NY Dad
Proud Parent
- Sep 2, 2016
- 1,101
- 1,546
Gymnastics brings out the best in my dd. Some of her best qualities shine through more in her gymnastics than they do anywhere else. It got me wondering where these qualities came from (nature vs nurture). To be a competitive gymnast takes a lot of things: love/dedication, coordination/athleticism, strength/flexibility and I'm sure a bunch of other things that aren't coming to mind at the moment.
Did your gymmies get these qualities from you? I'll go first
Love of gymnastics - When I was very young (we're talking several decades ago) I took gymnastics and I really enjoyed it. As I recall I took classes for 3 years? (I've asked my parents about this and as far as they knew gymnastics was gymnastics so whatever the lowest level was that's probably what I was doing). My parents claim that I didn't want to do it anymore and that's why I quit. That's not what I remember. I remember being told that I was too tall and I was getting too old (I'm guessing I was around 8 or 9 when I quit). One specific memory I have is that I had been working on BHS (which I could do with a very significant spot). It's a fuzzy memory but the Russian coach who spoke very broken English asked me to do a back flip (with a spot). I reluctantly agreed but as I was going around I landed right on my head (I was fine, more irritated than anything else). We figured out that he wanted me to do a BHS not a back flip. One other random memory, we did FHS first so I was able to do that on my own. I only mention that b/c my dd has been able to do a BHS for over a year and I don't think she's ever worked on FHS.
Dedication - For almost all hobbies that I've had, I've immersed myself in them so it's not surprising that my dd picked this up from me.
Coordination/Athleticism - me and me
I wasn't very at anything (okay, maybe swimming but I didn't love it so that was short lived) but whatever the season was I was playing a sport for my HS. I played on club/fraternity teams when I was in college but I never focused on any one sport and to be honest I wasn't even close to good enough at anything to play for a college/university any division any sport. My dw also played HS sports.
Strength/flexibility - I'm naturally strong and I have no idea if I was ever naturally flexible but at this point I'm about as flexible as a piece of wood. My dd works on this at the gym so I'm going to go with nurture on this one for my dd.
Did your gymmies get these qualities from you? I'll go first
Love of gymnastics - When I was very young (we're talking several decades ago) I took gymnastics and I really enjoyed it. As I recall I took classes for 3 years? (I've asked my parents about this and as far as they knew gymnastics was gymnastics so whatever the lowest level was that's probably what I was doing). My parents claim that I didn't want to do it anymore and that's why I quit. That's not what I remember. I remember being told that I was too tall and I was getting too old (I'm guessing I was around 8 or 9 when I quit). One specific memory I have is that I had been working on BHS (which I could do with a very significant spot). It's a fuzzy memory but the Russian coach who spoke very broken English asked me to do a back flip (with a spot). I reluctantly agreed but as I was going around I landed right on my head (I was fine, more irritated than anything else). We figured out that he wanted me to do a BHS not a back flip. One other random memory, we did FHS first so I was able to do that on my own. I only mention that b/c my dd has been able to do a BHS for over a year and I don't think she's ever worked on FHS.
Dedication - For almost all hobbies that I've had, I've immersed myself in them so it's not surprising that my dd picked this up from me.
Coordination/Athleticism - me and me


Strength/flexibility - I'm naturally strong and I have no idea if I was ever naturally flexible but at this point I'm about as flexible as a piece of wood. My dd works on this at the gym so I'm going to go with nurture on this one for my dd.