I'm a former former gymnast!

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So someone at my college started a gymnastics club. It was some freshman guy who was a level 9 and apparently didn't know that there was no gymnastics at my college what so ever. So he started a club.

And I get to train again!! :D

So far it's just a club that will meet at the one tiny gym on Sundays, but we're going to try to get a second day.

My one dilemma... There's one other girl who quit gym 5-6 years ago, and the level 9 guy. The rest of the guys are beginners. Tall, muscular, 6' tallish beginners. And the level 9 is, I believe, going to coach them. Last Sunday was the first practice, and I can tell he has never coached before. As in he was attempting to coach cartwheels, and it took a solid ten minutes to get one of the guys to do a cartwheel and not land flat on his back. So I could take a leadership roll in this club and help this guy coach, since I have been coaching a variety of levels for quite a while and would be a big help... but I most want to be there to train for myself. I wanna do layouts and hand fronts and flyaways and BHS on beam... not spot people who are a foot taller than me on BHS.

I'll probably try to do a little of each. I'm just excited to go to practice and fly :)
 
That's awesome news! I wish my school (or any of the previous ones I attended) had a club team. I wouldn't worry too much about taking on a leadership role at this point. Just enjoy being in the gym, training for yourself, and getting the chance to work on your skills.
I took a class offered by my university at the gym where I work last year and the guys in the class were, for the most part, pretty incredible. They picked up skills really quickly, were willing to try almost anything, and with strength and coordination built up from other sports did really well in the gym. Not all of their skills were technically sound, but they were doing them safely and having a blast and that's all that really matters.
If the guy with gymnastics experience asks for help, things seem out of control, or girls who need some coaching join the team, there might be an opportunity for you to step in. But in the meantime, I would say just enjoy! Have fun!
 
That's one thing I really like about my school; if there's not a club for your interest then all you have to do is get 10 people to sign up, bring it to the university people, and then you can get funding from the university to buy equipment and such. I didn't try last year because I didn't know anyone who was a former gymnast at all.

I'm so excited!
 
Thats awesome there is a club at your college. i really wish mine had a club cause then maybe I could find more time to work on my own skills! I have been coaching for a long time and since I quit competing I have almost NO time to get in the gym myself without having to teach!
 
That's awesome, TumblerK! I'm doing club gym at college now too :)

If you want to step up and be a leader, you'll learn a lot from the experience. You can be a leader and still have fun! Best of luck!
 
Yesterday's practice was interesting... none of the other girls showed up. I did floor basic with them and offered help occasionally. All the beginners are physically fit but completely lacking in shoulder flexibility for a bridge, and since what they want to learn most is tumbling that was fun to watch. And then we tried to explain to them that bridges take shoulder flexibility and not back flexibility. I'm not sure they were convinced!

Then I went to beam by myself. Got bored and slightly annoyed that I couldn't focus enough to stick a handstand very well so went to do some pommel horse with them. Than was amusing. By the end one guy was saying that they thought gymnasts were just wimpy when they wore all kinds of braces and took care of their bodies, but now knows that it's because everything on them hurts! And then I looked at him and said "Nothing on me hurts!" He didn't seem to like that :)

It'll definitely be different from the training I'm used to, but I'm going to have fun!
 

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