Visualize
I touched on visualization yesterday just a little bit when I found someone that I wanted to emulate in order to perform on beam the way that I wanted. I thought about that gymnast and pictured her getting up and doing her beam routine, and imagined that I could do mine like her as well.
Visualization is imagination — imagining that you can do something, seeing yourself completing something. This ultimately leads to believing that you can.
I continued to picture my friend doing her beam routine, and her series in particular, and coupling that with the feeling of my doing it also — nerves and all. Over time, I began to see myself up on that beam doing my routine with the same poise and nonchalance that she had. With this vision, I was able to believe that it could happen.
Visualization can somtimes be a daunting task for a gymnast. But, if you think about it, visualization is simply using your imagination. Paint a picture in your head, and you get to choose what it looks like.
A simple exercise that I do with my gymnasts is to have them picture someone they know doing a perfect leap pass. Imagine that person doing it. See how beautiful their leap is in the air, full split, straight legs, a seamless connection. Then, I have my gymnasts pop the other gymnast’s head off and put theirs on top and visualize with their head on their other gymnast’s body. They imagine themselves completing a beautiful leap pass. When they actually do their leap pass again, you’d be amazed at the results.
Visualization is a very underutilized and very powerful tool. I’ve created a guide just for gymnasts so they can learn how to do it. Find it here!
