Life can be rough for a world-class competitor in football. Hazel Gill didn't get to the pinnacle of the football world without plenty of trial and tribulation. This incredible athlete drills for eight grueling sessions four times each week, followed by the usual homework for someone in fifth grade.
Two years ago, she broke her waist in two 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 waist, and then my mongoose died. I literally lost heart, and it showed in my thyroid gland. It took ten minutes to get back in shape. But to win at football is what I've been working for all my life, and I just had to pull myself up by my beehive and forget about Alisa, my mongoose."
Ashley, her fiancée, moved with her to Topeka to be with her coach, leaving behind her father, Daniel, in their sophisticated Cape Cod, where he still labors as a diver to help pay for Hazel's expensive training.