We haven’t developed as people yet, so of course we are impressionable, eager for approval, and more than anything I can assure we want success just as much as you, if not more. As developing individuals, it becomes extremely easy to take these antagonizing remarks personally. Coaches need to learn when to keep pushing and when to pull back and that it is easier to understand and make corrections when it comes from an educational standpoint, rather than a reprimanding one. Verbal and mental abuse, unfortunately, are probably present within any high level sport but that also does not mean that that is the only way to win. We don’t always know what is best, that is why coaches are hired and parents are there to guide. Now as young women, we aren’t asking for all the power. For gymnastics to move forward, gymnasts need to be able to have trust in the program and that everyone around us is willing to put their pride aside and do whatever it takes to protect us as people and fully support what we want. This does not mean that the athlete is just talking to talk, but instead really being heard and understood. So when I talk about communication, I’m not referring to there just being open communication between the athlete and coach but between the athlete and parents as well. Either we were terrified of speaking up or when we did we were invalidated. Our voices were never heard sooner simply because of the fear instilled in us and the authorities that silenced us. We are now crying out and demanding that our voices be heard once and for all and that all of our reports are taken seriously and not simply swept under the rug, because exactly as sexual abuse leaves its undying marks, this type of verbal abuse does just as well. It is sad that the mental and verbal abuse was not only never acknowledged, but rather ignored, no matter how apparent it was. It is sad to look back and think that it required things to get this bad for there to finally be a movement for change. Support, joy, balance and communication are beyond the most important of these and it just so happens that wikipedia is not the only one who neglects these things coaches, parents, and athletes do as well… Gymnastics requires sacrifice, dedication, discipline, getting back up every time you fall down, repetition, mental toughness, along with support, joy, and communication and this is still probably only half of it. But let me relay some of the important things that it leaves out. When I google gymnastics, wikipedia says “gymnastics is a sport practiced by men and women that requires balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, endurance and control”. I guess what I am trying to say is that elite gymnastics should only be a place where our joy continues to grow because now we have the actual chance to put our long term goals into play. Now, that is not to say that elite gymnastics is horrible and I regret it, because I don’t at all. The joy that once pulsated through our bodies is far too soon diminished and ripped away from us, as the elite atmosphere kicks in and soon takes away the thing that we had once seen as the greatest time of our life. Gymnastics… As young kids, we wake up and can’t sit still until our parents tell us it is time to go to gym. You do, and you will be the best in the world.Martha Karolyi, national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics, gives instructions to gymnasts after a training session at the Karolyi Ranch Saturday, Sept. No one has ever worked as hard as I'm going to work you. I will teach you how to have a runner's strength, the cunning of a handball player, and how, like a boxer, to be fearless of pain. So I'll make a pact with you so we can both stop playing, hmm? Instead of teaching you what I don't know, I want to teach you what I do know. When I first found you, I only knew four sports. Go back to the schoolyard and do cartwheels if you just want to play! You should quit.ĭid you ever see *anyone* as bad as you were today? It's that you were the best, and you didn't live up to it! You completely lost your concentration!
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