If I were a gymnast growing up now…

…I likely wouldn’t make it out of compulsories. And I was a Level 10 for four years and a Division I collegiate athlete for four years!

The gymnastics culture at the moment is such that most gyms require mandate scores in order to move to the next level. In addition, some of these gyms also require a specific score, PLUS a specific placing in the gymnast’s age group.

Here’s one parent’s perspective: “I know my daughter under a specific coach needed a 37.5 or better and top of podium to move to next level. It was frustrating and she was held back and did level 3 years even placing 1st in 2 of the years. If anything was said to coaches it was taken out on the gymnast. Girls begged parents not to say anything due to repercussions. Gymnasts feared coaches. I pray your involvement begins a movement of change.”

I started competing way back in Class IV (yes, back when we used Roman numerals to count). It was the very basic compulsory level. I was one of those kids with power and speed, but it wasn’t harnessed very well yet. I ended up lower-end to middle of the pack on each of the events in just about every meet. My all-around score was in the 31.0–33.0 range most of the time, sometimes lower, sometimes higher. I certainly wasn’t consistent.

Despite my lower scores, I showed tremendous potential in the gym. I worked hard and was willing to try just about anything. For instance, I did Tsuks the very next year after Class IV! (I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what they looked like…)

Then came an Olympic year, where they updated everything, and we tested to see what level we’d compete the next season. I tested into compulsory Level 7. This levels was the advanced compulsory level, so the judges really were looking for maturity in dance, as well as skill ability. Well, I had the skill ability, let’s just say that…

…except for my back walkover on beam. I could not stick one of those to save my life! Needless to say, I fell in every meet. I think I may have stuck my back walkover in one meet (I don’t know how), but that’s when I fell on my back handspring.

Long story short, I was certainly not receiving “a 37.5 or better and top of podium” in any of my meets. In fact, I didn’t receive my first 9.0 until the State meet of my second year of Level 8!

And look where I am.

I literally would not be writing this blog post if it weren’t for my gym and my coaches who saw potential in me and kept allowing me to continue to progress even though I wasn’t the best competitor.

As coaches and parents, we need to spend more time developing the individual gymnast. The NEW gymnastics culture does just that, one gymnast at a time. Become a part of it!