Pro Women’s Athletic Phenom, Val Colon
“This was my first year competing and I fell in love with it. I never expected to place, let alone win…”
23-year-old Val Colon’s IPL stage debut was awesome at the 2019 2ND Annual IPL SoCal Pro/Am on September 7th in Covina California. In SoCal Val would enter only one division, Women’s Athletic. And two classes within the division, Novice and Open.
First up was Novice, where Val convincingly took 1st place. Shortly after, she would touch down on the Open stage, with a repeat performance. In this more stacked class Val was once again victorious as she took 1st place and earned the IPL Pro Card. An amazing debut for Miss Colon! And Val’s 2019 season was just getting started…
BEN YOSEF: First off, big congrats to you on your first IPL season! You were amazing! How are you feeling about all that went down?
VAL COLON: This IPL season was so much fun. This was my first year competing and I fell in love with it. I never expected to place, let alone win the championship. Overall I enjoyed every moment of it.
BEN: Your first show of the season was the SoCal Pro/Am in September. How were you feeling heading into that show?
VAL: The feeling I felt before the September show was insane. I’ve never felt so nervous and excited for an event in my life.
BEN: In the IPL it is very common for athletes to enter multiple divisions. In your case you only selected one. Women’s Athletic. Why did you choose to stick with this one division?
VAL: I set out a goal for myself to compete in one IPL division. I wanted to do my absolute best in that specific division, rather than having multiple divisions to worry about nailing. The above statement forced me to hyper-focus on what it takes to be an IPL Women’s Athletic Competitor. I had a lot of fun only focusing on this specific area of the competition.
BEN: What was your prep like heading into this show?
VAL: Mentally, I had a goal of looking as best as I could on stage. So I knew that physically I had to follow my coach’s step-by-step guidance involving the gym, my food preps and remaining positive every day in and out of the gym.
BEN: You dominated the Women’s Athletic division at the SoCal Pro/Am. Not only taking 1st place in Novice, but then going on to place 1st in Open, earning your Pro Card. How did it feel to be the number one girl in Women’s Athletic that night?
VAL: For my first competition, I definitely was on a high receiving my Pro Card and coming in 1st place in the Novice category as well as Open. But it honestly just lit a fire beneath me to try and dominate the competition at a harder level competing as a Pro. It was a really nice feeling being rewarded for all the work I put into my first competition. And it made me believe in myself that if I put in the same amount of dedication while training harder I could do the same thing at APEX.
BEN: Following that show you would waste no time hitting the stage for your Pro Debut, just three weeks later at the Grand Prix in Arizona. There was tons of excitement when it was announced that you would be facing off with Tiffany Gates, also making her Pro Debut. How were you feeling heading into that Pro show, especially after learning who you would be up against? And what was it like traveling for a show?
VAL: I was so excited to make my Pro Debut. It felt like such an accomplishment since I truly thought I didn’t have a shot at the West Covina show. I wanted to ride this momentum and ride this wave right up to my Pro Debut and just have fun. I had no expectations competing against someone like Tiffany Gates. Tiffany seemed like such an athlete and so badass through her Facebook photos. -laughs- She seemed like a seasoned vet. So all I wanted to do was be able to learn something from her on stage.
I feel as though if I didn’t compete against Tiffany I wouldn’t have been able to be as successful as I was at APEX. Tiffany showed such confidence on stage and was so solid in all of her posing that once I got back from Arizona I knew I had to push even further and become solid in what I wanted to do for APEX. Thank you Tiffany!
Traveling to Arizona was one for the books. It was my first time driving nonstop for 6 hours. I couldn’t have done it without Philomena Cortese, who at the time was my best friend. We shared many laughs, sang every song at the top of our lungs and ate tilapia with asparagus only using our hands because we forgot utensils. I wouldn’t change anything about that trip.
BEN: Tiffany would go on to win that show, which was her first Pro victory. Of course your season wasn’t over yet and you had some amazing things ahead for you to cap the season off. But we won’t get into that yet because the next issue of NATURALMAG is dedicated to APEX IV! Once again, it’s been so awesome watching you propel to the top of the game in such a short amount of time. I look forward to seeing what’s next for you!
VAL: Thank you, Ben!
About the interviewer:
Ben Yosef
Ben is the Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of NATURALMAG and the President & Founder of the International Physique League.
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