Walking to the beam, feeling scared to fall, I hear people coughing quietly, trying not to be loud. I can smell the chalk, and I see the banners of champions hanging around the gym. I jump onto the beam. I start my routine: first two steps, next tuck, after, back walk over, then flip off the beam, and stick the landing. Have you ever been in a gymnastics gym? Did you ever think about how long it takes to master that skill? If you play a sport you should know how long it takes to do something well. Gymnastics is NO different!
Practice Makes Perfect
Gymnastics is no different than other sports. In fact, that flip off the beam is a new skill for me, and I have been training in gymnastics since I was four! Gymnastics isn’t easy. I practice three days a week, with two and a half hours for each training. There is a reason the flip take a long time to master because first you have to learn the basics. Some of the basics are having enough control over your body so you don’t hurt yourself. Then you start learning how to flip. After you learn to flip, you have to learn how make the flip look good: exactly how to point your toes or where to put your hands. As you can see it take hard work to be a gymnast! Just like football or soccer, it takes a long time to master a skill and do it well. Gymnastics is a real sport because it requires hard work and focus.
Train Insane
A typical training for a gymnast would look a little something like this: You enter the gym and start your stretches. Then you start your practice, and you go to your assigned events. The different events are balance beam, uneven bars, vault, and the floor exercises. The balance beam is a thin beam that you perform gymnastics tricks on. The uneven bars are two bars that are uneven. You do your routine on them and go from one bar to the other without falling to the ground. To do the vault, you have to run, have strength to lift yourself over, and do the trick you are assigned. A couple examples of tricks might be handsprings or back handsprings. Last but not least, are the floor exercises. The floor exercise is a specific routine of moves that you make up with your coach.
Health Nuts
Gymnastics requires more than just training. First you need to be healthy in order to perform well. You have to cut back on junk food, but you can still have delicious desserts from time to time. I would not give up chocolate chip cookies for anything! In order to be healthy, you also have to get enough sleep. An elementary school aged gymnast should get twelve hours of sleep every night, and middle school aged gymnasts should get nine to ten hours of sleep each night.
Gymnastics requires a lot of hard work and a big time commitment. Even though there are some downsides to gymnastics, there are many more benefits, including great posture, greater flexibility, and most importantly, fun!
So the next time you are looking for a new sport, consider gymnastics!