After many years of taking gymnastics, Diva is now competing in
meets. Sure, I'm used to having a child vie against others, but up to this
point it's been in town rec sports like basketball and Little League
which entailed an hour or two of practice a week. Gymnastics has
been different because of the amount of work my daughter voluntarily puts into it; she spends 12 hours a week with
her coaches.
So how can I, as a parent, help this 8-year old
deal with the pressure inherent in any competition?
Well, first and foremost, I looked around and chose the right
environment for Diva.
The gym we're working with emphasizes
teamwork, nutrition, and personal self-improvement over everything
else. This creates a nurturing atmosphere where members support each
other. I've spent hours in the gym and haven't heard one child mock
or berate another for not doing a move. The coach tells everyone
before a meet to just do their best and that he will love them as
long as they try. He instituted a program where he gave every
younger child a “big sister” who acts as a mentor, making the
older team members more conscious of their attitude and less likely
to cop an attitude. The end result is that my daughter is even more
in love with gymnastics than she was when she started on the team;
she does what she needs to do (homework, chores, eat dinner, etc.)
before joyfully sprinting to the car. She cannot wait to get to the
gym!
The second measure I took to lessen the pressure has been to
underplay the scoring aspect of the meets.
We've talked,
nonchalantly, about how the scoring really doesn't mean much and how
the numbers are just points used by the officials to compare one
child's performance with anther’s. She and I have discussed that a
number does not define you (whether it's a score on a test or in a
meet, or a number on the scale). How you do one day will naturally
differ from the next. The trick is to celebrate what you're doing
well and problem-solve to figure out how you can improve on your
weaknesses. Diva knows she is not competing with others, but rather,
with her own previous performances. Thus, when she did not do well
in one event, she was unshaken. “I'll have to work on that at
practice,” she shrugged.
Lastly, before a meet, we casually talk about what we can do, at
home, to help her prepare.
Sometimes, she spends time on the
Internet watching YouTube videos of Olympic gymnasts and her own
team; she scrutinizes their performances, commenting on what they did
particularly well. She tells me what she would like to eat before a
competition and after (carbohydrates before and plenty of protein
after are her personal preferences). We agree that her bedtime the
night before should probably be a little earlier. And often, on the
way home from a competition, she tells what she thought of her
performance and what she thinks she needs to work on. I can almost
see the gears working in her mind as she analyzes the different
aspects of gymnastics. It's fascinating!
I think my approach has been a healthy one. Whereas I understand others on her team have spent the week leading up to a meet crying, not eating, and exhibiting other signs of stress, the only symptom I've seen in Diva is a slight dip in her appetite just before a competition. Upon learning of the distress suffered by those other girls, the coach decided to just not enter them in the next meet. They came as spectators, of their own free will, to support their peers. "We don't have to compete, Mommy," Diva tells me. Knowing that her coach is behind her, no matter what, takes a lot of the pressure off.
Our family revels in her passion for and pleasure in the sport.
Gymnastics is teaching her to love her body. It is teaching her
discipline. She loves the team experience. As I write this, I am
sitting in the gym where, a few minutes ago, I watched as the team
watched each younger girl on the uneven parallel bars. After each
athlete landed, the entire group clapped and shouted out compliments.
My heart swelled as I watched my glowing daughter receive kudos.
Whether Diva chooses to stay with gymnastics (and it is HER choice) or
quit tomorrow, the experience has been positive and is helping her
grow.
How grateful I am that she's having this opportunity and that
we've found the right community in which to nurture her abilities.
Additional resources on this topic include:
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Gymnastics is an expensive sport, as anyone with a child in it can
attest to. One leotard is required, but several mean you're not
washing the same one out every night. The best deal I found, so far,
was a $10 leo which I got at Wal-Mart; it came with a matching
scrunchy. Had they had more in Diva's size, I would have loaded up.
The next cheapest I found was on the website Discount Dance Supply
(
www.discountdance.com)
listed several recently for $17.55 and Amazon had the exact same
models at the exact same price. The site dancewearSolutions
(
www.dancewearsolutions.com)
listed at least two leos for $18.95. And the website Jillybeans
Leotards (
www.jillybeansleotards.com)
contains a huge inventory with leotards starting at $19.99.
Since Diva loves all things gymnastics, she is immediately drawn
to any shirts that proclaim her love of the sport. A few months ago,
on a trip to Pittsburgh, we found a lovely little shirt in a Justice
store there, on clearance, for $5! Again, had they had more in her
size, I would have scooped up several. But there are websites that
have cutesy little gymnastics stuff; these include:
- Zazzle.com (www.zazzle.com) – You can find keychains and buttons here for as
little as $3.65 each. I really like the assortment of gymnastics
posters here which would inspire any budding gymnast.
- Cafepress.com (www.cafepress.com) – This site has a ton of gymnastics-related
merchandise and I can tell you that they have WONDERFUL customer
service. When my son was unhappy with the quality of a iPad case we
ordered, they quickly replaced it with another one and told us to
keep the first one. I LOVE it when companies wisely make things easy
for customers!
- Gymnasticsstuff.com (www.gymnasticsstuff.com) – Go there and you're likely to spend
hours perusing their gymnastics stuff. Their prices are
competitive, but they have a lot of links, so be prepared to do a
good amount of mouse clicking.
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As always, thank you for reading. Please check back in soon,
won't you?
