- Dec 29, 2015
- 488
- 1,682
My daughter retired from her gym 6 weeks ago. It was about a 6 month process of deciding it was time to move on, as she grew to hate everything about gymnastics. She was training level 9 and in the 10th grade, at a gym that trained 28 hours per week, so gymnastics was really her whole life.
Since retiring, she has:
~joined her school's power lifting team and is already the top lifting female on the team. At 5' tall and 114 pounds, she is now dead lifting 230 pounds and her coach says she could realistically make state and lift close to 300 by April.
~been recruited to join her school elite dance squad. She is learning how to do dance-style turns, and she is loving it. She even performed two dances in their holiday showcase after only 8 days, and she was fantastic. She has the highest leaps on the entire squad. They have asked her to join the varsity travel squad next year.
~attended every remaining football game of the season (she'd never been to a game before due to practice, and she loved it)
~attended two school parties (she'd never been able to go to high school parties before due to gymnastics)
~made a whole new group of school friends, while still keeping up with her gym friends
~joined two school academic clubs
Anyway, she is excelling. She is happy. Her body no longer hurts her every day. She is getting enough sleep. And she's had a few nice things to say about gymnastics lately, including that she might want to coach this summer at the rec gym by our house. She no longer hates the sport, but is now proud to tell people she is so strong because she is a retired gymnast.
I'm so happy to see her genuinely happy again.
Since retiring, she has:
~joined her school's power lifting team and is already the top lifting female on the team. At 5' tall and 114 pounds, she is now dead lifting 230 pounds and her coach says she could realistically make state and lift close to 300 by April.
~been recruited to join her school elite dance squad. She is learning how to do dance-style turns, and she is loving it. She even performed two dances in their holiday showcase after only 8 days, and she was fantastic. She has the highest leaps on the entire squad. They have asked her to join the varsity travel squad next year.
~attended every remaining football game of the season (she'd never been to a game before due to practice, and she loved it)
~attended two school parties (she'd never been able to go to high school parties before due to gymnastics)
~made a whole new group of school friends, while still keeping up with her gym friends
~joined two school academic clubs
Anyway, she is excelling. She is happy. Her body no longer hurts her every day. She is getting enough sleep. And she's had a few nice things to say about gymnastics lately, including that she might want to coach this summer at the rec gym by our house. She no longer hates the sport, but is now proud to tell people she is so strong because she is a retired gymnast.
I'm so happy to see her genuinely happy again.