Frida Esparza’s story is nothing short of inspiring, a tale that grips you with the tentacles of ‘trying to fit in with the peers’ and also how to get rid of it and also be awesome in the way you are. Her recent performance and participation in the pride meet is evident of it, in her own words “freshman Frida” never would’ve done,” this was the meet he meet she rocked the guitar in.

Her love for metallic showed up when she rocked the national anthem on her electric guitar Friday in Pauley Pavilion and then went on to give an even more electrifying performance. Gymnastics started for the UCLA star when her parents, in her very own words, “wanted me to do something and found a mommy and me class.” But who exactly are Nora and Rolando? What lies to them beyond being the parents of the 2018 Mexican national all-around and uneven bars champion?

Who is Frida Esparza’s mother?

Nora Esparza, or say Mumma Esparza, was one of the very first persons to might have unknowingly brought out the gymnast in her daughter. When she took her 2-year-old to the Mommy and Me classes for the very first time, as the gymnast recalls, “I don’t remember much, but my mom did say that at a first class I went to, they had those tiny beams, and she walked me across.” But the 24-year-old’s mother initially hesitated to admit her daughter into gymnastics classes!

Having taken notice of young Frida, coaches recognized her potential and suggested Mumma Esparza to provide her daughter the kind of training she would need to succeed as a gymnast.  “Oh wow she’s very talented; you should put her on a team or put her in gymnastics classes.” Nora, however, was skeptical at the get-go, “they just wanted us to pay a lot“, but that apprehension soon went away at the sight of her child jumping around like a true gymnast. It was then that her mother realized that the now-UCLA star was really into gymnastics as a child. Just like that, her mother brought little Frida back to the mat. Since then, the gymnastics sensation’s mother has been an unrelenting source of support for her.

In April 2018, when an MRI revealed that Esparza needed a foot surgery, she tried to push through the pain, but it just kept getting worse, and then it was the second MRI that came clean, but surgery was still unavoidable. Fighting the pain, the resilient US-Mexican gymnast competed on bars with a broken foot in October. She eventually did get the surgery, but the post-surgical recovery was so tough that she thought of quitting, but it was her mother who convinced her otherwise. First, Esparza would stick with gymnastics for one more week. Then a week turned into a quarter. Then a season.

Who is Frida Esparza’s father?

Apart from gymnastics, the 24-year-old has another great love in her life– her electric guitar and the heavy metal band, Metallica. Yes, even when the Graduate student shredded the national anthem on her electric guitar Friday in Pauley Pavilion before delivering an even more electrifying performance. Behind it all, it was her father, Ronaldo Esperza, who heavily influenced the UCLA Bruins gymnast’s taste in music, with Frida’s dad himself being a huge fan of Metallica.

What nationality are Frida Esparza’s Parents?

The 24-year-old is the only Latina on UCLA’s gymnastics roster, born to Nora and Rolando, who hail from Mexico. Though in the early years, it was difficult for the US-Mexican gymnast  as she was trying to be “the typical girl–the ‘American girl.’” But she is proud of where she has come from now.

Talking of competing for the Mexican national team, she has said “it was also nreally nice to get to represent my family and my heritage on the international stage.” The Latina is well over her phase of trying to fit in and is very proud to represent her culture and ethnicity.