D
Deleted member 17723
What do you do when you, your gymnast or your dd/ds is afraid of FAILURE? Not injury, not pain, but failure.
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My dad did that for me as a kid... I played baseball (coach pitch league for ages 6-12). I was REALLY GOOD. The next league up was little league (ages 8-12). You had to try out for little league, so I did... at 10, 11, and 12. My dad knew after the first try out that the coach would NEVER accept me on the team. By the last time, the coach had 3 reasons: 1 - I was a girl ... 2 - I didn't wear a Child Medium uniform ... 3 - I was my father's child (my dad had pointed out that spring the unfairness of the coach pitch kids having to PAY for their shirts every year while the Little League team got NEW uniforms EVERY year with the popcorn fundraiser money - even though the coach pitch kids sold the majority of the popcorn... So that year, Little League had to wear the same uniforms as the previous year and the 3 coach pitch teams got jerseys. FYI - Coach Pitch used the SAME jerseys for at least 25 years - without replacing them... I know because 25 years later, the coach of MY old team was using my jersey as his coach's jersey ~ with my blood stain still on the "tag" patch at the bottom of the jersey - bloody nose during a game).Give your kids an opportunity to fail early and often. If they always podium in gym, sign them up for something challenging where they might lose. At least some of the time. Best to get some experience with failure before puberty.
DD likes a YT video "Why Elite Athletes Fail" - something like that. She'll never be elite, but she will come home and watch it sometimes.
She had a rough first HC who was super hard on her and called her a disappointment when she was maybe barely 10. She was afraid of HIM, afraid of letting HIM down, and he said she was afraid of the skills. MOM knew the difference. All I can say is, thank goodness he's gone now.
I always tell her that every single Olympic gymnast, Simone Biles... they have fallen and busted their butts, split the beam, cried in the gym, you name it, countless times. You don't get through gymnastics without a lot of that. But they got up and kept going. That's what counts.
This version:
What do you do when you, your gymnast or your dd/ds is afraid of FAILURE? Not injury, not pain, but failure.