UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa - From a young age, Penn State freshman gymnast Favian Valdez was a natural gymnast. Going all the way back to his playground days, Valdez referred to himself as a wild kid, racing around the monkey bars and swinging all over the place.
He chose gymnastics as a way to harness all the pent up energy inside him, and his original inspiration came from an unlikely source.
"When I was young, I was very hyper," Valdez said. "My dad would take me to the park and there was this one stranger that went up to my dad and asked if I was in gymnastics.