I have been coaching little gymnasts for the past 3 months and, as always, love being in the gym. A little girl in my class tonight learned a round off backhandspring on floor in approximately 2 minutes. She is extremely talented and something about her technique tells me that one day, she’ll be incredible. I wonder if that’s how I was as a little kid. Its so funny that you can hardly remember anything about something you spent your whole life doing. And when I do remember things, they’re all injuries, crashes, landed on my head.
So, one of the other coaches talked me into getting back up on the bars a few weeks ago. While home for Thanksgiving break, I found a really old pair of grips under my bed and snuck them back to school. Last night, I showed up at the gym is shorts and a t-shirt (not quite typical gymnastics gear), awkwardly put my grips on a chalked up. The hardest thing for me to understand is HOW after three years does your body still remember how to flip two stories in the air, swing around a wooden bar, and time it all right so that you actually land upright instead of on your head?
Maybe because we did it everyday, 5 hours a day. Who knows? But what I do know it how good it felt. I’ve never been that calm. Yeah, maybe my strength isn’t really there anymore, but that’s expected, and maybe my tap and set are a little off, but it didn’t matter. I was having fun for once without a coach scrutinizing every move I make. It makes me wonder if the little 6 year-old-girl with the blonde hair and the crooked smile will be a famous gymnast one day, or will the “life” get to her?
I had someone take a little video of me doing my thing. Hope you like!
I admire you so much.