1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Makayla Curtis (Husker Gymnast) and her mother Melissa: March 4th, 10:25am

Episode Date: March 4, 2022

Makayla and Melissa in studio to talk about Makaylas time at NebraskaHow was little Makayla?Senior NightAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with D.P. Brought to you by Beatrice Bakery. On 937 The Ticket and The Ticketfm.com. Welcome back to one-on-one. We're actually going to extend this thing. 402-99-4620 if you want to text in. Sorry, having a text line. If you want to call in, I'm on a Lincoln Hotline.

The old number is still good. It's still good. 4-2-464-5-6-85. The video streams are up. Facebook, YouTube, Twitch. It is a good day. to be on the streams. Why?

Because we have company. We have family. A beautiful part of bringing in these athletes and giving them that sort of exposure is that you get to meet the families. And Melissa's been around the show enough. But she's in town for senior night. Michaela Curtis from the gymnastics team. This is your senior night. It's a big day for you.

first of all how are you today good just good what are you drinking in that colossal beverage it's a pretty cup huh it's it's it's almost bigger than you are yeah well it's not coffee today what is it what are you drinking it's a refresher it's a refresher made by who no free shoutouts i gave everyone this is this is it Starbucks okay fuels DP I'm The best nutrition on the planet. And they can't find it on campus. Introduce your mom.

Introduce your mom. Introduce your mom. Introduce your mom. Introduce your mom. My mother. What do you want me to say? Tell me about your mom. Some people know your mom.

Everybody doesn't know your mother. Give us like a like a wrestler introduction, like the best introduction you can give just like you know. I don't know. Some fancy. You know you've known her your whole life No I don't know wrestling introduction It was like the most complimentary introduction you can Well

She's put up with me for 23 years No But she honestly is like my biggest support She's who I go to for everything She well I get mad at you when you don't call me But yeah I know She's who I've come to kind of lean on

in really everyday life. I've talked to her a lot more now these past, what, five years, I think. Not that I didn't talk to her, like, when I was home, but, like, now that I don't see her and stuff, it's, I always call her, even if it's the most, like, stupid, unnecessary thing, I'll call her, but this is my mother.

That's what she wants. She lives for that. Sometimes. Does she listen to you? No. No. So that's a constant thing, right? That's not just...

She just doesn't listen. That's good to know. I do what I want. She's very independent. Where does she get that? Me. Yeah. She's like a mini-mee.

But I tell her a lot, like a lot of her personality. She has my 47-year-old personality in her 23-year-old body. And I'm like, see, I've gone through a lot. And that's why I have my personality. But she hasn't now. Talk. Tell us about the household. Tell us about the home.

What do you guys do together? When you get time together, what were you doing together? Like when I go home? Yeah. Wait, we have to go to Starbucks. We got to go to Starbucks. See? We drive around.

She likes to drive around. I have a 65 Mustang. Nice. That will be hers one day. And she likes to drive. We drive it to the beach and stuff. I would also like to drive that around. Wait a minute.

We got it redone because my dad actually found it. right he got it from a college student she was like yeah i don't know what to do with it and he i remember i went with him and he got it and he turned it on he got to the stop sign it flooded and died and he was like yeah i want it and he like fixed it up and everything and so we have it now and i love that car i mean she got it fixed up for him but yeah it's i love that car tell us about young macaela please young macaela was very fun she she was very fun she was very fun she she's um she kind of lives in her own world in her head i mean she has her she knows the boundaries and stuff but she's always been very creative the way she dresses and just how she is like when

she talks and stuff like that so are you surprised that this microphone ended up in her face no no right yeah we kind of knew early on yeah uh when did you know that she was pretty special as a as an athlete well we tried a few other things we tried um um Soccer first, that didn't work because she was not going to play soccer. And then we tried ballet. That didn't work because at a recital, she stood in the middle of the stage and hissed at everybody. So she was a cat. And everybody was dancing doing the routine and she was hissing and she was a cat.

So I said, okay, what's next? Let's try gymnastics. And she started out at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Yeah. She's been there doing it ever since. why Nebraska? That is not surprising. None of that was surprised.

Why Nebraska for her? Well, she did have some other colleges that were looking at her, but what I liked about Nebraska is that if I was going to hand my daughter over to a college and give them the opportunity to kind of raise her, I just felt that Nebraska was the best college to do so. Not the weather, though. No, not the weather. So are you in, where are you, now you in Georgia Virginia where are you

Savannah Georgia you're in Savannah okay so yeah no the weather is yeah the weather is brutal yeah yeah different at all we just had 80 degrees you're in a different place yeah yeah yeah but we had it for a day yeah so there's that Michaela what how would you define this journey of yours

because today's senior night and it's tribute time and you know me I'm a big old softie so I've got to pick on you a little bit I mean, it's hard. Like, every journey has its challenges, but I think with it, like, I wouldn't give it up. I wouldn't change anything. I think if anything, I would, I don't know.

I just want to do it longer, but I can't. I mean, I don't know. It's hard when you identify. We've had this conversation with a few people, especially because we had some alumni at the gym yesterday. And I think that I don't, it's hard. I wouldn't change anything. It's hard because I identify as gymnastics. It's been 20 years.

Like that's all I've known. And I don't really want to know anything else. But I think like with that, I'm able to take what I know and, you know, do help teach whatever the next generation and stuff. So, you know, I plan on coaching, which is as close you can get to being in the sport without being in a sport.

Mom, you're very popular on the text line. That's her mom. No, somebody asked her yesterday if she was my sister. I saw the names on the YouTube stream, and I honestly thought it was her sister. Don't fuel the fire. I was 23 when I had her. Right?

It was worse, though, because when I was pregnant, I was in the military, my husband was younger than me and so they came up and people would say stuff to him like she's so young and she's pregnant I'm like I'm older than him so

why the military oh I love the military it's just my dad was in the Air Force I mean he only did four years but I just knew in high school I had the opportunity to go to college but there was just something about the military and I was ready for it

and ever since then I mean I just love the community it's a different way of life. I mean, military way of life is just, they're very supportive. And then, like, when she was younger, and I was working, I think she was maybe seven or eight, she was walking home from school, getting ready for gymnastics, sit on the front porch. I would come after work, pick her up, drive her to gym. So. Would the military life have been for you? No. No. I did make her do one year of ROTC. Yeah. I'll have to send you. I have a picture. Oh, yes, please. Remember, she does

what she wants. Well, no, it's bad because, like, I have my mother's attitude. Um, and if somebody, I, I just backfire really fast. I think you know that, D.P. But I think, you've never backfired at me. Not at you. I think I've just told you stuff. Oh, yeah. I definitely know. She's thought about it. No. But I think, like, I'm just bad in the sense that, like, if somebody argues with me, I'm very, like, fast fire back. So if I was getting yelled at by, you know, in the military it would just I would have gotten kicked out I'm sure yeah the same applies at the university of Nebraska Lincoln um so tell us about tonight and what it means to you um to have to have done through this program as you have what does tonight mean to you well I'm thinking about

it as just one more meat because I don't want to like I'm a very emotional person so I don't want to like have that inter interfere with anything but all ultimately I think the thing that like means the most is like she was able to come out and for me like that's the most important thing I think you haven't been here what since sophomore year yeah so like to just I mean just with like COVID and then like just traveling and she works a lot and stuff so I mean she supports me from home but just to like have her here like to me is like I don't know that's ultimately it's not gymnastics related but um i i think it's hard for me to even think about my last time in divani is there a moment in divany that makes you smile a little bit wider a little bit brighter than you mean my back bend

it could be it might not be um i've had a lot of good memories in in divany i think like i had a really special senior night last year which wasn't my senior night uh should have been i guess um and one judge scored me a 10 on beam, which I'm kind of like speechless about it because like I don't think it was good enough and and all of that. Like we had a conversation before where like gymnasts or, you know, athletes in general kind of don't think that they're good, not good enough, but like what they're doing. Like somebody could be like, oh, that was perfect. And you were like, no, it wasn't. I didn't feel like it was good enough. But that was special for me just because like, I think in club, like, I don't know, you could probably speak on this. In club, in club,

I don't think I was really that consistent on Beam. And it was like I just made a lot of, not mistakes, but like I wasn't confident until maybe about this year's I've been the most confident. So to see that score and ended up getting a 995, which is pretty close to perfect, was a real big eye opener for me just because I think I've always kind of self-doubted and not had like the best self-talk. So just to be able to be like, I am very close to perfect on an event that's one of the hardest, given that it's four inches wide, was really special for me just because I think it just shows that you don't have to be a top name at a top school to do something like that. We've talked about it. I'll say it again.

Don't make me cry, D.P. I'm going to have to go get waterproof mascara. Listen, I'm proud of you. this has been a trek like this has been a journey and it hasn't been a straight line but to watch you grow and to watch you figure

this thing out this microphone and the power of responsibility behind it and you to figure out this gymnastics thing but most importantly you figuring out the life thing I see the growth I'm just going to say I'm proud listen tonight

Devaney Center what time who's who who else is graduating give me the particular so we have well four seniors one of them isn't here she got hurt she had her senior night last year so it's kind of it i don't want to say worked out it kind of worked out she's going to a school in boston to check it out and learn more for her next journey so she's not going to be here but there's two more seniors katelyn higgins who she's a transfer so if you don't really know the name this is her second year here she's a senior and then there's a fifth year who you guys probably know all too well kensie roby and myself well um i will be there cheering loudly um you guys have had quite the run

quite the journey it's been it's been something mom thank you for trusting us with your baby you're welcome we were trying to take care of her you did good it's it's a joy just to watch the journey. So we'll be there tonight. Husker Nation will be there tonight. We'll be loud and proud for you. I'm going to try not to cry. Ah, that's all right. It's okay if you do. You earned it, so I'll just cry after. There you go. There we go. At a coffee place. You have to be there. We'll throw it to break. We'll close out one-on-one when we come back.

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