Out of all sports, rhythmic gymnastics is one of the most competitive sports in the world; only about forty one percent of rhythmic gymnasts actually become successful in this sport. Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport that requires flexibility, hard work, and determination. However, although this unique form of gymnastics is highly demanding physically, most of society does not realize that gymnasts need to be mentally strong in order be the successful forty percent. It can be difficult to build a gymnast’s mentality, but with tough coaches this job can be done easily. There has been many gymnasts who have been able to reach their successes prominently due to their tough coaches, although many parents of these athletes believe the strict demeanor …show more content…
Not too many gymnasts’ dreams become a reality because there are not many coaches who are tough with them. Most rhythmic gymnastic skills are very challenging and can sometimes be scary for a gymnast to do, but a hard-core coach can scare a gymnast to complete the skill by yelling. Yelling is also a great way to force a lazy gymnast to work harder, “They do this by pushing their athletes outside of their comfort zone, physically, mentally and emotionally, and then helping them discover that, in fact, they can do better than they first believed they could.” (Competitive Advantage). Coaches who mentally mess with their gymnasts’ minds causes them to compete better. For a gymnast, competing is filled with mind games and escaping negative thoughts. Competing is easier with stern coaches because gymnasts have to be mentally tough every practice, which makes them stronger and comfortable in competitions. Rhythmic gymnastics is a complex sport, but with ascetic coaches a gymnast can …show more content…
First, it is important to have mental toughness in rhythmic gymnastics, but also throughout life. Gymnasts who are surrounded by stringent coaches will handle their future better, whether it is a job or coping with strict personalities. According to James Clear, having mental toughness is in all aspects of life, “Research is starting to reveal that your mental toughness — or “grit” as they call it — plays a more important role than anything else for achieving your goals in health, business, and life.” Furthermore, gymnasts can learn to be respectful and responsible with harsh coaches. Some people do not ever face responsibilities in life, which is important because a rigorous coach can teach gymnasts many life lessons, "Besides just coaching, they share wisdom and insight on life based on personal experience," (What Makes A Good
In order to see outcomes in this area of improvement, we as coaches must re-evaluate not only our athletes, but, in addition, our coaching styles. Of course, we all want to tell ourselves that we are great coaches and it's the athletes who are not following direction...
Coaching is an integral part of helping achieve one’s maximum abilities. Dr. Gawande (2013) explains that, “Coaches are not teachers, but they teach. They’re not your boss—in professional tennis, golf, and skating, the athlete hires and fires the coach—but they can be bossy” (p. 3). It is difficult to say what is the exact function of a coach, however, they help bring forth another point of view different from our own and they also help bring about the right mindset in order to subdue a weakness.
“Gymnastics taught me everything- life lessons, responsibility and discipline and respect.” -Shawn Johnson (Former Olympic gymnast). In my interview with Franchesca Hutton-Lau I found this quote to prove very true to her. Franchesca Hutton-Lau, often called Frankee by her friends and teammates, has been a gymnast ever since she was five years old. In my interview with her, she enlightened me on her struggles, experiences, lessons, and successes which she’s taken from this treacherous sport. Chesca, as I call her, has a very different life from the average high school student.
Be strong, i’m here for you, why do you feel the need to do this to yourself? Those are some common phrases I hear from day to day. I have always been a happy girl, I have a good family good house and a amazing gymnastics career, but two years ago my life changed forever. Ever since I was a little girl I had always known my goal and pushed myself to the highest levels to get it. My goal was the olympics and there was nothing holding me back or at least that's what I thought.
Sports performance is carrying out of specific physical routines or procedures by one who is trained or skilled in physical activity. Performance is usually influenced by a combination of physiological and also psychological. Performance of an athlete usually measured by the goals they set and how hard they are willing to train for the sport they take part in. When thinking of performing a duty to a team most people don’t think about the mental obstacles one might have to overcome to accomplish a goal. When dealing with any athlete there is more to it than just throwing them in a game and expecting them to play well.
I’ve been involved with sports since I was 2 years old, participating in these taught me more than the sports themselves; they taught me who I am. I put in countless hours of gymnastics practice, so many that the majority of kids couldn’t imagine the dedication needed to become a state and national champion. It taught me a few of the most vital lessons that I will ever learn; to contribute 100 percent in everything I do and to balance various aspects of my life. Gymnastics also taught me perseverance, how to work harder to achieve a goal, no matter how difficult.
As a dancer myself, I can understand why people do not think dance is a sport. For my 11 years of dancing, I have been told that dancing is not a sport. I might be against this statement , but I can somewhat agree that dancing isn’t a sport. Dancing is more considered an art than a sport according to Tengaged. However, dancers are not always competing against another team, which is one reason why dance not considered a sport. Debate.org states that people do not think that there is much physical activity required to dance. Lastly, dancers are not scored by how many points or goals they make, but by a panel of judges.
...ntial stressors when competing. According to Nicholls & Polman (2007), the capability to cope with stress plays a significant part in how well an athlete performs during and out of competition. In line with this research, the self-efficacy construct has been found to impact how an individual appraises a situation and the corresponding way in which they cope. Self-efficacy can be defined as an individual’s beliefs about their ability to attain a certain outcome which is further expressed in their views about their capacity to execute a specific behavior or task. Since stress is a consistent and defining variable in sports and life outside of sports, it is crucial that athletes develop ways to successfully cope with stress and effectively implement these methods in order to avoid negative effects in competition and in life (Nicholls, Polman, Levy, & Borkoles, 2010).
The goal of every coach is to create an environment in which his athletes can flourish. Performance anxiety is a coach’s worst enemy simply because it can have a negative impact both mentally and physically on athletes. The mastery approach to coaching is a cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to promote a mastery-involving motivational climate (Smith, Smoll, Cumming, 2007). How a coach handles his athletes is essential for their confidence and ability to overcome any level of performance anxiety. Critical or punitive feedback from coaches can evoke high levels of negative affect in children who fear failure and disapproval, thereby contributing to a threatening athletic environment (Smith, Smoll, Cumming, 2007).
The mind is very complex and the slightest thing can dramatically change a person. At the same time, the mind can be molded how it is told to. This infers that one with the correct knowledge can change another however they please which is very beneficial to coaches in athletics.
The sheer energy of a gymnast alone can be felt by audiences of all ages, but what the spectators lack the ability to feel is the pounding of the bodies that bear the impact of the athletes in action. Gymnastics consists of a mixture of acrobatic performances of four different events for females, and six different events for males (Gianoulis 1). Gymnastics is demanding in a multitude of ways, including: physically, emotionally and mentally. It requires countless hours of dedication. The concerns of most gymnasts are moving up to the next level, or getting a more advanced skill, while the concerns of the doctors, coaches, and parents revolve mostly around the athlete’s health, which is put at stake for the adored yet dangerous sport. Injuries are common among both male and female gymnast alike, but due to the fact a female gymnast’s career peaks at the same time of major growth and development, a female gymnast’s body as a whole is more likely to undergo lifelong changes or affects (Gianoulis 2). Among the injuries of the mind blowing athletes, the most common ones affect the ankles, feet, lower back, wrist, and hands of individuals (Prevention and Treatment 1). From sprains, to the breaks, the intriguing sport of gymnastics is physically demanding on a gymnast’s body.
A lot of times, sports seem like a contest of physical skill― a test to see who is the fastest or strongest, who has the best eye or the most endurance, who can jump the highest or can handle the ball the best. What a lot of people don’t know is that there is so much more to a sport than just the muscle and coordination. In order to excel in a sport, an athlete requires a lot of self-discipline, concentration, and self-confidence. It’s the mental factor that makes a difference. Former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlon runner Bruce Jenner once said, “You have to train your mind like you train your body” (Gregoire 1). Success or failure depends on the mental factors just as much as the physical ones. The training of the mind of an athlete is called sports psychology. The use of sports psychology has a huge impact upon an athlete’s performance. The mental skills of a sport are just as important as the physical skills. All professional athletes use sports psychology. “If they aren’t currently using it, it’s almost guaranteed they’ve used it in the past, even if they are unaware they have” (Davis, Stephens, The Exploratorium 129). It’s hard to find an experienced athlete who hasn’t used sports psychology, because without it, they probably wouldn’t be where they are. The use of sports psychology is a crucial step to becoming a successful athlete.
Sports psychology continues to evolve in order to ensure that comprehensive and evidence-based psychological services are available for athletes and teams. Giving athletes an understanding of their psychological functioning, and building the ability to implement a range of psychological strategies in competition enables athletes to both execute their skills and thrive under pressure as they strive to reach their performance potential.
Why are mental skills so important to performance and why are they often neglected by coaches and athletes? Yogi Berra has been quoted as saying, "sport is 90% mental and 50% physical." You can question his mathematical savvy, but if you're an athlete, coach or fan, you can't question his wisdom. (Hacker, 2000) Many athletes understand that while developing oneself to their physical potential is a critical element in performance potential, it is often a deficit in our psychological game rather than errors in our physical performance that keep us from performing at optimum levels in practice, games or matches. Spud McKenzie, the Budweiser poster puppy, suggested that it is important to say when, but also emphasized the critical element of knowing “when to say when”. It is often the successful athlete has recognized what needed to be done and the unsuccessful athlete was unable to do so. As a consequence, it is not the physical talents or abilities that separate athletes and teams, or successful versus less successful performance, rather, the psychological dimension that most frequently explains a given sport outcome or individual performance. For this reason games are played. Prior to each contest, judgment could be made with regard to which team or individual is the “more highly skilled”. If games were decided on who is the most physically gifted and/or talented individuals or teams, it would prove to be an exercise in futility to compete. As a result, whether you are an athlete or a coach, mastering the mental game of sport will allow you to achieve a level of success as a competitor than you could otherwise not achieve by focusing exclusively on the physical side of sport.
Preparing for competition is easier said than done, you need a passion to complete the task. Competition is extremely stressful, but amazing at the same time. It?s a process of mixed emotions, not knowing if it?s importance will have a meaning in the end. Having practice six times a week allows us to work on our jumps, cheers, dances, tumbling, and the most difficult, stunting. Just the counts and lifting people in the air is traumatic enough, but repeating it over and over again it gets strenuous. Dancing is relaxing when you have counts to them, but when you have to learn the dance to the music people get confused and don?t know when to leave to the next formation. Team members start getting fed up with each other at the closing stages of practice, it?s just a natural human reaction after practicing with the same fifteen to twenty girls for three hours.