Nastia Liukin Instagram – Had you told me 15 years ago the Nastia Liukin Cup would not only still be happening but also: -would become an event that coaches, staff athletes would tell me it was more important to them to qualify to than their own national championships  -would turn on the tv one day and see an NCAA gymnastics competition on ESPN with the gymnasts name, age, hometown, along with “NASTIA CUP QUALIFIER” in bold letters -would take place in venues across the country in some of the most iconic arenas in the world — hi @thegarden @attstadium Hand on my heart, I really don’t think I would have believed any of these things. Yet this weekend I found myself in the midst of what I thought was, THE most special year, event, and group of all 15. While sharing so much of this event over the years has become something I truly enjoy doing, this year I became a bit overwhelmed with trying to capture all the content and decided I wanted to truly be a little more present – less focused on getting it all captured.  Bc be told – this was ALWAYS for about those girls on the floor. And not just the moments on the floor, but even more so the moments out of the arena. The moments that aren’t ever broadcasted. The moments that are not possible to capture even if you tried. The moments we get to share together that make this entire thing SPECIAL. And that’s exactly what I did. As I gathered the girls one final time after the competition, I thanked them (and much more)— for the first time I got emotional thinking how special this all was. Before the competition I asked them to try to find a moment that day pause for a brief moment and be proud – of themselves for qualifying to what has become the most difficult JO competition to qualify to in USA. I continued to tell them that sure we all want to win- but results here wouldn’t matter as much as the journey experience would. Bc this was never about the final standings, the city and venue, or the design of the leotards that year.  Whether that was in arena or not and seen on social media or not – that was always my hope, dream and goal: creating a special experience – and making them all feel as special as they truly are. Xo NL 🩷