Anon Mental Blocks..

[Anonymous (6082)]

Hi level 7 gymnast here.
I have always been a very talented gymnast from the beginning. 9.9s, 38s, state champion titles, winning highest AA of the session, etc. This year I have been struggling with a lot of mental blocks. I’ve had a mental block before but never this bad. I just keep stopping in the middle of skills. I know this is super dangerous. I haven’t done anything bad yet, but I’m scared there is going to be a day where something actually happens, and I’m hoping to fix this problem I have by then, but for now I’m just looking for some advice. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was thriving on bars. Now I won’t let go for a flyaway. I was doing amazing on beam. Now I won’t go for a series or dismount. Floor was my best event. Now I won’t tumble backwards. Anytime I try to go for anything on floor or beam, I just do a blank jump, and I have no clue why. My coaches have been okay with the situation, not super mean or nice. Nothing ever happened, just suddenly one day I was scared to do a series on beam, and everything just trickled down. I really want to do good this season, and be like I have the last past seasons, but I just feel so alone and helpless. Any information or help is valuable. Thank you.

 

[Dahlialover]

This is normal and it is okay. You are not doing anything wrong. Part of normal brain development is a maturation in the parts of the brain that recognize and respond to danger. You are getting smarter and one of the consequences is that your brain is looking at gymnastics with new eyes and saying “Stop! This looks dangerous!” Your brain is just trying to keep you safe.

The first step is to recognize what is normal and to treat yourself with kindness. No one chooses to have a mental block! Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s good that your brain can appreciate risk, that means you are not a psychopath! Fear is not a personal failure. It’s biological and you have to work with it. It’s just part of the sport.

One of the best ways to overcome fear is to take the pressure off yourself. You go back to basics and you don’t rush it. I just watched my kid spent 4 months dealing with a fear of doing a flyaway from a giant. He had to go back to those level 4 drill of swinging and letting go into the pit at the right time. He did this hundreds of times before progressing to flyaways with heavy spotting. And then he hit his shins on the bar and had to go back to timers again until his nervous system calmed down over it. These things happen. Recovery isn’t linear.

Listen to your body and don’t just white-knuckle through The fear. If you are balking mid-skill then that is a sign that you are pushing yourself past your fear threshold. A sports psychologist can help you learn how to recognize The way fear manifests in your body and they can help you develop strategies for working through it.

There are quite a few gymnastics-specific sports psychology programs. I know that Complete Performance Coaching offers an online group mental block program that is reasonably priced. My son did just the free webinar and got a lot out of it. The owner, Rebecca smith has a podcast called Perform Happy where she talks about mental blocks.

There are other similar programs, but this is The one I know. At your level, balking is a safety issue and I think getting some specialized support would be worthwhile. Good luck!

https://completeperformancecoaching.com/

 

[Anonymous (6082)]

Thank you so much. I will definitely look into it. It is just hard to go to the basics right now because meet season is meet after, meet after meet. For the performance coaching is the price per month, or a one time fee? Thank you for your support again. It really means a lot to me.

 

[Dahlialover]

One of our level 10s got a mental block on dismounts right before nationals. He went from doing a full-in to not being able to do a simple flyaway. He had to compete at nationals with no high bar dismount. He did it and it was okay. His score took a hit but he didn’t die. He switched to a bizarre front dismount this year and just won level 10 AA this weekend. Gymnastics is a long journey. It’s okay to no be perfect at every moment. These things happen.