FlipNotes

Gymnastics is, arguably, the
hardest sport in the world. Okay, I’ll give you that it’s one of the
hardest sports in the world, but I will take on any middle-aged, football
obsessed man when he argues otherwise. And my reasoning is simple: gymnastics
only gets harder.





I recently saw one of those
inspirational fitness posts on pinterest that said, “It doesn’t get easier, you
just get better.” While that may be true for soccer, or football, or baseball,
or basketball, gymnasts get no such break. Sure, a cartwheel on beam seemed
impossible when you were six and it’s like sleepwalking now, but the sport
simply gets harder with you. You got your round-off back handspring? Great, now
add a back tuck. Mastered the tuck? Make it a layout. Layouts are easy? How
about a full? Now a double full. Two-and-a-half and add a punch front out of
it. Do you get my point? And that was literally the progression of one possible
tumbling pass on floor.





When a basketball player masters
a free throw, do they move the hoop higher? (It’s called a hoop, right? I’m
basketball illiterate.) Do they make him scoot back a foot? Make him do it
behind his back? No, I’m pretty sure he gets to be awesome at free throws
forever. My point is this: gymnastics takes a mental tenacity that very few
sports require. And at a much younger age.





I don’t want to get all “kids
these days” on you (I still feel like a kid myself, if I’m honest), but allow
me a moment to point out some truths. There is a lot of pressure on parents
today to raise successful kids. Kids that are great at sports, maintain near
perfect GPAs, have test scores to get them into their college of choice, and
being varsity in a sport is pretty great, too. I’ve met Kindergarteners with
Spanish tutors, and kids who have been learning sight words since they were
two. We want our children to succeed so badly that we’ve forgotten how to let
them fail. And then we’ve handed them smart phones so that they learn to expect
instant gratification. (I’m still kind of shocked my smart phone can’t make
dinner for me yet.)





What does this have to do with
gymnastics? I’m glad you asked. Sports take time. Blood, sweat, and tears. The
very obstacles that modern day parents are under pressure to alleviate for
their children. Gymnastics, the hardest sport in the world (see how I brought
that full circle?), is a sport that your child will never master. Because there
is always a way to make that newly mastered skill more difficult. Then there
will be skills that take your gymnast years to learn, even though they only
took her teammates a few weeks or months (go ahead, ask me about my blind
change on bars). The current generation’s need for instant gratification will
be met with shocking resistance, and according to those in the know in the
sport, it’s beginning show.





I’m sure you’re completely
surprised to hear that my family often talks about gymnastics (though not as
much you’d probably think). In a recent conversation with my dad, he said this:





The more I have thought about
this [the changes in today’s athletes], the more I realized this is why I was
ready to retire from the day-to-day coaching in my gym. It wasn’t that we
lacked talented gymnasts but it was because they seemed to lack the desire to
work through whatever it took to accomplish their goals — working through pain,
dealing with disappointment, and being motivated by failures instead of
avoiding them. As I have aged I have looked at my time differently; time is
more of an investment where it used to be something I had a lot of. I was
feeling more and more like the time I was investing in the girls was no longer
the best use of my time. Coaching the coaches, on the other hand,
has rejuvenated my love of teaching and I continue to feel inspired
to do so.





That is obviously not to say that
this is universal amongst every gymnast competing today, but the pace of modern
life has changed things for modern athletes. There are no shortcuts in
gymnastics (or any sport) and if failing at a skill after trying it will keep
you from trying again, you will not succeed.





Recently, an Olympic gymnast came
to our gym to spend an evening with the gymnasts and share some inspiration.
She mentioned that at one point in her career as an elite she was trying to
master a new skill on bars and made herself do it 50 times at every practice.
50 times! I can’t think of any skill I did 50 times in one practice. And even
with that repetition, it took her a year to get it. 50 times per practice for a
year before she could do a skill. Nothing could be further from
instant gratification.





But take heart gymnasts, parents,
and coaches, because the beauty of the sport is that gratification, though it
won’t be instant, when it comes, is more satisfying than you can imagine. It’s
what keeps us coming back. It’s the reason we cheer so loud when you finally
stick a beam routine at a crucial meet, or finally manage that blind change on
bars. The first time you get a 9.0 at a meet or go for your series on beam will
be a moment that sticks with you for life. Eventually you’ll get addicted to
seeing the outcome of your hard work, the satisfaction that comes from knowing
how hard you worked. Success in this sport is never given, always hard fought,
so as we said at my gym, “Love the battle.”





FlipNotes is dedicated to helping you navigate the often
confusing world of gymnastics. Whether you’re the parent to a recreational
gymnast, or an on-the-rise team kid, we have insights for you.





It’s a collaboration between Lori Forster (Colorado Aerials Gymnastics club
owner, choreographer, and once upon a time elite coach) and Asha Forster
Grebenik (long-retired USAG competitive gymnast, coach, and mother of three
ragamuffin boys). Our combined experience, passion for the sport, and desire to
see the gymnastics community grow has led us to this endeavor. We sincerely
hope to help you navigate the world of gymnastics; a world that has forever
enriched our lives, and hopefully will yours, too. No really, it might surprise
you with that ability.