A lot of girls when they are little want to go to dance class or gymnastics class or other girly sports like that, so they either beg their moms or their moms do it before they have to beg. I'm going to be honest, not as many people as you think actually stick with the sport past the classes they take as a little kid. Some continue on in recreational classes until they are asked to join team, and others just kind of stop going after they do a certain number of classes for a certain amount of time because they just don't like it anymore. Sometimes, even girls at a very young age, cannot do it anymore because of an injury. I know that happens a lot for older gymnasts but it happens for young ones as well.
Going from recreational classes to team and being a competitive gymnast is a big step for any gymnast. They immediately begin practicing more times a week for more hours and it is a lot more commitment on their part. The first few weeks or even months usually determine whether or not someone is meant for this kind of lifestyle. Of course, as it is with all other sports as well, people drop out at different times for many different reasons. For me, the leap from classes to team was a pretty big deal and a really big change for me. I went from a one hour class once a week to three practices a week two and a half hours each. And, for a girl in third grade, that's a pretty big amount of time to be spent focusing on the same thing in a gym full of chalk while a lot of other things are going on around you. That aspect of the sport, having to focus so much all the time, is extremely difficult at times, but I'll get into that later.
As you become older and practices become longer and your whole body begins to be sore all the time, you become a much better gymnast. You adapt to having meals in the car or having dinner at 9 or later on most nights. Also, as you get older and get more homework, you get used to staying up until the early hours of the morning just to finish what you need to get done for the next day at school. You learn to always appreciate weekends because you get to sleep in and relax and let your body heal as much as it can in two days, except of course, if you have a meet, which take up many of your weekends during the competition season. Competition season is usually from around October or November until May for Excel and JO (Junior Olympic) and is from December to February for high school gymnastics, if that is something you decide you are interested in. If you are in high school and are trying to manage high school gymnastics and either Excel or JO from December to February, good luck. That is all the advice I have for you because during those three months you are basically in a gym at least five days a week, sometimes in two gyms in the same day. And during those three months, you stay up even later and eat even later and even less because you have so much going on with school and sports, food is sometimes the last thing on your mind, even if you are starving.
Even if it seems like it's miserable and a lot of work and I make it seem like I hate it, I really do love it. I love everything about the sport. It may be miserable at times and you get so frustrated that you want to quit and you are in so much pain sometimes that you can't walk, you realize that without the sport you have nothing. Like, right now for example, I am out with a serious knee injury and can barely walk, let alone do gymnastics. So I have nothing to do right now and for at least the next 8 weeks and I am already itching to get back into the gym. Sometimes it takes an injury in which you can't do gymnastics at all to makes you realize how much you miss it and how empty your life would be without it. So, if you are a gymnast and you are reading this, you should appreciate being able to do it while you still can because those years when you are able to do it will be the best years of your life.
Please leave any comments about ideas or just responses to this post- I'd love to hear from you!! :)
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