Gymnastics Life Skills

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Life Skills taught by Competitive Gymnastics “Gymnastics taught me everything- life lessons, responsibility and discipline and respect,” says Shawn Johnson, 2008 Beijing Olympics All Around Gold Medalist. A hotly debated issue is whether or not competitive sports are beneficial for children and teens. (This, though, will focus solely on gymnastics.) However, research shows, gymnastics is a perfectly healthy sport which teaches life skills such as time management, sportsmanship, and healthy habits. First, gymnastics teaches time management. For instance, gymnasts have long practice hours. According to Gymnasticscoaching.com and research surveys, these are the average practice times per level: “Level 4 – 6 hours a week = 3 days…show more content…
In fact, Christopher Bergland stresses that being active as children will lead to being healthy adults, as well as having lifelong habits of working out. Gymnasts definitely are active, as seen in the practice hours mentioned in the first paragraph. In gymnastics, flipping around requires muscle, flexibility, and strength; qualities which are easily transferable to other sports as well. Similarly, Rita Wieber (the mother of Jordyn Wieber!) says nutrition is very important for a gymnast. “Eat what she needs to perform at her best...be as healthy as possible,” she writes. Gymnasts usually do their sport until their mid-teens...talking about eating healthy will have a lasting impact on them. On the contrary, doctors and parents argue that because of the nature of gymnastics, gymnasts are susceptible to eating disorders. Actually, gymnasts who acquire eating disorders are most likely nagged by the coach to lose weight and become stronger. If the coach is verbally abusive and crude, should the gymnast even be training under them? Probably not! Anyways, gymnasts are not likely to be affected by anorexia, bulimia, and the like since gymnastics enriches confidence. Think about it- on beam, gymnasts are flipping on a four feet high, four inches wide piece of wood in front of judges. They put in their hardest work to receive the best score possible, and gymnasts know it. Furthermore, healthy habits are just a few of the life skills instilled by gymnastics. In the world of sports, gymnastics is one of the most popular ones. It develops time management skills, sportsmanship, and lasting effects of staying healthy. Hence, the supposed disadvantages are supremely outweighed by the life skills which are taught, all of which stay with the gymnast as they grow up (not counting the amazing bond between teammates which lead to lifelong
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