Personal Narrative Gymnastics

MY callused feet hit the mat and pressure shoots through into me. Like lightning, the energy runs in through my arms and down into the mat below me. A sense of relief floods over me as I salute the judge almost subconsciously. I walk off the mat and can feel my teams and coaches warm embrace in the air. I nailed it. Gymnastics has always been a huge part of my life and holds a special place in my heart. I once read something that describes my love and passion for gymnastics. It goes along the lines of this… “Gymnastics is like a drug. Its killing your body, but you keep coming back for more because it’s so addicting.”…. Every gymnast understands. We have a love hate relationship with the sport, but we can’t imagine our lives without it. It is part of me that I will never be able to get rid of. I have had my fair share of struggles with gymnastics. Setbacks that I am still going through, but that I will not let take over me. I was torn apart from my team, forced to go 2 ½ years without gymnastics and once I got it back, something happened that I almost let take over my long sought after

On my way to the competition, as I always have, I inserted my earbuds into my ears and watched as our car passed hundreds of trees. Every gymnastics meet created such a sickening feeling in my stomach and made my head spin. My father asked if I felt alright. I lied and told him I felt fine. I jokingly said that I only imagined myself at the top of the podium; a first place medal around my neck. My parents tried to encourage me to accomplish this. Therefore, they promised a stuffed animal and an ice cream cone if I won. I made a half-smile because I doubted myself too much. If only I knew what would soon happen to permanently change myself as a gymnast. When I arrived, all of my teammates crowded around me and pulled me into the gymnasium. Because we were competing at our ‘home meet’, a gymnastics competition at my team’s gymnasium, I felt more comfortable. After warm-up, I went to vault. I did not feel pleased with my score, but

I completed my floor routine with ease! It showcased my best event and I nailed it; however, bars really created the pressure. My coach for the event was Coach Alex, and the determination I felt to make him proud overwhelmed me. I loved all my coaches, but he stood out as someone very special. I knew I would miss his constant nagging at me. I approached the springboard, enveloped with chalk and trembling from head to toe. I hit the springboard with such power it jumped backwards. My hands felt like fire as I spun around the bars. My hands released the low bar and after an eternity, I felt the bar again, but by that time I grasped onto the high bar. Before I knew it, I had finished my last bar routine with a successful

         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

One of two. That's how I feel everyday of my life. I'm a twin and that means I will never be complete without my other half. When I was younger, I learned that having a twin does not keep me from things. It's getting to have a person in my life that I don't need to hide from, other than in hide and seek. When I was little, my brother probably hated me as much as I hated him. But we were together all the time. We went to school together, we were in the same class almost all the time. Sometimes, we had the same friends even. We shared birthday parties, cakes, presents, money. Basically the same things we still share now. But between us, we shared secrets. Little things that we thought were so cool. When my grandma gave us money, we split it and made sure not to tell our parents. I went and bought

What if in a matter of seconds all your dreams that you have worked your entire life for shattered before your eyes? What if this happened all while millions of people were watching? Would you still get up and try again? Shawn Johnson has conquered many challenges throughout her gymnastics career all while being watched by millions of people. In the book, “ Winning Balance,” Shawn shares some of her challenges and how she overcame them. The theme of this book is to never give up and keep trying even if it seems as though you have already lost. One quote from the book that really portrayed this theme is, “ Sometimes the real victory comes from simply not giving up. Just remember: God is big enough to handle every challenge, and he is loving enough to calm every fear.” ( pg. 91) The setting of this book takes place in Iowa as well as the 2008 Olympics in Bejing, China.

Elizabeth is sitting in the living room on the couch in her pajamas. The lights are dim and low and papers are scattered around her. The home is silent except for her fingers tapping away at the keyboard and the occasional shuffling of paper work. A notification sound comes from the computer. Elizabeth leans in and stares at the screen with her eyebrows crumpled as she reads. She leans back and her face becomes blank as she stares off into the distance. She closes the laptop, stands up and goes into the bedroom. As she approaches the bedroom door she reaches up to the top of the doorframe, grabs and object and puts it into the pocket of her pajama pants. Elizabeth enters the bedroom, climbs onto the bed, brings her knees to her chest, wraps

At this point it was halfway through the year of 2006, summer break had just begun. The third grade was a difficult school year, this year I was introduced to the End of Grade state exams. Nonetheless, I passed the third grade along with Ruby passing kindergarten. This year so far was already a fantastic year, and it was only about to become better. My family had discussed plans about this summer, it was going to be the best summer ever. This summer was packed with trips to public swimming pools, visiting our relatives, fishing at my grandparents, and our annual trip to the beach. On this warm, breezy evening in early June, eight-year-old me in this brand-new blue dress with two bright yellow bows with my sister, were in my parent’s bedroom

Gymnastics is the world’s hardest sport. As a child, I was naturally drawn to it. My mother noticed that I would jump and climb all over the place. She enrolled me in toddler classes at 18 months, which ended when I was three years old. At the age of five, after begging my mother, I returned to gymnastics. I still love participating in the sport as a high school senior.

Everyone is gone, but not me, I was stuck in the rumble of the torn apart city. Were filled around me are hurt souls and blood. Quite frankly, I don't even think there is anyone left. The loud noises hurt My ears, the sight of what I hope isn't blood is stinging my eyes, and the thought of what truly happened melts my brain. I couldn't move my head hurt so much and my legs were stuck under something I couldn't call for help because when I did all I heard were screams of the people in the city. Out of nowhere, I heard noises, not human noises, but something was definitely coming close I couldn't talk or yell for help so just cried so loud even Nevada could hear me. Finally, someones digging me out, but before I get a glimpse of them There goes

We began with a lie. I told you one more lie, too, before you left. In all honesty, we’ve been living in a world of lies for far too long, so I wanted you to know at least one truth. I’m sorry; I’m going about this the wrong way. Let me start again.

It was a normal ending to a Wednesday practice; stretching our splits on the chalky, ripped mats under the beam. I was sitting in a left leg split directly in front of my coach, who had been my my second mom since the age of three. The air was thick because the chalk eater had been turned off, since the gym closed in five minutes. That's when I knew I had to tell my coach about one of the hardest decision I was going to make. That decision was when I decided to quit the only sport I had ever known; gymnastics. It was a rough practice; we worked our body's to the limit to prepare for our big meet the next weekend. Sweat was swimming down our faces and our hearts were beating rapidly.

When I was young, I would frequently fall. Whether I was playing a sport or just standing in place, I would end up on the ground unexplainably. Eventually, my parents took me to a medical specialist, and I was diagnosed with low muscle tone, in addition to scoliosis and asthma. The doctor told me that I would need to work hard every day, just to become able to stand upright, and he told me that I should no longer compete in contact sports. This was devastating to me, as I just began playing football. After hearing the doctor’s diagnosis, I could have just accepted that I would never be the athlete I aspired to be, and I could have given up on sports all together. However, I hearing him tell me that I could never succeed as an athlete, and what I could not do, put a fire within me and motivated me to prove him wrong.

Taking my moms advice I didn’t jump right back into my old routines. Although I knew I had enough motivation to do what I could previously, I refrained, knowing that any more injuries were a surefire way to seal my career as a gymnast. Instead I decided to follow along with the new girls on their first class. I flashbacked to my very first class I took as a gymnast. With no intention of falling in love with the sport, I took the class as an afterschool hobby. Soon it wasn’t just a hobby, but a passion I could not live without.

I was just an ordinary teenager, living in an ordinary town, doing ordinary things. Nothing bizarre or crazy ever happened, other than the occasional robbery and the like. Everyone I know is nice, including myself. I was a level headed girl, believing that things were only true if there was some scientific backing. We just recently moved into a nice, big house, about a year before the incident, so I had felt pretty comfortable inside. I didn’t think that anything could happen to me if I was inside it. Of course, our house is very old, some kids joking that it’s prehistoric. There were the random noises and creaks; however, sometimes doors would slowly open and things got misplaced, but no one ever thought that it was anything.