Narrative Essay On Gymnastics

In gymnastics you constantly fail on every event, bars, beam, vault and especially floor. When you jump crooked and miss your feet on beam or swing around a bar only to fall on the mats creating a chalk cloud. Failure can either make you quit or make you stronger in the future
Gymnasts has been part of life since I was 8, wearing leotards more than jeans and having hands, ripped and callused, from years of getting bloody blisters on bars. A million memories created in a chalky gym, worn and equipped with red and blue mats, that are as familiar as home. With a strict judging system, gymnastics has taught me how to achieve goals by spending hours in gym instead of hanging out with my friends, watching a movie or eating dinner earlier than 9 pm. My worst failure, making me question my comment, was when I didn’t move from level 7 to 8. In level 7, I placed 5th in regionals, but when it was time learn new skills, I wasn’t improving. Drilling full twists on the floor, a layout with 360 turn in the air, I consistently landed short on the mat causing ankle sprains or completely missing my feet and slamming my side onto floor. On my favorite event bars, I struggled doing a pirouette, a cast handstand with a 180 turn, always casting short of a
Reluctantly going to practice out of habit, I second guessed my abilities bailing on full twists or sukes adding fear onto my failure. My confidence took a nose a dive and skills I already mastered like a backhandspring on beam suddenly became terrifying as I stood on beam for seconds without moving. Practice stopped being enjoyable and I no longer looked forward to going gym. I was scared I wasn't good enough to be gymnast and that my career was plateauing like my skills. The thoughts of quitting keep me awake at night making me consider a life without