Gymnasts Pre-Meet Advice

[leighselrayne]

Hi! I have a meet tomorrow and I would like some tips. Its my first platinum meet and I am not ready at all. I have lost a lot of skills this week and I don't know what to do. I'm really scared that I'm going to get really bad scores because I'm used to placing a lot. What should I do?

 

[HopefulGymnast]

I think to start with take a deep breath.
If you've made it to platinum, you've reached a very high level already. I think it's normal to reach a point where you struggle a bit and need more time to get the skills. You probably won't be the only one. If everything is always "easy" and you're always scoring at the top, then perhaps it's time to move on to a harder level. Scoring lower for once just means you're at a level where you still have a lot to learn and still have space to grow. It means you're challenging yourself, and you get to grow throughout the season.

Perhaps it can help you not to just see this meet as a competition, but as a starting point. You can use it to see how you can grow from there, make little ambitions of "next time I'll do X better". It doesn't have to come right away (or even in one year). But I think participating in a level where you're still learning, growing, and challenging yourself is very brave and perhaps the best way to grow.

Also, try not to compare yourself to others too much: you don't know their situation. Some might be on their third year of platinum. Some might have just dropped out from DP or even elite, you'll never know. It's no point to compare yourself at this stage, because you're still working towards becoming the best platinum gymnast you can be. (Perhaps eventually you can start looking at placements and medalling and all that, if you really want to. when you've reached that point, when you're confident that you've finished your journey to get the best platinum routines you're going to get, and it's time to really compete with others who are also at that point. But right now, comparing might not be the best, because you first need to focus on your own growth.)

If you want, or if it helps, you can tell us a bit about where you're at right now, and where you hope go grow towards with your routines. I don't mean score wise, but e.g. "I want to get my clear hip to above horizontal".

Finally, do make sure you're competing safely.

I hope this helps a bit.

 

[Dahlialover]

It’s all a learning experience, so you can’t lose. You’ll almost certainly do better than you expect, but if it’s not your best meet ever, you’ll be fine. As Fred Richard said after falling off the high bar at the World Championships, “It’s all part of the Journey.”

So go have fun! Do the best you can today and know that that is good enough because you are good enough exactly the way you are!