Parents Getting Past Your Gymnasts First Big Fall

[SupportingHerDreams]

My 8yr old year old gymnast slipped on the high bar last night and fell flat on her stomach. It just knocked the air out of her and she is fine. I’m wondering if you all have any advice on helping work through the fears that will come with something like this.

 

[ProudGymnast]

Honestly? After a scary but harmless fall the best thing you could do is get back up immediately after and try again. Then there is no way to stew in the what ifs all night and possibly create a fear for the next practice.

But it may be too late for that and at this point my best advice for a gymnast would be to not think about it. Gymnasts can tend to over-hype things- ever heard the "That wasn't so bad after all!"? The more you think about it the more you are just creating stress that it could be a big deal to try again, that you might have a mental block, thus creating one.

 

[MuggleMom]

Most of the time our coaches make them do it right away unless there is a bigger injury or something. My kiddo hasnt had as much trouble as I would have expected coming back from scary falls. She hit her head on the bar doing a double back and it didnt seem to phase her at all...scared the coach more than her lol and my kid is normally a worrier but she doesnt dwell on falls so it may not bother her as much as you think

 

[ZB55]

I would not assume (or suggest) that the fall should cause fear issues; she might be just fine with it. My daughter she was far more rattled by a freak fall from the pit bar than she was when she was seriously injured falling from the high bar. The difference was that she got lost in the air over the pit.

 

[CoachPow]

Don't say anything unless she does. Many (most?) times the parents are more concerned about these things than the kids are. Coach should have put her right back on the bars upon figuring out she was uninjured. Don't assume it will cause fears-doesn't matter the age, if you don't make a big deal about it, you decrease the liklihood that she will.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

I’m a “get up and do it again” kind of person, so they remember they can do the skill just fine, sometimes you fall. But it also depends on the event and how your kid reacts - my kid will fall on bars looking like she broke every bone in her body and not care, but if she falls on beam it’s going to be a slow and painful come back starting at square 1.

I have seen her take really really bad fall on beam, directly onto her back on the beam, and after we made sure she wasn’t injured and she iced for a bit, we dusted her off, told her she got scared not hurt, and had her go again with the coach spotting her. Then I went into another room and cried because I got such a shock. But if she saw me freak out, she would have freaked out completely