Kayley Mitchell’s ambition to pedal on world arena

KAYLEY Mitchell is 12-years-old and has Cerebral Palsy, but that has not stopped her determination to put her BMX skills to the test on the world stage.

The Regents Park girl started BMX riding in 2016 and has hauled an impressive collection of accolades from four state championships and two national competitions.

Kayley will travel to National Championships at Tasmania in April next year in her bid to qualify for a world BMX championship at Texas, USA in May.

She also has her sights on the Queensland Championships in June for indoor rowing at the Sunshine Coast.

Since the age of 10, Kayley has overcome the spectre of a recommended surgical procedure.

The surgery would lengthen her leg by the tendon in her calf and require a botox injection to her muscle.

It would have been completed once a week over three months and that Kayley would need to avoid physical activity.

The Mitchell family negotiated a delay to surgery for six months using targeted exercises and stretching.

Fit Body Fitness Training coach Rachael McCallum has trained Kayley for the past 12 months and said her determination to succeed was unparalleled.

“When Kayley came to her first session it was noticeable that she walked with difficulty with one foot on her tippy toes and her leg pronating inwards as she walked,” she said.

“Kayley was unable to skip, hop or run and most exercises required lots of work with foot and hip adjustments.

“I was amazed that Kayley raced, and I could also see that the recovery and pain from racing was taking its toll on her body, focus and mindset.”

Kayley has completed strength training including bench work, box jumps, isolated weights, lunges and more.

Within eight weeks she walked better, muscle formation was boosted and coordination improved.