WAG Kids who can't compete...

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coach1234

Coach
i have a gymnast who is potentially really talented, but as soon as we get into routines to prepare for a meet she just goes to pot, she can't do anything and get really really stressed, to thee point she cry for no reason and when you ask her whats wrong she doesn't know and just feels she needs to cry, it worries me because i hate seeing her like it as no child should get like this, and the meet is weeks away, when i ask her if she wants to do the meet she is adamant that she wants to do it. this happens before every meet, how can i help her feel less stressed and more relaxed and stop her getting so worked up about it?? has your child gone through this or have you had a gymnast that has had something similar to this and how did you overcome it??

thanks in advance
 
Next there might not be much you can do personally.

Just went through this with my daughter. She doesn't like to do stuff unless she feels she could do it well.

New level, new higher skills, connections on beam, we had a few weeks of tears, she actually said she would rather do more viola then gym, except she has had the viola since Sept. It has been out of the case ummm 5 times at home. Yet she flips like crazy around the house. No she hasn't developed a viola passion. She was stressed.

She was stressing all this new stuff. And no one could help her. She just had to get through it. She "survived" her first meet without her BHS on beam, but made her connection. And that was what she needed. She needed to know the world didn't come to an end because she missed a skill . The weight was lifted. Sometimes they just need to get through it. We want to "fix" it but we can't, its not ours to fix.

And in a proud rare mom brag moment. She has her BHS on beam now.
 
I don't know if I have a solution. I was like this as a gymnast all the way through when I quit due to too much pressure at age 18. The meet environment caused me to put so much pressure on myself that it was no fun, even when I did well. I had a hard time adjusting to limited warm up time and new equipment (even though I was fine with short warm-ups in practice). The ONLY time I enjoyed a meet was when my foot was sprained and I could only compete bars because there was no pressure - I did my best bar routine ever.

For me one of the big things that created pressure was the feeling that I was naturally a "bad" gymnast and that I had to prove myself, which was something my coaches reinforced. I didn't get very much feedback or recognition of my hard work either at home or at the gym - it was only when I placed at meets that I felt like I was achieving something. Even when I did well at meets I wasn't recognized by my coaches. My gym always recognized at the end of the season the kids who won gold on an event or AA at States/Regionals/Nationals, and my last competition season they forgot that I'd won beam.

Some kids just really stress out about competing (even though they want to do well and don't want to give up - hence why they still want to compete meets). I think the best thing is to emphasize achievements in practice and that meets are not an important part of gymnastics (for that specific gymnast).
 

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