Women Need advice :(

[superflipgirl]

So I was a gymnast for 10+ years, and the year before I went to high school, I started to become REALLY excited about high school gymnastics. I improved immensely that year because I really wanted to do well. Then, I made a dumb decision to not be on the high school team because I had started cheer that year and I wanted to do that in the winter instead, plus I had hit my growth spurt that year and I felt I wasn't really as good as I used to be. I was planning to quit club gymnastics anyway. Now, that's a decision I really regret. I finally decided to quit cheer last year and I joined the high school team. I had an amazing time, and I'm so glad I decided to join. But, I'm so frustrated with myself. I'm trying not to look on the past, but I know deep down that if I had done it during my freshman year I could be one of the best on the team. I barely got to compete because they can only enter a certain amount of people in each competition and there's some really good girls on my team. I'm going into my senior year and I really really want to have a good year this year, but I'm worried that I'll never get to compete because I think our team's going to be even better. I've been going to open gyms, but haven't really been getting much accomplished. This one really close by to where I live, is a small gym with not enough equipment to practice on and there's not enough supervision, people who aren't even gymnasts come there and just "hang out," like older guys who are friends with the coach and they just try flips off the wall and stuff. I found another one at a GREAT gym, but it's pretty far away and there's team practices going on at the same time, so there's no coaches that have time to spot you, and my big problem is I can't do a lot of skills unless I have a spot first. I guess I'll sometimes go just to work on my skills, but I don't think I'll get any new ones without a spot Please can I have some advice? I already feel behind everyone on my high school team, I'm going to be the only senior on the team this year so I really want to feel like a captain to the team, but even some of the younger people on the team have been on it for longer and the coach knows them better, so I already feel like I won't matter as much. This may be my last year in gymnastics and I really want to make it a memorable year for me, hopefully get to compete more and really just say I had a successful season, and help me to forget about the fact that I took two years off and I'm not as good as I could have been Any advice on what I should do? I really want to come into the season(starts in November) and show the coaches that I've really improved since last year. Thanks so much!

 

[leotardmakermum]

Talk to the coaches. Explain your goals, your willingness to work hard, and ask them how you can get to where you want to be. Good luck!

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

Phone the gyms around your area and see if they have a teen or adult class they would let you join, where you can still work on what you want but have a coach available. Or really any recreational class at your skill level should do.

 

[happychaos]

PRIVATES! Imo, that would be the best (perhaps only) way of improving as quickly as you'd like. Can you give us an idea of what skills you have now, and what skills you'd like to have? Then the wise folks on CB could give you an idea if your goals are realistic, or not.

 

[iwannacoach]

Sure there's something to be said about having the advantage of more equipment, and more years experience the girls ahead of you have on the high school team. Keep in mind that those are only advantages, and are not boundaries, nor definitions of who you are.

You are the only one who can decide who you want to be, and how hard you'll work to make what "you want to be" resemble the reality that surrounds you. Really, the only real advantage is to be willing to make the absolute most out of every gift and resource you have. If you do that, and care more about that than anything else as you work your taill off..... well, maybe you'll pass up somebody who been napping rather than working.

Make every piece of equipment do the most it can for you, make yourself change when it's needed, and do the most you can for you. Care about the process..... or the journey, because if there's a reward coming your way it will come from having done the journey as well as you can. You..... are far more significant than a piece of equipment..... or a coach who cannot "will you" to get the skill.

 

[Tifgymnast]

About "feeling like the captain." That really doesn't depend on if you're the best or not. One summer I gained with a high school team and the two girls who were going to be seniors that coming year were by no means the best on the team... They just acted like leaders. And I found out later that they're were the captains that year. Obviously you should try to improve your skills maybe fin a gum that has a high school team which focuses on training the athletes in the off season (i did that a few times)
But you should really focus on just acting like a leader. The leader doesn't need to e the best gymnast. In fact if the captain is someone who is not the best she can really focus more on others and when she complements and encourages and cheers for teammates it is more sincere since there isn't that intense competitive feeling. Focus on making all of the girls feel like a team.
Sorry for tis long ramble...I've jut seen from experience that sometimes the best leaders aren't necessarily the top gymnast.

 

[superflipgirl]

Thanks so much everyone!
And by the way, I'm nowhere near being the best on my team. That's not my goal at all. The only reason I didn't feel like a captain is because I'm a year behind almost everyone on the high school team. For anyone who was wondering my skills, well, right before I quit I was about a level 6/7ish. I had my back tuck on floor, clear hips/flyaways on bars, and was amazing at acrobatic series, and dismounts on beam. I was also a pretty strong vaulter, right before I quit I had a 1/2 on-1/2 off. The thing is, I'm still able to physically do most of these skills, in fact at the beginning of high school season I actually still had my back walkover on beam but for some reason I developed a fear with it in the middle of the season. And, my tumbling actually improved a lot while I was a cheerleader but in the middle of last year I went through a period where I was under SO much pressure from my coaches(cheer coaches) and now I can't even do a roundoff back handspring without a spot. I can physically do it completely fine, even with two back handsprings, whenever someone spots me on one they say "Why are you even asking for a spot? You can do it fine!" I really want to gain back most of my beam/floor skills, hoping that doesn't sound too unrealistic because I KNOW I can still physically do the skills. I don't really plan to compete bars, because ever since I quit club I've grown a lot taller and bars is just so hard for me, my feet keep hitting the ground and my hands hurt like crazy(even with grips). I still kind of want to be able to gain back those skills though so I can at least feel like I have all the skills and feel more relaxed about not wanting to compete bars. Vault is a bit different because we don't really practice vault, we don't really have anywhere to practice, we just warm up before meets. But vault is actually my best event in high school, I can still do a front handspring fine and my coaches will probably let me start warming up 1/2 ons if they see my handsprings start to improve. In fact, at one of the first meets this year my coaches just entered me in vault and I hadn't even vaulted AT ALL in two years, and I just threw a handspring and scored an 8.1 out of an 8.6 start value! See, it's things like that that make me feel like I really still can do all these skills and I'm just freaking myself out. Do these sound like realistic goals to you? Thanks again for all the advice!