December
2006
Jump Start Gym
Most people believe that if you want your child to be a STAR gymnast, enroll them into classes at an early age- like around a year or so after they start walking. I, however, don’t entirely agree with this idea. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen young gymnasts get burned out before they’ve reached the age of 10, including my sister.
There are a few parents who think that pushing their children to continue to become amazingly great gymnasts are doing their children good, and they are, if they know that their child really loves the sport and they just need a little extra sporadic motivation, every now and then. But there’s also the other case, where a gymnast just grows to despise the sport she once loved, and in this case, parents have to just learn to let go of dreams that they have for their kids. In this case, they should think- is it really worth my child’s happiness and childhood, if there’s no enjoyment coming from it?
My sister had a lot of talent as a gymnast, and although we (my parents and I) all wanted her to continue, we knew that once she started crying everytime she had to go to the gym, or conveniently falling sound asleep before gym practice, it wasn’t meant to be. She started toddler classes around the age of three, team around the age of five, and had enough of it by the age of eight. I think a lot of it came from fear and intimidation by the yelling and lecturing of coaches- problems that younger kids just don’t know how to deal with. That’s why sometimes I think that waiting to start gymnastics at a later age, and sacrificing the strength, flexibility, and skills that are more easily achieved at a younger age, can turn out to be a greater gain in the long run.
I didn’t start team until I was 12. I did recreation classes for about seven years, before I asked my mom if I could be on team. Building up my passion for the sport by having fun for the first couple of years gave me the drive to keep achieving and learning more once I started team. Of course, I’m never going to be the gymnast that you see on tv, but that doesn’t matter; I was happy.
I’ve gained so many more meaningful experiences from wanting to go to gym. It made me excel faster then what most people expected of me. I had to ask to try out for team, when usually you have to be invited. They accepted me for my unbelievable will to do the sport, not so much for my skills at the time. But with just two years of being on team, I went from having no backhandspring, to having them on beam. I skipped a level, and my coach gave me the nickname of ”eye of the tiger.” I went from level four to eight in three years before I decided to move onto another area of the sport (coaching and trampoline). Would I have been able to get as far as I did if I had started team at a younger age, like my sister? I don’t know, but I know one thing for sure- you achieve things faster when you’re hungry for it, and at younger ages you don’t really know what you want; you just basically do whatever you’re told until you hit an age of rebellion and vulnerability where you’re prone to quit, if you decide you’ve had enough. That’s why, in my opinion, children should enjoy being children before they start any sort of high-stress activity or sport. If they really want to do something, they’ll ask, and they’ll achieve much more if it comes from them.
