Winter Olympics 2022 — Bobsledder Sylvia Hoffman is the unlikeliest Winter Olympian for Team USA
In need of a little inspiration? Try the story of U.S. Olympic bobsledder Sylvia Hoffman.
We’ll start with former head coach of the LSU Shreveport women’s basketball team, Ronnie Howell, whose voice and command can start any story off strong.
Particularly this one.
LSUS is part of NAIA Division I, which means the Pilots don’t have the resources the NCAA Division I schools do. Howell was regularly “seeing kids that are maybe a little less talented and little less skill level, that are still able to compete at a higher level because of their mental drive and toughness and commitment.”
In Howell’s eyes, that described Sylvia Hoffman.
Now 32, Hoffman is a member of Team USA’s bobsled and skeleton team for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She’s fulfilling a lifelong goal of representing the United States and — maybe — winning an Olympic medal.
Hoffman defines stick-to-itiveness. She is a Black woman, a lifelong athlete from Philadelphia by way of Texas and Shreveport (and a few other places), who played many sports and went on to be a college basketball player and then a competitive weightlifter. Now she is an Olympic bobsledder.
Howell is not the least bit surprised that Hoffman has put herself into this position.
“She’s going to work. I mean, there’s no doubt about it. She’s gonna work,” Howell said.
The college athlete grind not many people can do — Hoffman took it in stride and with pride.
“I never remember her ever being sad or let down no matter what happened around us, whether it be classes or something went wrong in practice. I never remember her sitting on the bench sulking,” said Rachel Carlson, Hoffman’s former roommate and teammate.
The ability to stay positive was something Hoffman was used to by the time she landed in Shreveport.
In grade school, she was diagnosed with scoliosis — a curvature of the spine — and had to wear a corrective back brace in hopes of avoiding surgery. The brace stayed with her until her senior year in high school but didn’t deter her…
Source : espn
