A change in careers is always a good thing.

You may be stuck in your job, afraid you're going nowhere and then, sure enough, you decide to chuck it all out and start over.

That's pretty much what Marina Heck did. The former school teacher was fired from her job at a prestigious Catholic school when they got wind that Mrs. Heck was taking part in poledancing.

Marina had been poledancing on her own for the past two years when school officials saw some of her routines online and promptly fired her.

Although poledancing is associated with strip clubs, there's a growing consensus that it's more closer to performance dancing.

In fact, there's even talk that it may be considered as an Olympic sport in the coming years.

Marina, who's been an avid gymnast from the age of 3, was first introduced to poledancing when she attended a gay strip club with a friend of hers.

Fast forward to a few years later and Marina's taking home gold in the US Pole Sports Federation championshps. Because of her victory, Marina qualified to represent her country at the World Pole Sports Championships in London.

Sadly, however, she didn't win and landed in eighth place. At an international level, it's a serious business. "Most of them own studios, or they have coaches, or they have teams they work with. When I told them I go to a studio once a week and train in my basement by myself, they thought I was crazy," explains Maria.

Despite this, however, Maria still continues on. "This brings me back down to earth and reminds me how grateful I am to be able to do this. I really enjoy it. I do it for me, and I'm really lucky to say that I represented the United States."

Fair play to her, in fairness.

 

Via JSOnline.com