Who Knows What They’ve Done Even If They’ve Won
Gymnasts need to be reinforced for their efforts in their local area, especially for away meets.  Hours and hours of practice and no-one in town even knows if they’ve won.  Let them enjoy at least a mela with their teammates.

3 Medals for 120 Gymnast Session
Months of conditioning and hours of training and three gymnasts out of a session of 120 get a “lowest cost” medal.  This is, overall, a sport requiring the most hours of effort and receiving the lowest amount of reward.

The Meet Ends and They’re Gone
Travel requirements or habits often mean that gymnasts are whisked away from a meet by their parents before even their coach can congratulate them on their success.

What Gymnasts Deserve
We don’t understand or is it that parents don’t understand that gymnasts deserve time to rejoice or commiserate with their “friends’ from the gym after meets.  At least let them have dinner together.  Yes, we know you have other kids and job commitments.  Coaches and gym owners have those also.  But your young athletes have put in considerable effort and time to be rewarded only with a long, silent ride home.

Even in Their Own Gym There’s No Recognition
Many gyms and coaches never even mention a meet after it has taken place unless of course they have criticisms.  Monday after a meet and it’s back to practice as usual, which is often to say boring.  No rest, no reflection on their successes, no attention, no reinforcement occurs.  This has to be a big letdown after the intense emotional buildup to a meet.  In fact, our scientific knowledge of peaking tells us that it is.  It tells us we should be “taking the day off” in at least some manner, shape of form.  Perhaps it should be in the form of a day of appreciation, reinforcement, fun, relaxation or at least a day to learn new skills (which is one of the best and most rewards a gymnast receives in their entire career, indeed, the major driving factor in the reinforcement and them staying in the sport).

Media Consultants
There is little done with the media – TV, radio, newspapers – to report the successes of gymnasts.  Perhaps, we should have professional media consultants instead of professional judges.

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