped in and put the four children into foster care.

Simone was just three years old, and although she recalls understanding exactly what it meant to have her family broken apart, she has held on to only a few memories of her foster parents. She remembers their kindness and their care and their patience. She remembers their swing set, which sent her sailing through the air as she copied Tevins daredevil flips and twirls. She remembers their trampoline, which she wasnt allowed to play on for fear shed get hurt. And she remembers the day her grandfather, Shanons father, showed up to take Simone and her brother and sisters homehome to Texas, where he lived with his family.

Simones grandfather Ron Biles, a retired Air Force sergeant, had a job working in air traffic control in Houston. Her grandmother Nellie Biles had a demanding career as a nurse. She had nearly raised her sons, Adam and Ron II, who were in high school. She was looking forward to a quiet household with no teenagers around when the social worker called from Ohio. The Biles grandkids needed help.

While Simones grandfather attended to the legal details of bringing the children from Ohio to Texas, her grandmother worried. Nellie didnt know the kids as well as Ron did. He had visited them in Ohio many times over the years, but she had usually stayed home with her boys. Would she be able to give these children the love and support they needed? Nellie had been part of a large and close-knit family in Belize. She knew how important growing up with strong family connections could be. She wanted to be able to provide her grandchildren with rock-solid stability and trust. She dug deep to find the faith and courage it would take to meet the challenge.