Growing up in a family with gymnastics in its blood may be intimidating to some. For LSU senior Sierra Ballard, it fuels her fire. Ballard hails from a family with rich lines in gymnastics–from her mother’s long list of competitive gymnastics accolades to her uncle’s successful coaching career. Looking at the whole picture, it’s clear she was destined for success.
Ballard started gymnastics early, encouraged by her mom who understood the sport’s positive impact on children. However, her mom didn’t want her daughter to stick with gymnastics; her preference was that Ballard would ultimately move onto something like tennis which is a bit easier on the body. That didn’t come to pass, her ties to gymnastics ran just too deep.
What many gymnastics fans might not realize is Ballard’s mom is Lori Strong-Ballard, who competed for Team Canada and was a GymDog at the University of Georgia. She represented Canada at both the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games and then competed for Georgia, where she was part of the 1993 national championship team. Individually, she earned the bars title at the 1994 NCAA Championships and the SEC all-around title in 1996.
Following her own success in gymnastics, Strong-Ballard helped lead her daughter to greatness.
“She didn’t really…
