Personal Narrative: Gymnastics

I was four years old when I started swimming, I learned quick and was able to do team skills only after being there a few months, yet the team coach declined me because you had to be five to be on the team. My parents pulled me out of swim and decided to put me in gymnastics to stay in shape until I turned five. When my next birthday came around and it was time for me to go back to swim, I didn’t want to. I stayed in recreational classes for around three years mainly doing it for fun but when I was eight years old, I switched to Shooting Stars Gymnastics where I began competitive gymnastics.
For the next six years I loved that sport more than anything, I would only think about gymnastics. I earned multiple state awards and was even a state

My parents asked one of the coaches if I could come back to the gym and they were more than happy to let me come back. Yet when I came back, my love for the sport still wasn’t there. I was mentally abused at the other gym and it took away almost everything I loved about the sport, although my gymnastics was getting better and I began progressing towards the highest level of gymnastics. I continued training nonstop until I slipped off the bar and damaged a nerve in the back of my leg. This is when I had lost all love for the sport. I was done for good after this and I quit. I was so distraught and confused, I couldn’t understand why I wasted 12 years of my life on a sport that got me nowhere. I didn’t want to ever step foot inside another gymnastics facility again, but my coach talked to my parents and said I have a great personality for coaching and I have a good eye for correcting, since then I have been coaching for almost 2 years and I love it! I began to find love for the sport again by helping other gymnasts improve and see their excitement when they got a new