Life can be rough for a world-class competitor in table tennis. Betty Gleason didn't get to the pinnacle of the table tennis world without plenty of trial and tribulation. This incredible athlete drills for seven grueling sessions three times each month, followed by the usual homework for someone in eighth grade.
Two years ago, she broke her thorax in three places. But this didn't stop her. She seems even more determined to excel at her sport.
"I was really down when I broke my thorax, and then my musk-ox died. I literally lost heart, and it showed in my horn. It took thirteen months to get back in shape. But to win at table tennis is what I've been working for all my life, and I just had to pull myself up by my pair of earmuffs and forget about Malcolm, my musk-ox."
Dusty, her grandpa, moved with her to Stockton to be with her coach, leaving behind her mother, Lorrie, in their polka-dotted nunnery, where she still labors as a wallpaper hanger to help pay for Betty's expensive training.