Subject: Too old to start?

Sex: female
Age: 14

I really want to start gymnastics but I don’t know if i’m too old. Is 14 too old to start? Right now I do competitive cheerleading and i have a back handspring. Also, I don’t want to have to go to competitions as the oldest one. Do you have to go to a competition like venue to level up? Should I do Competitive or non-competitive gymnastics?

You are certainly not too old to start gymnastics, if that is what you want to do. While it is not usually considered a lifetime sport in this country, in other countries, people have done gymnastics for much of their lives.

You do need to realize and understand that gymnastics is much different from cheer. There are four events and each one of them has both physical and skill requirements. For most girls, bars is the most difficult event, because it requires so much upper body strength, that many girls do not naturally possess.

Gymnastics competitions are public, at public venues and at the lower levels of competition, most of the gymnasts are younger than you. That may be the answer to your next question about whether you should do competitive or non-competitive gymnastics. If training with much younger girls or competing in public with mostly younger girls would be a problem, then gymnastics competition may not be the answer for you.

You might want to try some mixture of competitive cheerleading and gymnastics training. You could start training and enjoy doing gymnastics and still compete in cheerleading. Gymnastics will make your cheer skills much better and will also make you stronger which will make you a better cheerleader as well.

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