Gymnastics Article #1

The ancient Greeks did it naked. The Romans had it banned. The Christians deplored it as dangerous. Yet is has nonetheless survived the test of time and risen as a glorified art form that tests the limits of the mind-body-spirit complex in an aesthetically compelling practice. Gymnastics has evolved into one of the most internaionally celebrated sports. It is performed at an amateur, expert, and Olympic level and not only offers fans an aethetically pleasing dance of physicality and gracefulness - it prepares its participants for the real world.

Should I give in to my Big Mac craving or do I want to indulge in Sushi? What color shoes should I wear with that striped shirt? Should I go out for a night-on-the town with friends or stay in and catch up on some Steven King? The problems that we face in gymnastics often surrepticiously mirror the ones that we face in the real world. Deciding what to eat, wear, or do with our spare time is a lot easier when we have been making consequential decisions all of our lives. Making a commitment to stay on the beam after a wobbly backhandspring could make-or-break a routine, just like resolving to return a phone-call to a client could make-or-break the relationship we have with that client.

The world of gymnastics is one small microcosm in the great macrocosmic universe and the practice of it prepares us for living, dealing, and coping in an often daunting, complex, and trying world. Just like religion, art, business, school, athletics, politics, economics, and acedemia oftentimes collide in the real-world, beam, bars, floor, and vault (the four women's artistic events) also do in gymnastics. The mental and physical tools that enable us to master (or come lose to!) these four disciplines also do so in real-life.

Enrolling our children in gymnastic is one of the single most important things we can do to help ensure that they will be able to handle stress and cope with the ever-changing world that they will inevitably be thrust into. Gymnastics is a progression that begins with mommy-and-me classes, which then progress into preschool, non-competitve, competitive (comulsory and optional), and eventually either college-level or elite level gymnastics.

Gymnastics is, in essence, a child's initiation into the world of choices and choices are what dictate the course of our lives. An infant in a mommy-and-me class chooses whether or not to walk across the beam alone or to hold mommy's hand in the process. A competitive gymnast chooses which body part to move at a certain time and they see the effects of that choice at the conclusion of the skill. A more experienced gymnast may even choose between which human system to employ when performaing a skill (skeletal or muscular).

Gymnastics helps children become autonomus, socially engaged, hard-working, heatlthy, and intellectually adept individuals. These are the inredgiants that parents hope that their children, as they grow into adolsecents and eventually adults, will encompass.

The mind-body-spirit trinity is apparent moreso in gymnastics than in any other sport because of the simultaneous physical, mental, and spiritual demands it places on its participates. Beam requires a mix of balance, power, precision, and stability. Floor requires tenacity, grace, and willful endurance. Bars requires fluidity and strength. Vault demands speed, quick-thinking, and tight, clear objectives. All of these qualities are what we aspire, as people who continue to seek happiness and fulfillment in life, aspire to encompass. So why not cultviate in our children these same qualities from the get-go by putting them in a sport that may also eventually relieve us of our finanical obligation to put them through college?

Gymnastics, if practiced correctly, spawns outstanding individuals who are able to survive and thrive in an increasingly demanding universe.



New article - about mommy-and-me classes specifically (target age-group)...

In mommy-and-me classes, infants are given that all-important foundation that they need to build-off of. They develop motor skills and learn, essentially, how to move. They develope balance and concentration by walking across a low beam while holding mommy's hand. They learn how to manipulate their bodies and what the effect of moving a certain limb in a certain direction can have by jumping on a trampoline. They experience the phenomenon of moving each body part in tandem as a means by which to pull themselves over a low bar (with the help of a coach of course!). They develop arm strength by hanging on a low bar, courage by jumping into the pit, and cognition by maneuvering their way through an obstacle course. Bright colored beanbags, hula-hoops, and mats are used in order to apeal to their visual-spatial sense.


New article - more specifically about the gymnast rather than the practice of gymnastics in general....

We marvel at them as they flip across a four-inch slab of wood raised four feet off the ground and land without a wobble. We gasp as they tumble their way into space, twisting and flipping (often simultaneously) and rebouding off of what, to the naked, eye, looks like nothing more than a big blue carpet. We stare in amazement as they sprint their fastest towards an inanimate apparatus, then use it to propell themselves up and over and land seemlessly without moving a muscle. And we watch in wonder as they muscle and contort their bodies in swings and counter-swings that propell them up, over, around, and awaya from bar to bar. This is the sport of Women's Gymnastics at its finest.
Gymnastics is one big metaphor for life.