Parents Life post gymnastics update

[Texasmomof3]

My daughter retired from her gym 6 weeks ago. It was about a 6 month process of deciding it was time to move on, as she grew to hate everything about gymnastics. She was training level 9 and in the 10th grade, at a gym that trained 28 hours per week, so gymnastics was really her whole life.

Since retiring, she has:

~joined her school's power lifting team and is already the top lifting female on the team. At 5' tall and 114 pounds, she is now dead lifting 230 pounds and her coach says she could realistically make state and lift close to 300 by April.
~been recruited to join her school elite dance squad. She is learning how to do dance-style turns, and she is loving it. She even performed two dances in their holiday showcase after only 8 days, and she was fantastic. She has the highest leaps on the entire squad. They have asked her to join the varsity travel squad next year.
~attended every remaining football game of the season (she'd never been to a game before due to practice, and she loved it)
~attended two school parties (she'd never been able to go to high school parties before due to gymnastics)
~made a whole new group of school friends, while still keeping up with her gym friends
~joined two school academic clubs

Anyway, she is excelling. She is happy. Her body no longer hurts her every day. She is getting enough sleep. And she's had a few nice things to say about gymnastics lately, including that she might want to coach this summer at the rec gym by our house. She no longer hates the sport, but is now proud to tell people she is so strong because she is a retired gymnast.

I'm so happy to see her genuinely happy again.

 

[gymmom10]

So, so wonderful. I felt a glow reading that. It sounds like she has made the best transition ever.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Wow, all that in 6 weeks? That's incredible! I'm very happy for her!

 

[OwlGalLiz]

How absolutely wonderful for her!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Awesome

 

[Freddy's Fred]

My daughter retired from her gym 6 weeks ago. It was about a 6 month process of deciding it was time to move on, as she grew to hate everything about gymnastics. She was training level 9 and in the 10th grade, at a gym that trained 28 hours per week, so gymnastics was really her whole life.

Since retiring, she has:

~joined her school's power lifting team and is already the top lifting female on the team. At 5' tall and 114 pounds, she is now dead lifting 230 pounds and her coach says she could realistically make state and lift close to 300 by April.
~been recruited to join her school elite dance squad. She is learning how to do dance-style turns, and she is loving it. She even performed two dances in their holiday showcase after only 8 days, and she was fantastic. She has the highest leaps on the entire squad. They have asked her to join the varsity travel squad next year.
~attended every remaining football game of the season (she'd never been to a game before due to practice, and she loved it)
~attended two school parties (she'd never been able to go to high school parties before due to gymnastics)
~made a whole new group of school friends, while still keeping up with her gym friends
~joined two school academic clubs

Anyway, she is excelling. She is happy. Her body no longer hurts her every day. She is getting enough sleep. And she's had a few nice things to say about gymnastics lately, including that she might want to coach this summer at the rec gym by our house. She no longer hates the sport, but is now proud to tell people she is so strong because she is a retired gymnast.

I'm so happy to see her genuinely happy again.

I can't love this enough. Talk about a graceful transition!

 

[gymgal]

What a great update!! So glad she found her path so quickly after gymnastics. It can be a real struggle for some.

 

[profmom]

So glad to hear she is doing so well! Thanks for the update.

 

[Seeker]

I wish I could love this post - truly happy to read this update. So glad she’s loving her new experiences!!

 

[Ali'sMom]

So very glad it's going well!
My daughter ended gym at the end of 8th grade. She went to the first football game of 9th grade, and I'm pretty sure I teared up that she got to be "a normal high schooler".
Now this year (10th grade) she is looking at doing some coaching over the summer "if she can find the time" - LOL!

I love happy post-gym stories!!

 

[GymMom4]

I’m glad that she is doing so well and that she’s been able to have so many great new experiences.

 

[JMACAZ]

Such a great update!

 

[bookworm]

Similar transition when my youngest "retired" as a Senior in High school due to her ACL ....went to football games, parties, outings with friends...and all within 10 minutes from our house (we did the 2.5 hour commute each way to gym for 6+ years before retirement) ...it was glorious!

And funny thing happened when she got to college, she started diving ..and loves it..and does reasonably well at it...and her summer job has been coaching gymnastics at a gym in the city she lives in and she really enjoyed it. So you just never know. Some of the coaches at this gym even recognized her name when she started and said "weren't you a level 10 gymnast at X gym?" ... and they all had a good chuckle about where life takes you.