Off Topic Gymnastics vs. Football

[JBS]

Since it's Super Bowl Sunday (a national holiday) I thought I'd start a little thread for all you football haters out there. I know what you think, "If gymnastics were easy, they'd call it football." HA! HA!

I've been a gymnast (now coach) all my life, I also played high school football and many other sports. Gymnastics helped me with all of the other sports I did...and I am grateful for that. Gymnastics is my life, my hobby, and job...but it's not my favorite sport. Football is #1, then NASCAR, then gymnastics. Why, guess I want what I've never had.

I want to hear the pros and cons of both sports. All you football hating gymnastics fans out there...let's hear it. I've heard all the sayings, I want to know the reasoning behind it.

GO BEARS!

EDIT: Unfortunately the Bears lost. I'm really looking for a change next year, we'll see what they come up with. However, I'm really happy with the intro to the Super Bowl. It was a Cirque type performance with a lot of gymnastics. Great promo for the sport as a whole.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

It's not so much that we hate football players -- it's just that we're better than them.

 

[JBS]

It's not so much that we hate football players -- it's just that we're better than them.

I often refer to gymnastics as "the sport of all sports" or "the foundation sport". USAG's new motto is "Begin Here, Go Anywhere". For this reason, it really bothers me when gymnasts that can't throw a ball or run correctly. When I see a gymnast throw a ball with the wrong foot forward, I just about have a heart attack. I have to go over and help them with the basics of throwing a ball. All you preschool coaches and directors out there, make sure basic running, jumping, and throwing skills are in your curriculum.

After all, there's nothing worse than teaching a 14 year old how to run so they can land that tsuk or handspring front.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Actually, that comment was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek; I was commenting on the fact that, when compared to football players, we gymnasts are superior human beings ;p

 

[MartinaE]

I don`t like football or soccer at all!!! To me gymnastics is MUCH more interesting. Football/soccer is just boring to watch for me - not exciting at all...it`s just people running after some kind of ball for me....
Gymnastics is right on top for me - and football is way down the list. There are quite some sports in between for me - like figure skating, diving, tumbling, biathlon....they are by far more interesting to watch for me - and most of them definately are more beautiful.

 

[hammy]

I'm not a football fan at all--I think it's a bunch of men running around in tights trying to act all tough. Occassionally it's exciting and I'll watch a game or two, but I didn't even watch the superbowl when the Steelers played and I'm from pittsburgh (now live in Houston). Personally I think football players just act tough--i mean, ben rothlesberger (Steelers) didn't play in a game b/c he bruised his thigh muscle, come on now, at least have a real injury!

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

I love them both - football and gymnastics ... my boys have played pop warner for years - a great program... I think they are tougher then the pro's lol - we could not live without either.

 

[ahs]

We are definitely a football house also, Justin and I are both big FB fans. Maggie at 21 months is also a fan she is not much of a TV watcher but she will sit when a game is on. She started as an infant we couldn't feed her in a room that the game was on because she would turn to watch it.

 

[gracefulone]

You really can go anywhere w/gymnastics. I never wanted to pole vault, and then at track one day the coaches told me I was going to try it, because they I was strong and did gymnastics, so I can feel my body in the air. After tow days of pole vault practice, I am clearing seven feet, varsity level, and I admit, I'm eating my words. I love it. It's such a rush! Apparently I'm a natural, according to my coach.

 

[9bob8]

Link Removedgymnastics i don't like foot ball

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

Actually, that comment was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek; I was commenting on the fact that, when compared to football players, we gymnasts are superior human beings ;p

This thread is from like 17 years ago but I totally second that. lol. Its not that gymnasts hate football, but they think that they are all tough and really they couldn't last a practice in the gym. Now cheerleaders........... haha me and a cheerleader got into this arguement about who was better gymnasts or cheerleaders. Shes like , "We throw people up in the air."And I said, "We don't need people to throw us up in the air, we can do it ourselves."

 

[Robindq]

Now cheerleaders........... haha me and a cheerleader got into this arguement about who was better gymnasts or cheerleaders. Shes like , "We throw people up in the air."And I said, "We don't need people to throw us up in the air, we can do it ourselves."

haha that's awesome!!

I have nothing against cheerleaders, but that's an amazing come back. lol

(kind of off topic, sorry)

 

[NYgymfan]

Rose, thats great...I laughed really hard when u first told me that!

 

[gymdog]

Good all star cheerleading is just as exciting as gymnastics. There are some crazy stunters out there. Even NCAA teams are working under huge restrictions comparitively to the "extreme" stunts people throw, but there's a kid at one of the top all star programs around here who can triple easy, for example (you can't twist more than a double even in all star competition though). What a lot of gymnasts are trying to compare cheerleading too is like comparing a gymnastics compulsory or most high school programs to an elite athlete of another sport. Elite cheer programs require serious skills and training. There's high school cheer programs but then you have programs like Top Gun and Maryland Twisters and athletes like Kiara Nowlin. But even relatively low level stunting, done correctly, is harder than most gymnasts probably assume. Your top girl has to be pretty flexible in higher level programs, not to mention pretty fearless, and bases have to be ready to catch an elbow to the face or have someone fall on their chest.

That said it's pretty different from gymnastics and to some extent suffers from a lack of overall management. There's not really a prominent national governing organization like we have USAG. Even our "periphery" (for lack of a better term) organizations fall in line with USAG standards to a large extent, and the gyms who participate in them probably also use USAG materials and have learned from USAG trained coaches at some point. Cheerleading has a huge future, it's a growing sport, and it's smart for USAG to start looking towards incorporating it. Almost every large gymnastics gym around here has started a cheer program and they've been very popular. Because it's grown up so fast, right now I see kind of a transitional period where a lot of teams are trying to get girls going fast, and there can be a tricks over technique mindset. I think once you see teams that have gone up from minis to senior 5 you're going to see many more powerful athletes and overall quality and expectations are going to rise. Cheer already has some incredible athletes, like Kiara Nowlin. I don't know a lot of gymnasts who can do two standing fulls in a row, much less 12:

[youtube]CObvdTmHmMY[/youtube]

 

[BlairBob]

Personally, though I became burnt out on team sports after 14; I still think there are necessary for boys. Being able to move on the fly in a team sport is different than just muddling through a rough spot in a routine. There is also is the interaction of working together [ though I'm sure going to hear that gymnastics or such and such is still a team sport ] and the strategy of situational modifications.

Your very in control of more factors in artistic gymnastics compared to a sport on the fly like soccer, hockey or basketball and all the variables of football, baseball, volleyball, etc.

Also, from a male POV, contact in sports is just fun. Nothing like slamming someone to the mat or lining them up in your sights and taking them out. It's very primal and this is important for young guys.

My dad always was told a good line that the athletes in individual sports couldn't hack it in team sports, socially or skill wise. There is something to hitting a baseball [ especially something like a screwball, off speed pitch, knuckleball, slider and the very act of throwing it ] or throwing while trying to avoid a 6 foot 300 pound meat machine.

I'm completely appalled by cheerleaders cheering on a team sport instead of seeking out their own glory and this why I respect competition cheer more so. Except for the whole excessive makeup which teeters on clown makeup.

 

[lannamavity]

:expressionless:

Good all star cheerleading is just as exciting as gymnastics. There are some crazy stunters out there. Even NCAA teams are working under huge restrictions comparitively to the "extreme" stunts people throw, but there's a kid at one of the top all star programs around here who can triple easy, for example (you can't twist more than a double even in all star competition though). What a lot of gymnasts are trying to compare cheerleading too is like comparing a gymnastics compulsory or most high school programs to an elite athlete of another sport. Elite cheer programs require serious skills and training. There's high school cheer programs but then you have programs like Top Gun and Maryland Twisters and athletes like Kiara Nowlin. But even relatively low level stunting, done correctly, is harder than most gymnasts probably assume. Your top girl has to be pretty flexible in higher level programs, not to mention pretty fearless, and bases have to be ready to catch an elbow to the face or have someone fall on their chest.

That said it's pretty different from gymnastics and to some extent suffers from a lack of overall management. There's not really a prominent national governing organization like we have USAG. Even our "periphery" (for lack of a better term) organizations fall in line with USAG standards to a large extent, and the gyms who participate in them probably also use USAG materials and have learned from USAG trained coaches at some point. Cheerleading has a huge future, it's a growing sport, and it's smart for USAG to start looking towards incorporating it. Almost every large gymnastics gym around here has started a cheer program and they've been very popular. Because it's grown up so fast, right now I see kind of a transitional period where a lot of teams are trying to get girls going fast, and there can be a tricks over technique mindset. I think once you see teams that have gone up from minis to senior 5 you're going to see many more powerful athletes and overall quality and expectations are going to rise. Cheer already has some incredible athletes, like Kiara Nowlin. I don't know a lot of gymnasts who can do two standing fulls in a row, much less 12:

[youtube]CObvdTmHmMY[/youtube]

Gymnastics=A sport which eliminates almost all participants the first day they try it.

Football= meh:yawn:

Cheer=:dopey:

I'm sure there are many, many, many gymnasts who could do 12 standing fulls in a row, but they wouldn't waste the time...or wouldn't have the time, since they have so many other things to do.

Obviously I find football much more comparable to gymnastics than cheer on any day.

 

[mattv]

lol i find it hilarious how you all throw football under the bus. The team mentality is greater then individualism will ever be. A team with no team concept and unity is ALWAYS the team that loses most of their games, its only when your best friend has your back that you succeed, something that doesn't happen in gymnastics. You all consider football so easy but imagine being a starter for a team. 16-20 year gymnast go pro. Never do you see that age range go pro in football, because it takes much more years of work. Its one thing to be on a football team, another to be a starter. Knowing the plays, anticapting others actions, getting to places fast enough, the great shape have to be in, and the physical tole it takes on your body are much more greater. Try being a starter for a 3-aa or higher school divison. its difficult. Not to mention youll make the greatest friends in your life.

 

[NYgymfan]

I don't know a lot of gymnasts who can do two standing fulls in a row, much less 12:

[youtube]CObvdTmHmMY[/youtube]

Kiara is also a gymnast....her bio says she does artistic gymnastics, tumbling, and cheerleading. 12 standing fulls is pretty amazing though no matter who does it!

 

[TDiver]

I've watched Kiara Nowlin before, and she is an incredible cheerleader. But if anyone has ever looked her up, she is also an amazing power tumbler... a junior world champion to be exact.

I think it just depends on the level of each sport. I know former level 10 gymnasts who are now cheerleaders... and have been to what they call worlds. These girls are amazing, doing ro arabians through to double fulls and you have to be able to have a full and standing tuck to even tryout for the squad.

I do have some problems with cheerleading though. For instance the fact that there are like 5 different National Championships or more each year.. so people say they are like 20 time national champions when it's not really true in most cases.

I actually was a cheerleader when I was younger on a pretty competitive team that is pretty widely known, at least it seemed like it at competitions. So i'm not completly judging by just watching, but by actually experiencing it.




When it comes to football, I know it has to be hard. My father was a football player and has had a bunch of surgeries and broke his neck playing football.


So I really think that at the highest level at each sport it is extremley difficult whether it is football, basketball, gymnastics, or even cheerleading.

 

[sgnsp235]

elite gymnastics vs pro football?
GYMNASTICS of course!!
but
i really like football!
did anybody SEE that 100 YARD TOUCHDOWN!?!
GEEZEEEEE