Presumably wanting some buzz like that generated on YouTube by fictional LonelyGirl15, Inside Gymnastics magazine is publishing a blog by Level 9 gymnast … Kelly Clarkson.
(When you go over the top, you might as well go WAAAYYYYYY over the top.)
Here’s a sample of the fiction:
You see, I started out the competition season real strong and got great scores and was ‘the one to watch’ and lately I’ve been, well,…sorta sucking. Like, I’ve choked lately in a few of my routines at my last couple meets. Ugh. I hate even saying that out loud!! I’ve just been second-guessing myself in competition, and then I mess up.
So right now, it’s routine after routine after routine because my next strategy for my next meet (next weekend!!!) is what I’ve been calling my Segment Strategy. Instead of only practicing either full routines and then tons of repetitions of specific skills, I’ve broken up each of my routines into segments and then I do them over and over.
Okay, that doesn’t exactly sound revolutionary, because of course you do passes (like I’ll do my switch-leap pass through to my 1 ½ pirouette) but I’m saying I do the entire segments *no matter what*. So if my beam coach tells me to stick 10 leap passes and 20 1 ½ pirouettes, I actually end up doing 20 leap passes through to my 1 ½ pirouettes. Make sense?
There are tons of different ways to train, but I like trying new things. Whatever helps, right? I’m really just trying to perfect my consistency and my form, so I can be more like some of my favorite gymnasts, like Shayla Worley and Nastia Liukin. So it’s worth a shot. And in the meantime, I’m just trying to be really positive in the next week and not even second-guess myself.
I gotta go now, but I’ll write again soon. Oh and next time, remind me to tell you about Brandon… (hint: that’s the other thing I obsess over beside gymnastics! Ha!)
Check out the “blog” for yourself: Chalk Blog
Gymnastics Coaching.com 