Gymnastics is a sport that every girl wants to try at some point in their life. In fact, most girls have. It's a sport that teaches you so many things. Gymnastics built me up to be the person I am today. Here are 5 things that every gymnast will understand:
1. Hard Work
Nothing says hard work like a Gymnast. You have to put in the effort outside of the gym if you want to succeed inside of the gym. Practices were always at least three hours, six days a week. Because you were a gymnast, you will forever understand that nothing comes without hard work and dedication.
2. Leotards, It's A Love Hate Relationship
As a little girl we were excited to throw on that sparkly leotard. The more we grew, we realized how annoying they can be. However, they become our wardrobe. We've all had that night where we come home late after a meet and wake up still wearing a leo from the night before. The bottom two drawers in our dresser are filled with leotards. You learn that velvet will always be an option and sparkles will never go out of style.
3. Discipline
By definition, discipline means the practice of training to obey rules, using punishment to correct disobedience. You did what your coach said, no matter what. If you didn't, your punishment was conditioning. That was everyone's least favorite part of practice. Gymnastics didn't teach us that discipline is something that only takes place in the gym, we all brought it to other parts of our life.
4. Time Management
Forget about a social life. As a gymnast growing up, your days went something as follows: school, practice, dinner, homework, bed, repeat. When it came to sleepover birthday parties on a Friday night, your response would be that you could only come for a little bit because you had to be at practice at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. If you wanted to compete you had to get good grades. We all remember that time when we had to sit in the office at our club and finish our homework before we could practice. We hated that day because it meant practice was cut short. Therefore we learned that if we wanted to succeed in the gym we had to succeed in the classroom. We somehow learned how to fit everything we needed to do into a 24 hour day.
5. It Will Forever Be Our Favorite Sport
Your mom put you in the sport when you were young. Little did you know that it would become your whole life. You would be attending meets after you were done competing or even coaching. It's your favorite sport to watch during the Olympics and even though those gymnasts do incredible things, you are always able to point out a bent knee or a flexed foot.
You will always want more of the sport that tore you down but also built you up. There was something a little relieving the day that we were done. We knew that our bodies would forever thank us for not being so hard on them anymore. However, it feels like a part of us is missing every day that we're not in the gym being told to strive for perfection. Gymnastics will always hold a special place in our hearts.
