My Poem (A purpose, a way of life, a ray of hope)

Stitches;

One complete movement of a threaded needle through a fabric or material,

A sense of wholeness in a place that feels broken,

Healing; full of love,

A lifeline,

A purpose, a way of life, a ray of hope,

Stitches, leave scars and heal with time.

12 Days of Christmas (gymnastics style)

On the first day of Christmas, my mean coach yelled at me, no you may not go pee.

On the second day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, two hundred pushups, and would not let me go pee.

On the third day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and would not let me go pee.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and he still woud not let me pee.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and i still really had to pee.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, six  bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and i really had to go pee.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, seven sweaty leos, six bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and he still say you cannot pee.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, eight yurchenkos flipping, seven sweaty leos, six bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and i was still not allowed to pee.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, nine gymnasts leaping, eight yurchenkos flipping, seven sweaty leos, six bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and he would not let me pee.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, ten muscles pulling, nine gymnasts leaping, eight yurchenkos flipping, seven sweaty leos, six bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and i still wasn't allowed to pee.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me, eleven giants spinning, ten muscles pulling, nine gymnasts leaping, eight yurchenkos flipping, seven sweaty leos, six bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and still wouldn't let me pee.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my mean coach gave to me. twelve gold medals, eleven giants spinning, ten muscles pulling, nine gymnasts leaping, eight yurchenkos flipping, seven sweaty leos, six bones a breaking, five beam routines, four tumbling passes, three screaming children, two hundred pushups, and he finally let me pee.

CHRISTMAS!

One year for christmas, I wanted several things, I mean as kids don't we all have millions of things on our lists and probably get like four or five of them at the most? Well, I told my mother that I wasn't gonna tell her what I wanted because Santa was gonna get it for me, well this was when I was about 12 years old and yeah I pretty much knew already that Santa Claus couldn't be real, but I still wanted to believe it ya know? Well anyways, I got a present that year that I will never ever forget, I told them to get me something good, but I wasn't gonna tell them what that might be so they would just have to figure it out. Well, my parents probably got me what i thought at the time was the coolest present ever. On Christmas morning I came to the tree with my mommy and daddy and little sister Kate who was at the time about 6. Well Kate got this cool little fake computer thing to play games on (her big present) and I had opened what had appeared to be all of mine, and didn't have a big present this year. I was bummed to say the least I mean when you are twelve years old, your super excited about Christmas, and opening your presents. Afterwards, I just sat there while Kate was playing with her new toys, wondering what I had done to not get a major present this year. A little while later my mom said "Sarah come here." I said okay and walked to her. My dad jumped out and covered my eyes, and walked me down the stairs, and into the playroom. He counted to three and uncovered my eyes. Sitting in the middle of my playroom floor, was a balance beam that my dad had stayed up all night christmas night and many weeks before building for me. I was so excited, I GOT A BALANCE BEAM, and even though that was already pretty great next to it was two mats, they had also gotten me! I was extremely excited, and felt guilty about wanting them to get me a real present! But I was just a kid, I didnt know that was down there. So for the rest of Christmas day, me and my little sister held imaginary gymnastics competitions in my basement, pretending first me being the gymnast and her the judge, then flipflopping positions. It was a ton of fun and to this day I still have the balance beam in playroom, in my basement, at home.

Random things my team and I do and say at gymnastics practice:

1.       I do not feel well enough to be doing that today coach; please don’t make me do it?

2.       Coach, can I skip the balance beam today, I’m dizzy? Did you just say the D word?

3.       I am to hyper to participate.

4.       You know what we should do today at practice, practice in our Halloween costumes!

5.       Young gymnast: May we run? Coach: Yes! Older Gymnast: Okay, sit down and do not move.

6.       My hand is bleeding under the skin, look how cool this is, it moves!

7.       I do believe that all gymnasts are weird.

8.       Laugh hysterically when we break a bone, or in a lot of pain!

9.       Eat chalk.

10.   Sweat a lot, then lie on the mats and leave body prints.

11.   Have fun together making up funny floor routines, to random music!

12.   Torment Coach Josh (: [BEST ONE]

13.   Hey coach can I go take my meds?

14.   Me: It’s like two hundred degrees in here! Coach: Actually it’s not its, 60 and I’m freezing!

15.   They lied to me they told me that Giants were jolly and green, not scary!

16.   O my gosh, look at my leg its already bruising! COOL!

17.   Why didn’t I get a bruise, no fair!

18.   I forget my routine: /

19.   I really could use some sticky buns right now! (glue that stops your leotard from riding up)

20.   All that I’m after is a life full of laughter, as long as I’m laughing with MO!

Frustrations

Last night at gymnastics practice I became very frustrated. To the point of tears and I have not been to that point in forever but last night it was just too much to bear. After coming back from my surgery and time off I have had a little bit of a hard time getting back into doing some of my skills. Last night I could not for the life of me do a full twist. Well this really got to me, not because no I cannot do the skill. Because yes it is a hard skill to do, but the part that got me was this is a skill I have been doing since I was about eleven years old and I have been competing since I was thirteen, and what all of a sudden I do not remember how to do it. That frustrates me a little bit, well okay I’m lying that frustrates me a lot. I tried really hard to not let it get to me, but I finally got to the point where I just lost it, which is never good because it throws off your whole night at practice. I finally got it back into gear and continued tumbling, no I never actually got that skill completed last night but I was able to get myself into check so that I could complete other tumbling passes and work on my floor routine. In gymnastics sometimes you just have those days when you are off and cannot do something, and I just think sometimes its better to move on and not dwell on that for the rest of practice.

Being Exhausted.

You know that feeling where everything is beginning to slow down, and you just do not think that there is any possible way that you have enough energy to get everything done? Well welcome to my life, ha-ha. Often times I am up to all hours of the night trying to complete the homework that I get from my various honors and AP classes, but I probably wouldn’t be if it didn’t have to do with the fact that I am so devoted to gymnastics. I have gymnastics practice three to four days a week depending on the time of year. These practices last from directly after school putting me home around 7:45 or 8, almost every school night a week. I get to the point where exhaustion takes over and I just cannot do anything else. This weekend was a great example of how I can be exhausted and still have things to do. On Thursday I had school and had a lot of homework but thank goodness it wasn’t due until Monday right? Well I mean that’s kinda what I was thinking, but it ended up back firing. I had gymnastics Thursday night and decided I would do the Thursday homework over the weekend, well I had a church retreat this weekend and we left at 4:30 after school on Friday and got home on Sunday at 4. I thought that I would have plenty of time, but when I got home I was so exhausted from staying up late and doing back to back activity at the retreat. I ended up staying up till 11 doing homework last night when I needed to be in bed probably honestly closer to 9. Sometimes I wonder when my body is just going to say that is enough Sarah, STOP and TAKE A BREAK! But so far it just hasn’t really happened, so I guess until it does I am going to continue doing gymnastics like I do, and love!

Inside competitors

Sometimes the worst competitors are the ones on you team. The people that make you the maddest and the most competitive may be from people that you see every other day. But for me it's just a little bit different, see my gym is split into two different sections, one in henderson and one in madisonville. The only gymnast at either of the gym that is any where near my level is a 14 year old named Logan. She is one level behind me but her coach often pits us against one another. She often is quite hateful. I find sometimes the hardest competition to deal with is the one that is in your own gym system. I feel as if they should be focused more on beating other teams then beating a person on their own team.

Honest Feedback.

Sometimes I feel like no matter how hard I try I am not good enough for coaches, or parents, or teachers for that matter, if I make a comment, that no matter how good I meant it to be it's taken badly, telling people what I think of something has always been what I am good at, now I may be wrong but I would have thought that they would want the truth the unsugercoated version, when I tell a coach that I do not like the routine that we have been working on, and hey that skill just isn't gonna work out for me, or when I tell my family that I have been having a hard time with how this and that have been working at the house, and when I give teachers feedback on whether or not I liked an assignment or not. Now I always have the attitude that I would want someone to be honest with me, even if I would not like what they said. I would rather someone say you look big in that leotard then tell me I look great and hear them later talking about it or see myself and know that what they said was a lie. So I mean maybe I am wrong but I am going to stick with the opinion that honesty is the best policy.

How young is too young?

A big controversy in many countries is how young is too young to begin thinking about college plans for big sports plans and so forth. For gymnastics we have been talking about this alot lately. I feel as if yes there is a way to make it to much for such a young person but at the same time if you start gymnastics or I guess start trying at gymnastics too late in life, it is now very difficult to get a scholarship for it when you are competeing with some girls that are extremely good, and serious from a very young age. I believe though that it should be fun and not all just competition and being so strict on your body you get burnt out. I know a little girl named Mckayla, she is 8 years old and is at the same level of competition that I am. Now in my opinion that is too young. Her whole entire life is in the gym, yes she is good, actually she is great, and will very likely be one of the faces that you see of the Olympic team years down the road, but at the same time I can't help but to think, well if she even does it for that long and doesn't get burnt out on it too soon. This little girl is eight years old, she knows that when she becomes older that she wants to be a level ten gymnast and get a full ride scholarship to University of Georgia. Now not to discourage her, or her hopes and dreams, but that is ten maybe eleven years away. That is the same amount of time that I have been doing gymnastics now and I am going on 17. I do not know where I want to go, all I know is that I hope to get a scholarship as well. I just think that because of the fact that her mom is the coach that she has been brought up in the gym and has never known or had a chance to experience the life outside of gymnastics, and if she keeps going the way she is, then unfortunately she never will. I don't want to tell her to give up that dream just yet but there are many things that she will have to go through first such as middle school and high school where you are introduced to dances, games, driving, and of course you wake up and realize that no the opposite gender isn't just as gross as you had always thought. I am thankful that I go to a gym with good coaches, who love me, but they also realize that sometimes I have things in life to do outside of gymnastics and they are okay with that, I just hope that all of those young gymnasts out there are doing it because its what they want, not their parents or their coaches, and they have fun with it, and the day that it is no longer fun, is the day they should realize they are competing for the wrong reasons. I hope that they stay in it because many gymnasts stop their careers in high school and many never get to see the joys and competitive spirit of college gymnastics. I think that coaches really need to understand that you cannot be making those big time decisions about what level you want to compete, what college you want to attend at age, eight and nine, and I hope that they keep in mind that gymnasts like little Mckayla, need to have a chance to experience other aspects of life other then just the inside of a gym.

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY :D

Best Friend Tierney.

This blog is going to be completely devoted 100% to my best friend, Tierney Barr. :) Over the years, we have been through a lot together, but a fond memory that I have is the first day we ever met. We were four years old in a class at Owensboro Gymnast. We were the only kids in the class with a lot of energy to run around and of course drive the teacher insane. We giggled and it was friendship from the very start. This friendship continued from preschool, to elementary school, from little kid classes to the team program. We were on the team together at Owensboro Gymnast for about 8 years until she decided to quit competing. I then went to a different gym, but we still remained friends, from age 4 til age 12 we spent almost every day or every other day together at some point or another. But as time went on, she quit, i switched gyms, and we saw less and less of one and other; when we did have time to see each other however it seemed like nothing had changed we were still the crazy, loving best friends we had always been with the hilarious inside jokes, that may or may not have been appropriate. The scary movies she loved and I absolutely hated... and many more things. But now we are both sixteen and have both begun driving, and we BOTH work teaching gymnastics to little children at Owensboro Gymnast together. We have begun to find time to spend with each other more and more, and I must say that I am happy neither of us has gotten to mature to actually have any fun. We work out before teaching on Mondays and often share a text or phone call, but most importantly of all I know she has my back if I ever need and I would hope that she knows it works either way around, because being best friends doesn't necassarily mean that you are unseperable it means that you can be seperated but when you have time to be together it is like nothing had ever changed! And man am I ever grateful for that first preschool gymnastics class that gave me the friend of a lifetime!

Dedication.

If I could say one word that is something that I have learned from the sport of Gymnastics, it would be DEDICATION. There is so much to say about how much of your time, your life you have to give up to practice enought to be good at this sport. I would know because for the last ten years of my life, I have chosen to give up little things like high school football, and basketball games, going out on all Friday, and some Saturday nights, for practice and competitions. Now I am not saying that I don't enjoy Gymnastics enough to not want to do it all over again, because by anymeans I would ive it all up again. But if you really want become good at it, it takes a lot of hard working hours in the gym. My daily schedule 4 days a week is being out of the house from 7:30 am to getting home around 8 pm. These are long days spent in school, then driving to gym, then doing three or four hours of gymnastics, then driving home, when I'm dead tired, and then having to my homework. But if you love it the way I do, it is truly worth it!

A GHOST GYMNAST!!

On a rainy night, in late October, a gymnast was carefully practicing, and putting the finishing touches on her floor routine. The coach decided to trust the gymnast and left her alone at the gym. She was down to her last tumbling pass, she began to run and all of a sudden she heard a crack of thunder that threw off her concentration, as she flipped she knew something had been wrong from the beginning she messed up, not making the second flip all the way around she landed on her head and snapped her neck. Since the coach had left her there all alone, she laid there and died slowly. The next morning the coach arrived at the gym to find the car still there and the gym unlocked. Since the gymnast was supposed to lock the door when she left the coach began to get chills and her hair stood on end. As she walked into the building she saw her prized gymnast laying on the floor, rushing out to her she realized that she was dead and had been for a while. The coach wept at the sight of the poor girl crumpled on the floor. As the days went on after the incident, the coach couldn't help but to feel as if she was not alone, as if she was being watched from a far in the gym. One day as she was leaving she felt the room get very cold, as she began to leave she felt the air around her go with her as she walked. A little spooked by these activities she began to run, but no matter how fast she ran she couldn't escape the feeling. When she finally arrived to the car she looked in the window and saw her reflection. Pausing to look further at herself, she realized that she was not alone in the reflection next to her was Lexie, her gymnast she had found days before. Scared, she looked around as if to find Lexie alive again standing next to her. But no one was there. When she looked back in the window Lexie was gone. A little shaken, the coach got in the car and went home. The next morning she came back to the gym. When she arrived there, written in the mirrors of the gym in chalk, was a message that said, "If only you hadn't left me!" The coach, was stunned, she couldn't talk or move and the other gymnasts and coaches didn't understand the message. The coach finally admitted to leaving her alone in the gym, Lexie feeling as if the coach felt guilty enough, wrote another message this one said, "I will go now, but promise me one thing, that you will always from now on take your coaching position seriously and take care of all the other gymnasts." The coach terrified, and filled with remorse agreed and forever more until the day she quit coaching never let a gymnast out of her sight at practice. THE END!

What's right for you?

An important part of gymnastics, and i guess sports in general is knowing your limits. Even when other people, friends, coaches, and parents push you farther then you think you can. Often times we push ourselves to be better, and skinnier. Prettier, or what ever we think that we need to be. I am not very good at saying no to a coach or a teammate when they ask me something to help or show them something. I got hurt about 3 months ago I was sick and in pain but I decided to keep practicing anyway. I got dizzy and fell off of the balance beam and severely sprained my ankle. My coach asked what happened and when I told him. He explained to me that I never should do something on a four inch wide beam when I am dizzy and honestly when I think about it now then it kinda makes sense. haha. But it works the other way around too. A girl in the Olympics in 1980 was about to start her floor routine when her coach told her to add a second flip at the end of her routine, she thought I am going to be too tired but he told her to do it anyway. She didn't have enough stamina or power and didn't make the flip all the way around. She landed on her head and her spine snapped ending her gymnastics career forever if she had just followed her instincts she would have competed another day. This is a perfect example of how you need to know your own limits, and go by them because no body but you can tell yourself what is a good or bad idea.

Exclusion.

Gymnastics is an extremely hard, challenging sport! Well I mean I guess I would call it a sport but there are many people that do not consider it a sport because it doesn't have exact rules for somethings, and the judges base the scores on their own opinions not something that can be the same everytime. Every gymnasts routine looks different in every judges eyes. So often times gymnastics gets excluded from the sports category.

Also gymnastics gets excluded from some people thinking that it is inside it's not a hard sport there is no way that you can sweat that much and so forth. Boy is that a lie. We are often getting sick or passing out from the heat inside the building because most places we practice are made out of massive metal buildings that attract heat. The buildings often get so hot that they do not cool down even with air conditioning on. Other buildings like the old gym that I went to do not even have air conditioning to cool it down. There are days that we practice because there are no laws saying that you cannot practice gymnastics when it gets to a certain temperature like the outside sports it doesn't occur to them that inside can be just as hot, and dangerous so often times gymnasts get put through the most grueling workouts possible.

NO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY! :(

In a life style which is always go go go, like mine, taking two weeks to sit down and do absolutely nothing it is rather boring. I had surgery last week and the doctor said no conditioning or practicing for two weeks. Well it lasted about 3 days before I felt well enough to want to do things again, and as time went on I did more and more. But as a gymnast my coach told me that I must let my body rest. So I did what they said and listened, and well you know it's kinda funny but you feel much better when you sleep the right amount of hours and listen to doctors orders. I was really bummed when it came to missing two weeks of gymnastics practice, but I found out with the help of a good friend and coach that I can do things at home like watch routines, pick out music, and other things that would further my gymnastics career without putting too much stress on the stitches and scabs in my body. I am feeling much better now and will be back to gymnastics on Thursday!

Coaches and Friendship

Some of the best coaches are ones that you can connect with. I know that my coach is probably one of the best friends that I have ever had. We can finish each others thoughts and sentences, often times we bicker and argue because we are so much alike that we cannot stand how long we have been around each other. But other times he is just that person that I need to talk to, when everything is going so haywire and I am extremely overwhelmed. His name is Josh. Josh is my coach and has been for about four years. We have been through much of my gymnastics career and through most of the biggest obstacles that I have overcome. Two years ago I fractured my back, Josh how ever worked with me for long hours figuring out how to stay healthy with my eating habits, and how to do conditioning (workouts specific to parts of my body) to keep me fit without straining my back. He also helped me surpass the frustrations that were present when I started practicing again after almost 3 months of nothing. But don't get me wrong he isn't just a coach. He is my best friend, we have talked about everything from school to boys, and he has been there for me all the way. He gives me advice when he knows what to say and when he doesn't have any comments he just sits there and listens as I rant and rave about everything that has and will probably go wrong. This week I am having my tonsils removed and once again my best friend will be sitting in the waiting room with my mother to make sure that when everything is said and done that I am okay. Josh will get up early and go with me to something that is going to be hard on my gymnastics career. We are going to sit and research music for my routines, and work on my gymnastics from my house instead of the gym. He is very dedicated to helping me achieve my goals as a coach, and on the way I happened to find the best guy friend that I could ask for.

Sketchy Scoring.

Do you know what makes Gymnastics lose fans? It is often the scoring. The scoring is the most controversial part of gymnastics, because a trip that looked cool or a routine that you thought was awesome just watching the judges can see something and post a score that would reflect the total opposite. Often times you work so hard and do what you think is the routine to clench the title and then are unjustly rewarded with a score that is awful. Many gymnasts take that as a low blow when that score costs them the all around title, or the trip to state, or even for that matter the US Nationals. Scoring is often frowned upon from the REC leagues all the way to the Olympics. Gymnastics is a sport which is unfortunately based on someone's opinion of what looks good or not. But if you love the sport you learn to live with the bad days. Last year I was in one of these situations when I missed the scored for regionals by .125 this later on I found out wasn't even the case because the floor judges had deducted me incorrectly on my prescence on floor. Which means the way that I presented the routine, my facial expressions and attitude, which you can only deduct up to .5 for had lost me 1.0. they had messed up and because of it I did not make it to Regionals for my level 8 season. As much as I was upset by this and cried to say the least. I love gymnastics so much that I am just going to keep working and hopefully I will make regionals this upcoming year as a level 9 :D

A Gymnastics Inspiration.

Gymnastics is often unfortunately alot about the way that your presentation is. Many girls make their hair a big deal. Put it up in fancy ways, put a ton of glitter in it, hair spray it to perfection, or what ever else they can think of. One little girl really got to me at a big gymnastics competition where I competed. She is eleven years old when they fancy hair dos, and make up is a lot of fun for many girls, she has a disease that makes her have no hair on her body. She is completely bald and also has no hair on her legs or arms. It makes me realize how awesome she is too do gymnastics, in a sport that is often based on that unique appearance. I am proud to say that she is my friend, and she is an awesome example of someone who will do what ever it takes to do what she loves.

Missing Practice.

Some coaches are very strict on making sure that you never miss a practice or do anything fun. Lucky for me I have coaches that think you should have some fun as well as work hard, do well, and achieve goals. Sometimes skipping practice for a football game, dance, or vacation is okay, but sometimes missing practice is not acceptable. I do not think that missing a practice for something every once in a while is bad. The problem is when the gymnast is too lazy to come in a work out like they supposed to. Gymnastics is not a sport that you can half do. You have to be all in or all out, no where in between. Other times it takes a while to get back into shape when you are sick or if you are injured. It is important to come to every practice after that once you are well, and work as hard as possible to get back to the top of your game. But with a good coach and a positive team it can work out. I hope that with my surgury coming up that all of the people at the gym will be able to help me to gain back the stregth and energy that I need to do my routines well.

Stress.

It is easy to get incredibly stressed being a gymnast. Working out 12 hours or more a week and then you have school work, maybe church, extracurricular activities, jobs, etc. I know personally I do all of that and more. When you load your plate so full of things to do it is often hard to keep it all under control without developing stress problems. There are several ways to learn how to deal with stress. My coach gave me a good example of how to do it. I was under a pile of things that were important for me to get done. They just kept piling higher and higher. I would get one thing finished feel good about it just to find out that I had about four more things added to the list. Prioritizing is very important in gymnastics, as well as time management. Putting things such as school work first have always been important to me. Stress is something that can be avoided and is important to know how to take care of when it hits you. Do not ever let stress tear you down. Just ask for some help and find ways to maybe take a  break if you have too many things scheduled.

Gymnastics.

You know that feeling when you are just absolutely exhausted and do not know how you are going to stay awake? It is those days and pretty much only those days that I dread going to gymnastics practice. My body is saying I am exhausted, can barely move, and my mind says you need to sleep, to rest for once, but my coach and my other thoughts say well maybe just doing one more practice will be okay. Gymnastics is a sport that pushes your body to the limit! When you say I am done, so tired, there is not possibly any way that I can do anymore, it kinda mocks you saying well I don't care your tired get up and keep going. This is thought is probably the reason that most gymnasts get burnt out on work and quit! I have many friends who have thought I don't want to do anymore practice, I could be at the dance or I could be at the football game but no instead I am here. Gymnastics is a sport that demands many things, time, strength of body, and of mind, and the perseverence to never give up!

Coaches.

One thing that I have learned from gymnastics is that being around someone so much you really need to like them and get along with them because it is very hard to work well with them if you are annoyed or angered by them very quickly. Now throughout my days as a gymnast I have had many coaches and alot of them have moved away or have not gotten along well with me. I have been to four different gyms because of many various reasons and all of them seem to have some good things and bad. At my first gym I had an older coach who in his prime had been very good but he was just old and burnt out. At my second gym I had a guy named Barry and a girl named Karen. They were both good coaches, then Barry moved away and in the end Karen switched gyms. I followed Karen to her second gym, my third, where we worked well together for many years, then she found out her husband got a job in Florida and moved. By this time a nice lady named Jeri and her son, Josh had taken a job at Mega. But after the new owner bought the gym they ended up switching gyms as well. I then moved with Jeri and Josh to the gym that I am working at now, Todds. Through out all the years the coach that I think has best understood me is Josh. Now do not get me wrong we have had our little arguements, and big fights, that have escalated becoming bad at times or two, but most everytime we get through them and become even closer with a new way of looking at things. The biggest problems that we share is that we are so much alike. We both have to have that final word that sometimes makes the arguements worse then they should have been. Most always we get through a hard space and even now as we try to make things work I have faith that somehow he will find the way for me to make it to my dreams of collegiate gymnastics. I just hope that the coach I know that he has been and will continue to be can shine through. I just want to say thank you to all the coaches that I have ever had and learned from and continue to everyday.

Stress.

As a gymnast a big thing that you deal with is stress. I find it very stressing to have alot homework, and need to practice, and everything is boiling down to one time that I hit a routine or one time that I do not. A big dream of many gymnasts including me, is to make it to college on a gymnastics scholarship. That is one of the biggest stressing thoughts to me, that a one meet, on one day, and a specific event I have to hit the routine of my life with the college scouts sitting there staring me down. It is almost always the most nerve racking experience of a gymnasts career. One thing that is good is that gymnastics teaches to split up your time well. Alot of gymnasts do well in sports, and have good grades even with practicing about 12+ hours a week. Even if you do not make it to college based on your gymnastics it'll teach you life lessons such as time management, how to handle stress, and how to resist temptations, that you will need to know to make the best decisions you can in the rest of your life.

Eating Disorders

Many gymnasts struggle with Eating Disorders. Something very stressful in the sport of gymnastics is the way that you look when you are wearing that leotard and all eyes are on you at that important competition. Not only is it hard for you to accept the way you look all by yourself, there are many people, whether it be teammates, other teams, coaches, judges, that often say things that help increase that stress when they make unwelcome comments. I have always been a power gymnast, who is a little bigger, with big legs and wide hips, not fatter just bigger built. Two years ago at gymnastics camp a girl who was smaller then me at age 12 while i was 14 made a comment that very much hurt my feelings. She said, " Why are you in a leotard? You don't look like a gymnast." That motivated me to lose some weight. I got to the point where I became a little bit obcessive. I lost 22 pounds in the next 6 months that followed, most of it being in the first couple of months. This was eating a strict diet, working out twice a day, as well as having the normal four hour practices, three to four days a week. My mom became very worried about me because I ate less and worked out more. She was very concerned because one of the things that coaches say is that in gymnastics eating disorders do occur. I did not have an Eating Disorder, but I became very worried about gaining the slightest bit of weight. I also have had friends that have given into things such as eating disorders. My old coach once told my friend that she was getting fat and needed to watch it otherwise she would be off the team. She only weighed one hundred pounds at the time, and she was 17. She then turned to anorexia, after going about a week she decided that she missed her food. She then became a bulemic, someone who eats but then makes themselves puke afterwards. It took me a while to figure it out, but as she became smaller and smaller, I became a little worried. After many months off of gymnastics, and a doctor by her side, she because getting stronger and eating better again. Gymnastics really can mess with your mind if you let what people say get inside your head. I was strong enough to just get a little heath concious, but other people really care what people think about them. So I think it is important that coaches, and teammates should really think about their comments before they make them.

Injury.

As a gymnast one of the biggest obstacles is getting through tough injuries. I know from first hand accounts and personal experiences. Often time gymnasts do not want to have an injury so they will put off a doctors appointment until it cannot wait any longer, also they push their bodies to the breaking point. When I was 14 years old I had a back pain and did 20 hours of gymnastics on top of it a week anyway for about a month. Finally I told my mom and coach who both told me to suck it up. When I made it to the doctor after barely being able to move he told me that I had two fractures in my lower vertabrate. Needless to say I was out for about 4 months completely. The fight to come back was one of frustratiion and rehabilitation. Many injuries cause gmnasts to quit or have physical pain that never goes away. An injury can one of two things: end a career or make an athlete stronger willed. If I could tell any gymnast any advice about an injury it would be do everything that the doctor allows to keep you in shape and follow the doctor's orders to heal as quick as possible. Also, make sure to give your body the time and rest it needs to heal itself and do not push it to hard right away. Give yourself a little bit of time to get back into things and try hard to keep a possible mood even when things are not going as you would want. One of the hardest parts for me was to not get down on myself, when I could not do something that I had before I fractured my back. I had to remember that I had been out for four whole months and only half way back for two more. But in the end you will get through it and know that you are stronger because of it.

Breath-taking Beam

You know that feeling, the one you have when everything seems to rest on that little strand of hope, or that little bit of studying. Well thats kinda how Balance Beam feels all the time. You have your feet on top of 4 inches of surface space about 4 feet above the ground and are often doing skills that seem, and well to be honest, are dangerous and scary. Competing and practicing Bean are two completely different things . Many gymnasts will say that in practice they enjoy working Balance Beam, it's challenging and often times involves conquering a fear or two. This is the way I feel about it, always a feeling of acommplishment when I have done a new skill. During a competition, Beam is one of the move nerve racking events with everyone staring at you and the big skills you are doing on the skinny beam in the air. You mostly likely will feel your nerves take flight, you begin feeling shaky and often slip from sweaty feet but again it always supplies that great feeling of accomplishment when you that stick that dismount after doing that all perfect, solid routine.

Fantabulous Floor

You know that sport that you love, well mine is gymnastics, but more importantly than that I love floor. There is just something about it. On the floor you have a routine that is choreographed to fit the music that you picked out. More often then not that floor music that you picked fits your personality. This process of finding the right music and right choreographer that knows you and your personality is sometimes hard, but alot of fun. When you step onto the floor with the lights shining down, you feel like you are the center of attention, and most of the time that is because you are! The adrenaline starts pumping and your mind is focused on doing the best routine of your life. This routine is about a minute and a half to two minutes long but when you are out there tumbling, jumping, dancing, showing off your stuff it seems like its over in a flash. I really don't know what it is about the floor that gets me but it has always been one of my favorite events and probably always will be.

Vivacious Vault

One thing that the movie, Stick It, has completely right is when it says this, "If running full speed towards a stationary object is what your thing, then hey vault is for you." I mean that is literally what you do. You might spend weeks doing runnin drills and not even do any of the bigger tricks. It kinda gets boring and you often feel like progress is forever away, but it's important to remember that the little thing like running practices and procedures are what make the vault better. Vault has that little something about it where you feel alive and powerful! It pumps your adrenaline, and that split second where your muscles put out an enormous burst of energy turns into that all powerful skill.

Abominable Bars

You know that feeling, the feeling when you know you have to do something but you really don't want too? Well that is the feeling that a lot of gymnasts get in the deep pit of their stomachs when they are about to compete bars at a competition. It's for me the most difficult event to compete. It makes me the most nervous and some how it just seems to be the event that causes me the most problems. In practice I enjoy bars. It is the most challenging and the one that makes my adrenaline pump every time. But in a meet it is most often my down fall. I dread going to the bar at a competition because if the whole day has gone well I know that thirty second bar routine can be the end of the joy and happiness. But every now and then I will surprise myself and hit the bar routine of my life to pull out that needed score. But bars has other difficulties too. Its a very mental event, it is so easy to let your mind psych you out before you even try a skill. Bars also can be hard because sometimes it is painful. You get rips on your hands and your wrists. You bruise your hips and to be honest sometimes inflicting pain on yourself doesn't sound too appealing. Bars is a test of courage, patience, physical and mental strength, and the true determination of a gymnast.

Blood. Pain. Tears. Gymnastics.

Sometimes gymnastics mocks you. It seems like no matter what happens you get the same results. You fall on your face, your front, your butt, and it seems like all you can do is mess up, you are ripping chunks of skin out of your hands, taping every part of your body, and soon the only one you will want to turn to is your best friend, an ice bath. It gets frustrating and the desire to quit, to give up, begins to seperate the people who truly love the sport. I have been doing gymnastics for 9 years and from experiences; I would say from my experiences no matter how hard it seems, it rewards you in the end.