Basically had a bad practice yesterday.
Our first meet is in less than 2 weeks and our coach is on the fritz. I know she just wants us to do well at our first meet of the season, but it still gets on my nerves when she yells at everyone for a mistake a couple of people made, because I can never tell if I'm one of the people. I also hate that she compares us to another girl on the team, "Sarah", and goes easier on her. It's pretty subtle, not at all blatant favoritism, but she just acts more friendly towards Sarah, and when she gives her corrections she doesn't get angry like she does with some of the other girls. And she'll say things like, "everyone should look like Sarah when they stretch".
I'm not saying it's Sarah's fault or that she's not a good gymnast, because she is. I also think my coach sees herself in Sarah because their gymnastics careers have so far been similar-- they both joined team at age 10, did a year of level 4, moved up to level 5 in January the next year.
I know criticism is part of gymnastics, but I tend to take criticism badly if it's not presented to me the right way. I'm trying to work on it but it's kind of like an old habit. For example, I don't mind someone saying "straighten your legs" but if they yell it at me or say it with the wrong facial expression or tone then I get very resentful and take it too personally. Also, I hate it when conversations go like this:
Coach: Straight knees! You CANNOT land in a squat!
Gymnast: I don't know how to straighten my legs.
Coach: Lock them!
Gymnast: I'm trying.
Coach: Try harder.
I'm tired of people telling me to "fix it" but then they don't tell me how. I don't do bad front handsprings just to be annoying, thank you very much. The youngest on my team did an unsatisfactory floor routine and my coach said "the last bit was just sloppy". And I may have misheard this but I could have sworn I heard her say "it was sucky. It sucked." She was being very hard on "Harriett" because she was having trouble with her dive roll. No wonder Harriet started crying later. It was supposedly because she landed on her foot funny but I think her feelings were also kind of hurt.
We were also doing routines on bars and I was last in line. When the girl in front of me went, everyone forgot I hadn't done a routine yet, including the coach. I know people forget things and it wasn't anything personal, but it really bothers me that even though I've been on team for 6 months, people still forget I exist. Then she forgot to time me properly on beam. I feel so accepted.
Last complaint. A lot of people who watch me say I'm a really good dancer. But none of my coaches ever bothered to tell me that. Probably because dancing is Sarah's thing.
P.S. Is tumbling really the only thing being judged on in optionals? Because that's what I was told but I have trouble believing it.
Our first meet is in less than 2 weeks and our coach is on the fritz. I know she just wants us to do well at our first meet of the season, but it still gets on my nerves when she yells at everyone for a mistake a couple of people made, because I can never tell if I'm one of the people. I also hate that she compares us to another girl on the team, "Sarah", and goes easier on her. It's pretty subtle, not at all blatant favoritism, but she just acts more friendly towards Sarah, and when she gives her corrections she doesn't get angry like she does with some of the other girls. And she'll say things like, "everyone should look like Sarah when they stretch".
I'm not saying it's Sarah's fault or that she's not a good gymnast, because she is. I also think my coach sees herself in Sarah because their gymnastics careers have so far been similar-- they both joined team at age 10, did a year of level 4, moved up to level 5 in January the next year.
I know criticism is part of gymnastics, but I tend to take criticism badly if it's not presented to me the right way. I'm trying to work on it but it's kind of like an old habit. For example, I don't mind someone saying "straighten your legs" but if they yell it at me or say it with the wrong facial expression or tone then I get very resentful and take it too personally. Also, I hate it when conversations go like this:
Coach: Straight knees! You CANNOT land in a squat!
Gymnast: I don't know how to straighten my legs.
Coach: Lock them!
Gymnast: I'm trying.
Coach: Try harder.
I'm tired of people telling me to "fix it" but then they don't tell me how. I don't do bad front handsprings just to be annoying, thank you very much. The youngest on my team did an unsatisfactory floor routine and my coach said "the last bit was just sloppy". And I may have misheard this but I could have sworn I heard her say "it was sucky. It sucked." She was being very hard on "Harriett" because she was having trouble with her dive roll. No wonder Harriet started crying later. It was supposedly because she landed on her foot funny but I think her feelings were also kind of hurt.
We were also doing routines on bars and I was last in line. When the girl in front of me went, everyone forgot I hadn't done a routine yet, including the coach. I know people forget things and it wasn't anything personal, but it really bothers me that even though I've been on team for 6 months, people still forget I exist. Then she forgot to time me properly on beam. I feel so accepted.
Last complaint. A lot of people who watch me say I'm a really good dancer. But none of my coaches ever bothered to tell me that. Probably because dancing is Sarah's thing.
P.S. Is tumbling really the only thing being judged on in optionals? Because that's what I was told but I have trouble believing it.
