Some say, “Anyone can be a gymnast.” In fact, many of my former teammates have quit because they don’t enjoy gymnastics anymore. Did they quit because it’s difficult? Every practice I do at least a half-an-hour of conditioning and strength work. Then, we add more strength to our workouts on each event. On top of that, we have been doing bars and vault workouts with ankle weights on lately. Of course this is only to improve our gymnastics. The days after that are full of gruesome and sore bodies. Then, we go to practice again that night. Not only is the conditioning difficult, gymnasts overcome injuries all the time. They could be drastic or very tiny. My injuries always seem to happen at the worst times. The last two years, I have had injuries were I have had to rest right before competition season. Many injuries, I just deal with because they are small and don’t bother me too much. Luckily, the worst I’ve had to deal with was a stress fracture, but that was neither fun nor …show more content…
You ask, aren’t you ever afraid? Honestly, yes. Every day, there is a reoccurring fear, a new fear, or one I have learned to just deal with. I am very afraid of most new skills. How do I overcome them? Many times, I just gain the courage to go for it. I get so frustrated with myself that I just do it out of anger. Other times, it takes a really long time of drills and help from the coaches for me to get the skill. No matter what the fear is, I always come to find out that I think it was never worth the fear I had. Back to my back handsprings on beam, one day I wouldn’t go for it with spot and on a lowered beam. The next day, I get up onto the high beam and throw it all by myself. To this day, I still don’t know why I was afraid or why I randomly could do it. Magically, the fear was