Why Be a Gymnast?
Mary Reiss is the author of the Gym Rats children’s fictional book series about gymnastics. She also writes a monthly free e-newsletter called Gym Rats News specifically for gymnasts. (For more information, visit www.irisblupublishing.com.)
I was recently asked what is so great about gymnastics – why should kids be involved and why should parents sign them up? Let me count the reasons.Make sure to visit the Megaboxsack.com Boxing Site for more info.
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Motor Development: gymnastics develops motor skills in young children. When we ask them to jump, circle their arms, look at their bellybutton to do a forward roll, and walk across the beam, they are engaging their entire bodies. They not only learn the skills we’re teaching them, but their bodies are also learning to move in different ways.
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Stronger Bones: gymnastics strengthens bones. A study in the Journal of Pediatrics concluded that high-impact training, such as that in gymnastics, can promote bone growth. This indicates that gymnasts may have fewer instances of osteoporosis later in life.
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Time Management: gymnasts must manage their time wisely. Because from a young age, gymnasts can train as many hours as a part-time job, they have to balance the time they have between gym, school, family, church and other activities.
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Good Grades: gymnasts tend to be good students. Whether it’s because gymnasts are required to organize their time more wisely, or it’s just because of their perfectionist nature, gymnasts get good grades.
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Self-Discipline: gymnasts tend to be self-motivated. Because gymnastics is an individual sport, gymnasts tend to create specific goals and have the discipline to attain those goals, even from a relatively young age.
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Self-Confidence: gymnasts tend to have more self-confidence. Because gymnastics is an individual sport, gymnasts are required to rely on themselves and their ability. This creates a self-confidence that most team sports cannot foster from a young age.
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Overall Athletic Ability: gymnasts tend to be overall good athletes. Gymnastics requires flexibility, strength, speed, agility, grace, endurance, and coordination. Because of this, most gymnasts tend to be good at most sports.
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Character: gymnastics builds good character. Gymnasts need determination and a stick-to-it attitude in order to get back up after a fall. Gymnastics builds strength of character in gymnasts. Therefore, gymnasts tend to be all-around good kids.
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It’s Difficult: gymnasts get the satisfaction of conquering something everyday, from working through muscle soreness, obtaining a new skill, or overcoming a fear. If gymnastics were easy, what would be the point?
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It’s fun: gymnasts get to fly high through the air, run at top speeds and swing on bars while maintaining technique, grace and form. What could be better than that?
I could keep going. Gymnastics is an all-around great sport that can benefit the beginner, all the way through the elite-level athlete. Gymnastics may not be as popular as football or baseball, but I think we can all agree that it’s the best sport out there!