CBS 58's Hometown Athlete: Milwaukee native Nelly Gleason up for national honor
BROOKFIELD, Wis. (CBS 58) - For Maria Gleason, putting her 9-year old daughter Nellyonna Gleason into gymnastics seemed obvious.
"She was flipping and dipping since she was about 3," said Maria.
Nellyonna, who likes to go by Nelly, has been at Wildcard Gymnastics since she was 7 years old. In two short years, Nelly's talent is clear. She has the medal stand to prove it.
"She started as a level 2 and went to the state meet and did really well. She's gone to nationals for the AAU meets and she continues to move up," said Amy Grining, Nelly's Wildcard Gymnastics coach.
"I can get really competitive sometimes,' said Nelly.
"She's super motivated, she wants to keep going. She wants to try all these new things. So to see her try it and do them well. That's all I can really ask for," said Maria.
Thanks to her success on the mat, Nelly is in the running for the Colossal Youth Athlete of the Year. a 10-week fundraising campaign where winners are picked by public votes.
"It's really fun because my Dad gets to brag about it," laughed Nelly.
"I cheer on every aspect of her and her teammates," said Randy Gleason, Maria's Dad. "I just look at her and see all the things I can never do myself. All she does is work hard and play hard, that's her main push."
The competition, where votes can be cast here, is run in cooperation with Russell Wilson's 3Brand and Sports Illustrated. Nelly is in the quarterfinals, needed to advance to the next round as the top vote getter in her group. The winner gets a Sports Illustrated magazine ad and a $25,000 prize.
Her parents want to start a college fund for Nelly, but she has other ideas.
"I can help my parents with hard stuff," said Nelly.
"I have multiple sclerosis, and it's left on Daddy to do a lot of the providing for our family. It's not something I was ready to do to give up work," said Maria through tears. "I hate that she (Nelly) sees us struggle sometimes even though we don't want her to. Her nickname we call her little mammas. She's always trying to help everybody. She's just really sweet, she's a sweet kid."
Nelly's kind heart goes beyond just her family, but also her Native American heritage. She designed a special leotard to raise money and awareness for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.
"I wanted to make sure that I had a little handprint because when a Native American young girl dies, sometimes we're supposed to put red paint on our hands and cover our mouth," Nelly said describing the leotard.
Nelly describes the leotard as red, orange, and with a whole lot of patterns. Something that came from her imagination with important symbolism on the back reading 'Sisters'.
"For sisters, since it's a tribe, we're all supposed to be together," said Nelly.
"There is a lot of pride there. we've always been straight shooters with our kids, and I know some people would try to hide that fact or shelter their kids from that fact but is a reality. I don't tell my kids to scare them, I tell them so they are hyper aware of what is happening to the indigenous community, to kids in general, and to our indigenous sisters," said Maria.
The young rising star…still wants to give back as a gymnastics coach when she's older, but also wants to be an Olympian, like her favorite gymnast.
"Suni Lee!" said Nelly.
