Being out of practice for 10 years, I kinda came to terms with never doing gymnastics again, but that all changed three weeks ago.
(a very poor angle, but you get the idea)
See, I used to love gymnastics when I did it as a kid, but when I got old enough I only had two options: start competing or quit.
(steppin up to the plate)
Now I was a very chill kid. I was competitive, but what really drove me was my love of the sport. With some sports, you can get away with being kind of lax, but gymnastics is a perfectionist sport. You can win or lose by fractions of a point.
(me and my terrible form)
I’ve always had high expectations for myself and it was hard enough to try to live up to my own standards, let alone coaches, teams, and crowds. I thrived in low pressure situations where the only opinion I had to worry about was my own.
So I quit.
(just look at those floppy legs)
But I’ve always missed it so when I discovered my campus had a gymnastics team, I was over the moon. I couldn’t remember everything, in fact I lost a lot of skills, but some of my muscle memory came back.
(again, terrible form)
I’ve tried lots of sports over the years to try to fill the foam pit sized hole in my heart, whether that was soccer, volleyball, or lacrosse, but even in situations where it was supposed to be relaxed, I found people still taking the game (and themselves) way too seriously.
(wow that landing)
This is the perfect environment for me because there’s finally people who are willing to work with you, challenge you, but still accept the level that you’re at.
And finally have some fun!
(totally not a look of panic at all)