Personal Narrative: My First Gymnastics

At the age of two my parents decided I had too much energy and they enrolled me in my first gymnastics class. As a female you train four events: vault, bars, beam, and floor. I went to class once a week for two years and at the age of four I joined the competitive team. As a competitive gymnast, you train year round and a minimum of 10 hours a week is spent in the gym. Some schools even require additional classes in ballet in order to improve the dance side of gymnastics. During the competitive season, usually November to March, you travel to competitions against other schools. At these competitions you showcase your skills on each event and a team of judges gives you a score based on the difficulty of your chosen skills and how well you
The first stage involves imagining how others perceive your initial talent. At practices you spend hours working the same skills over and over again with your teammates. The gym usually has an entire wall covered in mirrors so that you can see how some of your skills are progressing. You also watch your teammates practice the same things, and you take videos of each other so you can see what every thing looks like. By observing yourself and your teammates, you start to understand where you fit in the gymnastics food chain. The second stage of self-identity is about receiving judgement from others. During practices your coaches give you constructive criticism. I must have heard “point your toes” thousands of times over the course of a year. On the other hand, if you did something well, they give you praise. At competitions, judges give you scores based on how well you performed your specific set of skills, and your artistry. These are all forms of judgement from others. The final stage of self-identity is how you use the perception and judgement from others to better yourself. Based on your competition scores you learn what you need to fix. If you fell on a specific skill, you repeat it the next week in practice until you can do it in your sleep. And then you keep practicing some more. You focus on your weaknesses and improve for the next