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Dedication, desire and determination

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jarrod R. Chavana
  • Air Forces Central Public Affairs
BAGHDAD --  "Dedicate yourself to the job"

"Desire to do it"

"Determination to get the job done"

These are the three D's (principles) that Master Sgt. Theresa Grolla acclimates to being a senior noncommissioned officer and an amateur figure competition competitor.

Sergeant Grolla applied her principles in order to place 2nd in the Paradise Cup Fitness competition 2008.

The Paradise Cup is an annual body building and figure competition held in Honolulu.

"I used to be in a weight management program coming up in the military," said Sergeant Grolla, U.S. Forces Iraq provost marshal office resource manager. "I decided to change my lifestyle because its become a big part of the Air Force and I want to motivate the younger Airmen."

A weight management program is for Airmen who are unable to pass the fitness program standards mandated by the Air Force. With the Air Force's new fitness program occurring twice a year Airmen excelling in one component such as, the push-ups and lacking in the sit-ups may not score the minimum 75 points to pass the test.

"You just need to take care of yourself and you have to want to do it," said Sergeant Grolla. "Why make a score of 75 on your fitness test when you can make a 90 or 100? Don't do what's expected of you, go above and beyond."

It was a lieutenant that motivated Sergeant Grolla to go above and beyond.

"We had a lieutenant in my last squadron who competed in fitness competitions and she would say 'you can do it too,'" said Sergeant Grolla, who is deployed from Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. "I would say yeah right, until one day my roommate and I challenged ourselves to do it and I got hooked."

Before she started working out competitively she weighed 180 pounds and during her first competition she went down to 130 pounds by working out and eating clean.

"I woke up at 4:30 a.m. everyday so I could work out two hours before work, one hour during lunch, and two hours after work," said Sergeant Grolla. " I learned how to eat right by eating clean. By eating clean, I stayed away from fried foods, cakes, candy and limited my carbs."

Sergeant Grolla's coworkers Army and Air Force alike feel she is an inspiration. By using her three D's, she was not only able to place second in the Paradise Cup, but was selected as the Air Education and Training Command SNCO of the year for 2009.

"Theresa's work ethic is phenomenal; it doesn't matter where she is, said Captain JoAnne Finan, a USF-I comptroller, who is deployed from Randolph AFB, Texas. "If you are always professional it will bleed out in everything that you do. It enhances your credibility; it insures your work ethic is high, the work that you do is high and that your integrity is high. With Theresa she doesn't just say it, she lives it."

Although Sergeant Grolla won't redeploy in time for the Arnold Classic in 2010, she hopes to compete in the 2011 figure competition.