Whiz Kid of the Week: Emma Potts

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Emma Potts

School:

Age: 11

Greatest Gymnastic Accomplishment: Level 7 Gymnast - no longer compulsory at Metropolitan Gymnastics

Great Accomplishment No. 2: Winning the 2009 National Red Robin Kids' Cook-Off contest

Tell me about what is involved in being a Level 7 gymnast: I am now an optionals gymnast. Instead of doing a standard routine, I make up my own routines with my choreographer for floor, beam and bar. I go to my gym in Kent four days per week for four hours each day. I want to keep moving up to levels eight to 10 and then elite. I hope to compete in college, hopefully for the University of Washington.

How did you get involved with gymnastics? My mom starting taking me to gymnastics and dance when I was about 2 years old. At 5 years old, I was offered a spot on the team at Puget Sound Gymnastics and Dance. I was in cheerleading, dance and gymnastics. My mom asked me to just pick one when I got a little older and I chose gymnastics. 

Tell me about how you ended up the 2009 winner of the Red Robin Kids' Cook-Off? My mom gets e-mails from Red Robin and she saw the contest and suggested we enter. It was a contest to invent a new hamburger recipe. We watch The Food Network at home a lot, so I sat down and thought about what would taste good together and entered the contest. I called it the Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger. I was surprised when I made it into the top 50. All of the top 50 recipes are put into a cookbook. Then, the top 10 finalists were flown to Denver for the finals. Before we left, my mom and I realized that we had never actually made the burger, so we thought we had better try it! We were relieved it worked. I got to be on the "Today" show and I made my burger with Kathie Lee Gifford ("Today" show link: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34938197/ns/today-food/from/toolbar). I won and my burger was put on the Red Robin menu last summer. It was crazy.

50 cents of each Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger sold was donated to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The top 50 kids’ recipe cookbook will come out summer 2011. The cookbook will also be available for free download at www.redrobin.com.

What is your key to awesomeness? I think dedication and hard work … and, of course, my parents. They have always pushed me, but not too much. They have always encouraged me to get better. I also keep asking questions, asking for advice and working extra before and after practice. I don’t get discouraged, even when I can’t get something or when I am not moving forward or improving. I just keep working at it.

Are you looking toward the Olympics? No, I just want to compete at the college level, but then get a job. My dream job is to be an anesthesiologist. I want to do this because I like to work with people and I work well under pressure.

Doing gymnastics 16 hours every week in Kent must be tough. How do you manage? I get home at about 8 p.m., do my homework and get in bed. Sometimes I miss my Bonney Lake friends, but I have really good friends at gymnastics too. I do get to relax sometimes. I like to listen to music and jump on the trampoline. It is a lot of work, but I still love it!