Why Gymnastics?

Ever since I was a child, I wanted to do Gymnastics.  I am not entirely sure why I never did it back then, I was probably worried about how much it would cost my mum and then I was just too lazy and busy to take on extra-curricular activities, so I never did.   As I got older, the concept of becoming a gymnast died.   That was just an activity for kids, and only if you’d been doing it your entire life, would you be doing it as an adult, and then – it would be on a competitive level.   That or as a teacher, because that’s what happens to all sportsmen who don’t ‘make it’ or have had enough.   They become coaches.

A few years ago, I decided that “Hey, I want to do gymnastics.” I loved watching those who could do it, and I wanted that control over my body.   With the world of the internet now at my fingertips, I was able to research the progressions to reach my goals.   With an enthusiastic husband we bought equipment we could use around our house to begin teaching ourselves gymnastics – planches, levers, straddle sit…   But it wasn’t enough.   Without someone giving us instructional guidance, and without the appropriate space and equipment, we quickly found our limitations.    By this time, parkour was becoming increasingly popular, and as such our local gymnastics center began offering adult gymnastics/parkour classes, and so we joined.

It’s been a great learning journey, one of the first I learned quickly – you just can’t jump into final progression without taking the steps to get there.  It’s like saying ‘hey, I can start the car, let’s go and drive on the freeway.’  Chances are, you’ll end up in a crash… well that’s what happened to my neck when I decided on my second session I was going to try a flip on the trampoline.   The amount of cracks I heard coming down, I was convinced I had broken it, but thankfully it was just a lot of pulled muscles and bruised ego.   It did take a while to heal the neck properly (and I heard every click go back in over the course of a few weeks), requiring some physio to help it on its way.   But it did not stop me.   Yes, it slowed me down, but now I am back on track.

So why gymnastics?   Because a gymnast has immense control over their body.   Because I want that control and strength.   And…, well… it’s fun!