No Fun Allowed – Get Out
Coaches are often all too willing to sacrifice the natural fun of the sport in their ego drive toward reaching their own personal goals.  Some even take the position that gymnasts on team should not be having any fun at all because training in gymnastics requires nothing but serious training.  Our advice in this situation – find a new coach – or if that is an impossibility, learn to ignore that attitude in them.

Gymnastics is Fun – Working Hard is Fun
Hard work, which we enjoy, like writing about our sport and working out is fun.  We don’t have to be somber and morose to progress and accomplish things and neither do our gymnasts.  Gymnastics is inherently fun.  Don’t let anyone take that away from you because if and when they do, they have begun to bring about the end of your gymnastics career.

The Most Talented Are Burned Out First
We are talking about burn-out.  And unfortunately, it often happens first to the most talented of our gymnasts.  Coaches get a young talent in their gym and proceed to push them too far, too fast in terms of too many hours in the gym, too much unnecessary pressure too soon and robbing of the fun of the sport.

Coaches Burn Before They Learn
By the time coaches realize their mistake, they are many years and many burned out gymnasts into their career.  The problem seems to have resurfaced with a vengeance lately.  One generation of coaches learned their lesson a decade ago, but without anywhere to learn from the mistakes of others, the new generation of coaches is busily burning out gymnasts of their own.

Learning High Level Skills is Not the Problem
Some have misunderstood our position in this regard.  We do not advocate restricting the learning speed of gymnasts and decreasing the quality and level of skills they are capable of learning.  We simply believe young and very young gymnasts should have limited practice hours and competitive pressure.  We still want them in the gym when they are 16 and finally old enough to compete internationally.

Too Much Pressure or Too Little Support
The next problem is almost a conundrum (an enigma, a puzzle).  On the one hand, many parents put far too much parental pressure on athletes, especially in light of the fact that some coaches are putting too much pressure on the very same gymnasts themselves.  On the other hand, some gymnasts suffer from a lack of attention and support from their parents.  More than half the time, it seems, fathers do not fully support their daughter’s participation in the sport, for whatever reason.

Education is the Solution
The solution for all of the above problems is education – education for parents and coaches alike.  We hope this article has contributed to your education.

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