Laura Amann is a freelance writer, mother of 4 kids. She has a guest post on the Sports Girls Play blog.
My days of gymnastics are over. So are my long hours at the gym. My nervousness and anxiety. It’s all in the past. No more ponytails woven with ribbons, no more glitter spray, no more bleacher analysis. My daughter has left the sport.
For years, Caroline competed on a gymnastics team and she adored everything about it. Four days a week, we drove the ½ hour back and forth to the gym so that she could practice 15 hours a week, year-round. I volunteered, I chatted with the parents, I watched and learned and bit my nails. The parents became my friends, the meets became a social time.
Eventually after three years of this schedule, the complaints began: the coaches were too hard, she had a headache, she was tired, she had too much homework. Her message read loud and clear: she was burnt out at the age of 11. …
That’s a good read for every coach.
I’ll bet Caroline grows up to be more successful and healthy than her non-gymnast classmates. But it’s not easy for a young girl to appreciate that now.
The sport, the system and the coaches share responsibility for the very large number of girls who go through this trauma. We really do build up expectations too high for too many children.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 