Selena is one of those rare gymnasts who could not seem to retire.
She finally did.
I love her stream of consciousness advice to the young kids still at her old club:
I miss it. Absolutely everything about it. I miss the crashes, the tears, the bruises, rips and cuts. The pressure, the pain, the rush. I miss flips, air sense, sore muscles and that feeling of accomplishment. I miss callused hands, sockless feet, spandex, stick it, and chalk. I’d do anything to nail a perfect beam routine, to stick all my tumbling lines or a dismount. I miss landing double backs and twisting tsuks. Toe on fronts, layout walkouts and front tucks on beam. I miss eating mat or twisting too hard and having a mouth full of foam. Yeah, I even miss conditioning. I miss rope climbs and working so hard your muscles shake. I miss overcoming fears, conquering skills. I miss competing, I miss being afraid. Take me back to the vault room, my locker covered in messages – to that smelly old gym I call home. I miss drama nights & laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. Those outrageous ideas we’d come up with. I miss being inspirational, I miss being there. I miss the coaches…even when they yelled. Cause they believed in me when I stopped believing in myself. I miss travel meets – long bus rides and plane rides. I miss handstands in the elevator & milkshakes at midnight! I miss cheering so loud it hurts to talk, I miss march in. I miss nervousness, I miss the crowd. I miss walking on that floor, hearing my music; I miss the glory, the high scores and the low ones too. I miss that feeling that nothing but gymnastics gave me. Waking up everyday with unbelievably sore muscles but excited for training that night anyway. I miss stretching, the front tuck game and circuits. I even miss not being able to hang out because I had practice or training camp. I miss that security, that sanctuary that place where nothing else matters it’s just you and your passion. But more than anything…I miss the girls. I miss my team: those girls who I call family. Of course I miss the good times but I miss the bad ones too the hard ones, like saying goodbye – I still miss you everyday E.N., RIP. I miss being part of “that†team, I miss training nights and warming up to S Club 7. The goofy vault warm-ups, the support system, training groups and countless crazy times I miss being your captain; I miss each and every one of you. I miss every little bit of it, the good and the bad.
keep your chin’s up ladies.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 