My Transition into Competitive Gymnastics 

There are kids that have no fear. They will flip, toss, and throw themselves in the air without a second thought. Those are the kids coaches want on their gymnastics teams! Those are the kids pulled out of classes and put on a competitive team! Once these young gymnasts learn body control with a mix of their natural fearlessness, they are unstoppable. I was one of those kids. I enjoyed throwing myself through the air. I was willing to try anything a coach told me I could do.  

After the Little Gym I moved to Gym Inc for older kid classes. It was a tiny gym with bright colors, below average equipment, and was mostly for class kids. There were also two different competitive teams that trained there. One team was connected with the gym and the other privately rented out space. I was about eight years old when I moved to this gym. I did classes there twice a week until I was 9. I began getting tired of classes and I started to look at the competitive team. I thought it was amazing the things the older girls could do. They made gymnastics look so effortless to a nine-year-old that knew nothing about the competitive world. I was petrified when I saw coaches yell at their team but I was also intrigued. 

I was finally bored of being in classes. I wanted to be challenged. I wanted to know what the competitive world was like. I wanted to know what it was like to have a real coach instead of a class coach high school student. After months of begging my mother to allow me to join competitive gymnastics she finally caved. I tried out both competitive teams at the gym but I knew which team I wanted to join before I even tried out. I wanted to join the team that rented out space. That team had the best girls in the gym and the craziest coach I had ever seen.  

The first day of practice on my new team named Alpha Omega I got five new skills. This proved that the young classes were holding me back from my true potential. I loved the girls on the team. It was nice having older teammates who could help me and I could look up to. I began training four days a week from 5pm to 9pm. At the time I joined competitive gymnastics I was doing soccer and figure skating. Unfortunately, I did have to quit soccer for gymnastics and a couple years later I had to quit figure skating. Overall, I did not mind quitting the others sports because I was so infatuated with gymnastics.  

Although I loved my new team, my new coach was insane. She was not able to spot many skills and she gave bizarre punishments. If a girl on the team was not trying or not doing well, she would send them into the bathroom with the older girls so they could talk to you.  

Even though some stuff my coach did was questionable she did make my team very close. We had team Christmas parties, banquets, and we would travel to far competitions together and stay in hotels together. I was very nervous my first meet but all I had to do was remember was turn my nerves into something positive. Overall, I am extremely thankful for the community competitive gymnastics introduced me to.