M
monkeysmom
We are relatively new to gymnastics, and I realize that I know less than a lot of people about this sport. Being new also gives me some valuable perspective on this particular topic. Why is it so difficult to be a gymnastics fan? My daughter is really excited to go to the championships in St. Paul in August. Last night she had a lot of questions, so I attempted to do some research online. I was trying to understand, in "laymen's terms" how gymnasts qualify to this event. I was trying to find out who has already qualified. I was able to find official rules and some information on the qualifying meets. I was completely unsucessful in trying to figure out who from our state has qualified so far. Or maybe no one has? I believe a gymnast from my daughter's gym may have qualified, bit I can't even find anything to verify that. Also, who goes to national training camp? In terms of the general public, gymnastics has some PR issues, mostly with regard to training young kids. But beyond that it's also really difficult to understand the scoring or even figure out who to watch in the elite level. It's much easier to be a college fan, thanks to the search function through my TV service provider, as long as you understand you can only watch bigger meets or certain teams who seem to get decent air time. Yes, I do look at Gymnastike and that is somewhat helpful. Now that my daughter is involved with the sport, I see so many wonderful positives from it and I try to be my own little embassador to be positive about gymnastics how much my daughter benefits and loves it. To give some perspective, one of my family member's comment when I told her my daughter was trying out for team was "go ahead, but just don't drink the Koolaid." It was not a very positive (or sensitive or appropriate) reference. In my opinion, it was really not justified, in that it came from a hockey parent who spent every weekend for over a decade living and loving the hockey life! Plus, I pointed out that many kids spend much more time in front of the TV or in front of video games than my daughter spends in gymnastics--i'll take gymnastics any day over that. Anyway, it should not be so difficult and complicated to be a fan of this sport. My daughter is involved in gymnastics, and I can't even figure it out. How is anyone else supposed to? I spent an hour on the internet last night and then gave up. Maybe it's just me, but it seems really complex for anyone who is not an "insider" to attempt to be a fan (or to help their seven year old be one). I just my daughter I'll look up some recent news articles right before we go, and we'll read them together to learn more about the event before we attend. If anyone else has some good information or resources, please share!!