im trainning elite in usa.
i tend to get upset when stuff doesnt go right, or like when stuff is scary(like double doubles)
anyway my coach says i have a bad attitude and that it looks like i dont want to train and that i never have fun, but im just not that type of happy expressive person.
im also a power gymnast
my grace is awful and about a month ago my coach hired a ballet teacher for the whole of the gym. so we do ballet once a weak on a wednesday and i hate it, because i have to do it with a bunch of 10 year olds(im 13) which is embarrassing.
when i do it i laugh at my self because i just look so stupid doing dance, but my ballet teacher(i hate her) told my coach i was being rude and not trying, and trying to make the younger girls not try.
this isnt true
so afterwards my coqch had a chat with me(urgh) and said i was rude to my ballet teacher and that im rude to her.
i feel like im the only one thats wants me to train( my fam aint so keen on it either) and that i cant tell my coach anything....what should i do??
Wow! That's quite a vent, and there's a few things I'd like to help you with because I know a little about what you're going through from both points of view.....one as a former hotshot gymnast, and one as a former coach of, well, maybe kinda sorta, aw gee shucks they were pretty good gymnasts.
I started out in the sport with my first three years in a situation where the coach knew nothing about the sport beyond what he learned in college as a PE major. So he knew just enough to let us work the best we could while he learned a little more each year. The problem was that I quickly outgrew his knowlege because I worked my tail off to get as good as I could. The result was that I didn't need his advice on how to learn new skills. I kinda thought I knew it all, and, if you don't mind the comparison, you sound like you know it all too....well you think you do.
Here's the thing.......On my best event I learned nearly every skill....really, every skill in the book but one while this guy coached me, or allowed me to work and do what he could, which was pretty much limited to point your toes, keep your legs straight, you're really sticking your head out, and the classic.....you shouldn't arch like that. I really liked the guy for letting me work as hard as I did and not telling me I couldn't learn this skill or that because they were so hard or risky, but you know what?.....I didn't respect the little bit of advice he gave me about proper execution, and I just continued to learn more skills and become more of a circus act than a gymnast.
I ended up moving on to the next level of the sport, and was fortunate to end up with a coach who had actually tried out for the Olympic team....yes Elfi, he was a part of the conversation, Oh I agree Tim, if he hadn't suffered that knee injury last year he'd definitely be going to the blah blah blah blah.
So here was my chance. I finally was going to be coached by somebody who knew the sport inside and out. Well guess what?.....The first work out I did with him included a little chat about tight legs, pointed toes, head position, and that darn arched back. He told me to concentrate on that as if it was my next new skill, and he physically moved me into the correct posture for certain parts of some of the skills.
I got the message from him that I could have gotten years earlier from the coach who "didn't know enough" to make me listen. Well the new me took the new coach's advice and worked on proper form and positions for all I was worth. The result......In about a year's time I went from being the "local freak show" to one of the best in the country.
So ask yourself some questions. Just how hard is it....really.....to work on parts of your gymnastics that you've ignored for years because you aren't that, no, you're a power gymnast. When are you going to stop throwing away the precious tenths of a point that could be added to your score by adding even a shed of grace to what you do, and really ask yourself this.....are the adults around you being insulted for spending their energy to help you, do you really think they want to invest their hearts and souls just to hold you back and insult your power with ballet classes that surround you with a bunch of 10 year olds.
Let me answer that last one for you with a phrase that's just tearing it's way out of me......If the ballet slipper fits.....wear it. Look, you may not be a vision of grace, and really, that's your fault, but it's a huge mistake and you're selling yourself short when you approach ballet the way you do.....Your ballet teacher and team mates shouldn't have to suffer from your behavior, and really you shouldn't have to suffer by defining yourself as a brick on two feet, you can always improve, and you know that from all that you've learned in the sport.
Lastly consider this....if you're still reading this post it's because you want to either get more angry, or you're searching for the right thing to do. I hope you take my advice as a well intended kick in the pants, because if you are elite material inspite of your attitude about dance and grace, and if you really do have a double double to be afraid of, you must have dreamed, wanted, and worked more and harder than most of the other 180,000 girls that have moved through the sport during your promising career.
I hope you choose to work for, and do anything you can to get to the next level. Sure it's a lot of hard work, but it's sure a blast when you get there, and the sense of accomplishment, self worth, and pride will last you a lifetime.....because you earned it.
I don't know if you want more where this came from, but if you do...........
