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SHE’S probably not done shedding her baby teeth, but 9-year-old Milla Bizzotto is tougher than most adults.
The third grader from South Florida, the U.S., recently shocked the world with her incredible physical fitness, becoming the youngest person in the world to complete the 24-hour Battlefrog Xtreme race, an outdoor fitness event designed by Navy SEALs.
“I don’t want to play video games,” she explained in an interview with The Miami Herald.
“I’m fearless,” she added. “And knowing I’m inspiring people makes me more fearless. It is hard, but that doesn’t stop me.”
Milla revealed that she started training at the age of 7, with her father and CrossFit coach Christian Bizzotto, in a bid to overcome her experience of being bullied in the second and third grade. “People would call me names and say I wasn’t a good player,” she said. So she wanted to learn to defend herself, and also become a role model for other kids like her.
“I don’t want people to quit because they don’t believe in themselves, because someone else says that they can’t believe in themselves,” she explained. “I didn’t want anyone else to go through what I did. I want to set an example and show other kids that they can do or be anything they want. I want to inspire kids to eat healthy and get outside and play. I want kids to stand up to bullies.”
Christian, it turns out, used to be a “super heavy set” man who took up fitness training just to be able to set a positive example for his daughter. And now that he’s inspired her to become a role model for other kids, he’s pretty happy. “I think the bullying thing has died down without her having to take physical action just because her outlook is so much different now that she knows how to defend herself,” he said.
Having completed the Spartan race with her grandmother and father last year, Milla began training for the Battlefrog race in June. She worked on her physical strength and stamina three hours a day, five days a week, until she was eventually ready to take on the challenge. (SD-Agencies)
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