The Importance of Healthy Self-Esteem

As a gymnastics coach, gymnastics is the vehicle I use to help develop strong, independent, and confident young women, so they can go out into the world and become whoever or whatever it is they want to become.

I can try to teach life lessons like goal-setting, visualization, organization, and many more everyday, but without my gymnasts first having a high self-esteem, these life lessons won’t stick. It’s not that these lessons won’t have an effect for awhile — they generally will — but they won’t be able to translate as well into the future, in life beyond the gym, unless my gymnasts have a strong sense of self.

But this high self-esteem takes nurturing; it doesn’t just happen. My gymnasts spend a lot of time with me. I need to make sure that the time spent with me is time where I am providing them with the tools they will need to develop of healthy self-esteem. It is a process, and it is a conscious process.

Too many times, gymnasts are a part of a gym culture that does not actively seek to build their self-esteem, or, in extreme cases, actively works to tear down their self-esteem in the name of “putting the team first” or “encouraging self-discipline.” I argue that if we build up the individual, the team will come. I argue that self-discipline is about seeking to improve oneself, not allowing someone else to tear one’s self down. We can do better as a gymnastics community. As coaches, we need to actively seek to teach our gymnasts how to build their self-esteem throughout their gymnastics careers and in life after gymnastics, which (in almost all cases) will last much longer than the longest gymnastics career.

Creating an atmosphere where I can help lay the foundation for a high self-esteem in the gymnasts in my care is my constant responsibility. It is the base necessary for my gymnasts to be able to take the other life lessons I teach them and use them in the gym and throughout their life beyond gymnastics.

Join the Facebook group dedicated to creating a NEW gymnastics culture, one gymnast at a time.