Question for Gymnasts...

[iluvgym]

How many of you have just woken up one day and were scared to do a skill you've had your whole gymnastics life? And then got it back and it switched to just one day being scared of a different skill? And so on and so on. I'm talking mostly optionals here, those of you who have been in gymnastics forever.

What has helped you to just "get back to normal" and what has made it worse? and do you know why you started having this problem in the first place? I'm asking because I want a GYMNAST's point of view.

What did your coaches do to help you solve the problem? Anything? Nothing? I want to hear your imput. Gymnast's only please.

As a coach I've NEVER in 20something years had this happen and it's driving me crazy! I know the whole body changing, growth, vestibular thing but I want to hear from you young people on the subject.

 

[gymdog]

This is not that uncommon once some fears get bad enough (that they spread or switch). In some cases with an optional they need to go back to basics and take the pressure off...wait until they're practically begging to try the skills again. If they know they can't do it, then there's no point in "trying" it, balking, and adding yet another psychological blow.

I haven't had that exact thing happen, but I did have a period of getting afraid to do certain things I did easily. Example: afraid to do a flyaway sometime around level 7, but after about a week have never been afraid of flyaways of any kind again. And once I became very afraid to do a standing back tuck on beam and KNEW I wouldn't be able to throw it (even though I was still doing all other back tumbling). But after a day of that and working back up, I never had the problem again. These were around the same time.

I have legitimate anxiety problems, but gymnastics is probably the least affected area of my life. This is why I worry that the road may be hard for kids I have seen with anxiety problems that tend to manifest in gymnastics. I don't think I could handle that on top of everything else and the regular pressure in gymnastics. When I was a child in the early levels there was no anxiety about gymnastics whatsoever and I regularly did things the first time or first couple of times they were showed to me. That continued through about level 7 skills. Still I suppose those are some examples where it was probably more anxiety than anything physical like a growth spurt.

 

[gymnastbeth]

I've actually had it happen multiple times, and what helps the most is repetition and time. I need my coaches to be patient, and understanding, but still there with encouragement and a push to get through the fear. The best thing I can do to get through a random fear is to go back, wayy back to basics. And when I'm doing this, I don't like people to watch me. Don't know why, but it helps if I can have a moment alone, without my coach staring me down.

Another thing is having a deadline to get the skill done by, or conditioning if I don't do it. However, this is NOT always a good solution.

For example, I had a HUGE fear of flyaways when I first learned them. Nothing in particular triggered it, but I just wouldn't let go of the bar. My coaches were patient, and they set a deadline. The deadline was in a few months. I didn't have my flyaway until a DAY before the deadline, but I did do it! Even now, in level 9, I get a wave of fear in me before I let go of the bar, but I push through the fear, and I know that nothing bad will happen. My mindset on the skill comes from how kindly my coaches handled my fear.

If conditioning had been used as a "punishment" every time I didn't go for the flyaway, I would have been...tired, sad, and frustrated. (And trust me, I already was, just from being afraid of the skill!)

The worst thing a coach could do? That's easy. Yelling, and getting angry because of the fear. An optimistic point of view on the skill can really help. From a gymnast's perspective, it's not their fault that they are afraid. A coach shouldn't get mad because their gymnast is afraid, but they should be understanding and encouraging.

 

[gymkat]

I never had a problem with switching between fears, but I would only do a RO BHS onto a resi pit for a few weeks between L7 and L8. I was convinced that my roundoff was crooked and that I was going to jump sideways onto my head. What did my coaches do? Well, lots of yelling, I guess, and they did let me use the resi for a few weeks. One day, I decided that my RO BHS issue was stupid and went back to doing 1 1/2s that same day. There really wasn't more to it... not a lot of overthinking or planning on my part or on the coaches' part. Since I was a very rational 12-year-old and otherwise never was prone to having fears, there probably was some truth to my roundoff being off while I was growing, and I must have figured out how to adjust one day.

 

[jenniffir]

The dreaded mental-blocked-paralyzed-petrified-i-know-if-i-attempt-this-skill-i-will-die-because-i-am-just-that- scared mind set that forces gymnasts to stand at the end of the vault, atop the beam, supported on the bars, and frozen on the floors for what will seem like an eternity, due to a dumb founding fear. For me i had a perfect beam rutine for weeks, stuck everyday and able to do it while i slept, then the day before a meet... i just crashed. Not physicly speaking (for all i had done to set myself off was not flip a gainer and simply step of the beam instead) but mentally i was broken.

What was strange was that once the incident on beam began the rest of skill fell to peices, i didnt develope anymore mental blocks except for the gainer, but when i went into the meet the next day i was sure i was going to hurt myself. Of course i didnt but the gainer block still stuck with me, and it was the oddest thing to believe that not 24 hours before i had been doing beautiful tucked gainers without a coach in sight.

Mental blocks are strange, and sometimes come without a cause, i dont believe that a mental block shift from skill to skill but rather that when the gymnast developes a single mental block she/he will lose conidence needed for the rest of their skill set. Perfect coaches would be able to be in tune with their gymnasts and recognize this negative action, but sadly we do not live in a perfect world. The worst thing a coach could do, however, is nothing; simply looking the other way, ignore the fact that something irroneous has occured and blow past it as if it didnt happen, because gymnasts arent always strong enough to figure it out on their own. Even yelling and anger atleast shows that they care about the gymnast getting better, but that is just my opinion.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

well...i'll tell you this. back in the day i performed lay double doubles on trampoline. i went a month doing triple doubles. i could do both...but for a month couldn't get my self to do what i wanted it to do. i can tell you other 'self' stories but i think you get the message.

 

[iluvgym]

Jenniffer the thing is it has gone from just one skill to the next....overcomes one fear and it just pops up somewhere else, it's never two at the same time