WAG How did you get into gymnastics?

[Lydia]

Hey all! I've just been wondering how everyone here got started in gymnastics? Did your parents enrol you as a young child or did you decide to start yourself, that kind of thing. Personally I was inspired to start myself about a year ago after watching the Olympics on YouTube.

 

[Vivianflips]

I was inspired to start also. Although I did do some gymnastics at my preschool and at little gym camps (it's a rec gym chain for kids 12 and under) prior to offically starting at almost 13.

 

[MnMgymnast]

My mom put me in to gain social skills at 2 yrs old. Stuck with it ever since

 

[emilykatherine]

I was put in a gymnastics/dance class at 21/2-3 because I was too much for my parents to handle all the time

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Parent here. I put my daughter into gym because at 18 months, she was using the back of the couch (in the middle of our living room, yeah nowhere near a wall) as a beam. And she would take the cushions off the couch and use it as a tumble track.

 

[Flipflopz]

Parent here. Dd was getting herself onto the treadmill bar and hanging at just less than one year old. I knew that was crazy odd!

 

[sce]

I watched it. I know I asked to do gymnastics in elementary school after seeing it on TV. They hesitated. I wanted to do it even more after seeing the 84 Olympics. That year my Jr High held a gymnastics class for the community in the evening. Then I tried out for the team.

I did not plan to get my kids into the sport, but they needed a class where they could run, climb and jump. Then they were hooked. So here we still are.

 

[flippinam]

At my middle school, in the fifth grade, we hosted a Renaissance fair, & all the 5th graders dressed up as different characters. Two people from the whole grade got to be the jesters, & the jesters got to do cartwheels down the aisle in the church service before the fair. I REALLY wanted to be one of those jesters, so I taught myself cartwheels in my bedroom. I didn't get the part & I was sooo upset! So I worked & worked on my cartwheels & showed my teacher again the next week. She ended up allowing a third jester because she saw how hard I had worked & how much I'd improved.
After that, I realized gymnastics could be fun but for some reason I never told my mom I wanted to do it until my sister did a cheer camp that summer. I finally started in November 2009 in 6th grade & haven't looked back ever since! It's so crazy how "Oh let's try this for fun" turns into the activity that governs your life. But I wouldn't trade it for anything else!

 

[Itsachalkylifeforme]

My best friend showed me how to do a tuck jump and told me she took a gymnastics class and that was it. I was hooked and determined to convince my mom to sign me up-eventually it worked and I was SO happy. That magical moment of my very first day in the gym (at the age of 11) was absolutely incredible and I am so thankful to be able to continue to have those days every practice.

 

[Teezi]

My friend did gymnastics in 6th grade and I wanted to join with her so I did! And the rest is history!

 

[raenndrops]

THIS would be (part of) why we got the gymmies into gymnastics!

 

[flipon_]

I was inspired, no parent. I started gymnastics when I was 7 years old.

 

[Ponyshine]

My parents enrolled me into baby gym when I was a few months old, then I progressed onto 'real' gymnastics and have loved it ever since!

 

[LucyTRA]

We had a nanny who took us to lots of activities, including 'gym tots' as pre-schoolers, and then when we got slightly older we continued with it. I was kicked out of artistic gymnastics when I was seven because I had hip dysplasia and I was told not to attempt splits by the surgeon who fixed it. The development squad coach wasn't ok with that!

after I stopped doing artistic (my sister was also removed from the gy, by my parents who were unimpressed with the coach's attitude to a medical condition) I was told to pick another activity - I picked tramp and haven't looked back!

 

[stxrdusty]

When I was 7 I learned my older neighbors did gymnastics (they were 8 and 10) and because I wanted to be like them I asked to do real gymnastics as well. In preschool and kindergarten I did a gym-tots type class at my school as well and loved it. Since then I've been addicted to gymnastics and never once have thought of quitting, 12 years and still counting.

 

[Alyssa Hull]

I have always wanted to be a gymnast and have been so passionate about gymnastics but have never been able to find a good gym and my parents never wanted to put me in it. Last year they finally gave in and put me in a gym. I am now 14.

 

[Lydia]

I was inspired to start also. Although I did do some gymnastics at my preschool and at little gym camps (it's a rec gym chain for kids 12 and under) prior to offically starting at almost 13.

Yeah, I did some gymnastics in PE and the like but I never officially started til I was older


Lydia

 

[Lydia]

I'll admit, I've always been jealous of people who started when they were younger, just because it all seems so much easier to get into when your little. But hey, better late than never, right? I might not qualify for the Olympics, but it's all good fun and keeps me in shape (sort of lol), Thanks for sharing your stories everyone <3 xx


Lydia

 

[Deleted member 17723]

My friend would tumble (round offs and cartwheels) in my backyard in 3rd or 4th grade. I wanted to try and tried a round off, it was flawless. Tried to add a backhandspring and it worked pretty well, so I tried a roundoff tuck-broke my radius and hairline fractured my ulna. My friends mom convinced my mom to put me in gymnastics, so once my arm was better I became a gymnast.