How To Quit Gymnastics

My brain goes silent. I forget my problems, my issues, my struggles, and everything that makes me feel dead inside. Nothing gives me more hope and happiness, then running on floor to hanging on a bar. From the darkness inside comes a light that feels like an eternal flame that can never be extinguished. Nothing can stop me from feeling more alive. Starting gymnastics has been the best decision I have ever made and has made me the person I am today. With every move, every skill, and every moment, gymnastics makes me feel alive.

         For years gymnastics has been a sport that many children participate in. But as the years have gone by it has turned into something other than a place for kids to grow and learn. Its overwhelming commitment has continued to replace kids’ childhoods with stress, mental and physical pain and eating disorders. Many results have come from this change in the gymnastics society. Gymnasts have come to a point where they have been told and directed to understand that winning is the only important factor in gymnastics. “ It’s about the elite child athlete and the American obsession with winning that has produced a training environment wherein results are bought in at any cost, no matter how

“Gymnastics taught me everything- life lessons, responsibility and discipline and respect,” says Shawn Johnson, 2008 Beijing Olympics All Around Gold Medalist. A hotly debated issue is whether or not competitive sports are beneficial for children and teens. (This, though, will focus solely on gymnastics.) However, research shows gymnastics is a perfectly healthy sport which teaches life skills such as time management, sportsmanship, and healthy habits.

At the tender age of five, my family decided to put me into gymnastics, one of the most challenging sports, both physically and mentally. Gymnastics revolves around obtaining perfection—an unreachable goal for anyone, especially a five-year-old. Albert Einstein defines insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Performing the same routine in front of a panel of people who will judge even my smallest flaws fits this definition to a tee. Welcome to the world of competitive gymnastics. What compelled my parents to put me in this sport, I will never know, but I have never regretted their decision.

For my report I decided to do it on gymnastics. My report will include the history about gymnastics. I will talk about how to do gymnastics and the benefits for doing gymnastics. I will also explain how I am involved in gymnastics. In the late eighteenth-and the early nineteenth-century gymnastics began. It started in Germany. Johann Friedrich Gutsmuths and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn created gymnastics. It is different now because back then they did not have all of the things that we have now. To do gymnastics, you need lots strength and flexibility. Some of The rules for gymnastics are that on floor you have to stay inside the line so if you are doing flips on the floor when you land you must be inside the line Gymnastics is good for you because

When I was 9 years old, I started this thing called competitive or all-star cheerleading. My goal at the time was to make it on a level 5 team and compete at the World Championship. Within my first 5 seasons I had a lot of trouble with my tumbling, which prevented me from moving past level 4. Before my sixth season I switched cheer gyms. My parents believed in my goals so much that they drove me an hour and half to and from practice two to three times a week. Within my first year at Tribe which was my new gym, my tumbling issues never got resolved. That left me on a level 3 team where I never believed I was good enough. The next year I was again put on a level 3 team. Now in my eighth season I was put on a level 3 team yet again. I wanted to quit, but my coach showed me that tumbling did not define me and allowed me to fall in love with the sport all over again.

Although, I felt that quitting baseball was not the finish to my journey. This was the start of high school, with new opportunities staring at my face. Still passionate about sports, I anticipated finding another that intrigued me. At lunch one day, I told my friend about quitting baseball and how I wanted to try something new. I profoundly reminisce him saying, “If you want a challenge, come run track with me.” My knowlege of track wasn’t immense, but I knew that running was something I craved to do more of. Therefore, I needed execute this challenge for myself. After all of the years of playing baseball because of the expectations I thought were on me, I stepped out of my comfort

The moment I quit it seemed as the right thing to do. At the point I had torn my ACL and all my friends were quitting as well. My biggest thing at the time was I did not think I could get back into the hang of it. My coaches were always

In the 6th grade, the sports at the school increased to softball, baseball, track, volleyball, basketball and soccer. This what the time when us as students had to decide what we wanted to play. I debated doing track because everyone else was doing it, but I was not good at running. Because of this I decided that I would stick with softball. When the season came around I was shocked when my whole softball team of 7 years had quit on me. They had all left to join track. This was hard for me because the sign up for all sports were over and there was not enough for a team. Being shy, and not outgoing around the kids I went to school with I didn't know what I was going to do. I decided one day and asked my mom if I could join a kid-sports team from another

During my elementary years, my second home was at the cheerleading gym. Each week, I would spend over sixteen hours in Shrewsbury, PA practicing with my cheer team for competitions. I was a member of Titanium Athletics, an allstar cheer team that trained to compete against other teams all over the country. Cheer was essentially my entire life for five years, and I had no idea how much my family and I would be impacted when I quit.

My biggest regret is that I quit gymnastics. I thought I was going to do cheer but I ended up not doing it because of my family being so busy. I wish I hadn’t quit gymnastics because now I can’t to many things that I used to do like a back-walkover and the splits (left, middle, and right). If I could go back to the day I said I wanted to quit I would and I wouldn’t have said anything to my mom about quitting. Even though going to gymnastics right after school was rough I enjoyed it. I liked being able to come home and show everyone what I learned that day and doing little routines. I also liked having contests with my sister because I knew I would win since I practiced everyday. Since I did competitive gymnastics I had meets on Saturdays and

Most of my life was consumed with the sport of gymnastics. I remember the rush I would get as it was my turn to compete in front of the cheering crowd. In those moments nothing else mattered; just me, the chalk on my calloused hands and the equipment in front of me. I have competed in gymnastics ever since I was five years old. I spent six days a week in the gym practicing all year round and even volunteered part of my time to a community program teaching gymnastics to children. Gymnastics had a tremendous role in shaping me into the person I am today and it is also what led me to want to become a Physician Assistant.

In all honesty, I used to wish that I could find a way to quit gymnastics. Yes, I absolutely loved the sport and camaraderie of my team and coaches, but after 10 years it simply became too stressful on my body physically and mentally. August 23, 2013 was a pivotal moment in my gymnastics career; I had my first major injury that required me to be rushed to a local hospital immediately. From that day on, I no longer spent hours a week in the gym training, but hours in waiting rooms, doctors offices and physical therapy. In some ways this was rough for me as I wasn’t used to living such a sedentary lifestyle. For as long as I could remember I trained 15 hours a week or more and going from that to nothing practically overnight made my body confused

Most of my life I was consumed with the sport of gymnastics. I remember the rush I would get as it was my turn to compete in front of the cheering crowd. In those moments nothing else mattered; just me, the chalk on my calloused hands and the equipment in front of me. I have competed in gymnastics ever since I was five years old. I spent six days a week in the gym practicing all year round and even volunteered part of my time to a community program teaching gymnastics to children. Gymnastics had a tremendous role in shaping me into the person I am today and it is what also lead me to want to become a Physician Assistant.