By Sara Fleming
When I first met Allison*, she was 13 years old and was coming to my gym with her mom to start training with me for the summer. My first impression of her was a shy girl, unsure of herself and trying to hide her height by slouching and holding her head down. She would not look me in the eye and spoke very little. I saw a lot of my former self in this girl having been an awkward teenager myself, but I had a hard time connecting with her right away. Our first lesson was to teach her how to squat with good form and, to her frustration, this lesson was readdressed throughout the next three training sessions as I tried to correct her posture and get her to stop staring at her feet. Although she was too shy to return my attempts to engage her, she worked hard and was willing to try anything I asked of her.
