Can you do or could you as a kid do gymnastics

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babybird
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27 Sep 2014, 3:56 pm

I once tried to do a forward summersault.

I took a run up and I did it but when I landed I smashed my teeth right into my knees. I was in a bit of a state.

I'd had no training for this stunt, I just thought I'd give it a go. I haven't tried it since.

I could do cartwheels and handstands when I was a kid but I wouldn't bother trying it now.


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Kiriae
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27 Sep 2014, 4:47 pm

No.
I could do somersaults but thats it. Anything involving hands balance with head upside down was impossible. I couldn't do cartwheels or handsprings properly (my cartwheels were with my legs on side and my handsprings were almost somersaults) and my handstand tries were simply dangerous. My hands were getting weak in middle of the trick and I was going down on my head, hurting my neck and back. If I had enough place to push my body on my back I was fine (I was hiding my head and turning the handstand to somersault then) but when they were forcing me to do handstand near wall I was always hitting the wall and hurting myself. I remember getting Fs after Fs because I couldn't do the handstand. They were forcing me to do it over and over. I was telling teacher "I don't want to do it anymore! It hurts! I am scared! Let me do the running or hockey exam twice or something. I just can't do the handstand!" but he was telling me to try one more time - "Just make sure you keep your arms straight and it will be fine". It was never fine, I just couldn't keep my arms straight, one was always crashing. He was also telling me I am going to stay next year if I don't do the handstand properly. Now I see how stupid I was believing it but it was very stressing back then. So I was trying and trying. But ended up with handstand "F" anyway. With "B" overall sports class grade - I was good with running, jumping and some games. And a demon in hockey. Other children were scared of the stick in my hands :twisted: . They were getting off my way because I couldn't really control if I hit the disc or their legs (all I was seeing was the disc, if a leg was in the way - I had no idea about it until my stick hit something sooner then I expected :lol: ) and they knew it. So I was gaining a lot of points during class games and ended up with "A" of the hockey score. Surprisingly enough even though I was getting so many goals I was still the last one chosen to a team when teams were being made...



Gazelle
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27 Sep 2014, 6:14 pm

Somersaults and the balance beam were the two things I could. Otherwise I could do handstands when in a swimming pool.


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olympiadis
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27 Sep 2014, 9:10 pm

My experience was the opposite.
I had exceptional body coordination, especially with floor gymnastics.
I could never really get into any of the team sports though.



Suncatcher
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27 Sep 2014, 10:21 pm

i feel embarrassed just thinking about my clumsiness..



rapidroy
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28 Sep 2014, 12:14 am

I could do simple forward summersaults when I was around 5, after that I could not, I think growing larger made it harder. I did take some lessons and despite this was still the worst. I was always extremely poor at gymnastics, got in trouble at school for failing to take part because I found my lack of ability very humiliating, as was most gym related classes. I learned to cut my losses.



Edenthiel
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03 Oct 2014, 2:14 pm

When I was young, I failed at pretty much any sport my folks pushed me into. Neither the coordination nor the social skills existed to succeed, so something as body-aware as gymnastics was a non-starter. Same for my spouse.

When we saw that our daughter fell into the same category, we followed her lead and supported her taking up Artistic Roller Skating. It's got motion, precision, patterns & repetition. Perhaps best of all, it's an individual sport practiced in a room of other individual athletes so social interactions can be as often or rare as she needs. From what her coach has said, some of the best skaters at Figures (going around on the little circles) are...Aspies! Dance & Freestyle follow rigid & repetitive patterns (once established), so they're good too. Best of all, with an aware coach, you advance at whatever pace your body can learn new patterns. Poise (how you hold your body) will always be an issue, but it's grossly simplified compared to just about any other environment b/c you have to keep your mass above your wheels. It's worked on one body part at a time, so it's doable and becomes part of the learned pattern.

So, it may be an alternative for some who can't see themselves or their body doing "sports".



Jensen
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03 Oct 2014, 5:37 pm

I couldn´t throw a ball...still can´t.
I didn´t know at which direction the enemy was on the green...probably still don´t.
Frankly, I don´t care.

I couldn´t balance on a bar....still can´t.
I couldn´t jump over it....still can´t.

I could run and I still can.


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little_blue_jay
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03 Oct 2014, 6:00 pm

I hated when we did gymnastics in gym class. Dreaded it. (but then again I dreaded the team sports too! :( )

I remember the time with the balance beam - the instructor was getting each kid to do a forward roll on the beam. I was the only one who could not do it. My balance was poor even back then and I was so scared of losing my balance when I was mid-roll and falling off the beam. She tried many times to get me to do it. With all the other kids watching :oops: Eventually I just refused to try any further. I was embarrassed at first but eventually got pissed off at her trying to make me do something I felt unsafe doing.

I didn't even want to do standing moves on top of the balance beam. I was petrified my legs would slip to either side of the beam and I'd land full weight on the beam somewhere delicate :oops: :lol:

I didn't even like doing forward rolls on the floor mat, when I knew I couldn't fall! Something about being upside down, even for an instant during the roll, made me very uncomfortable and dizzy.

Never been able to do a cartwheel in my entire life. Never could get my legs to straighten out mid-wheel.


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PerfectlyDarkTails
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03 Oct 2014, 6:24 pm

I couldn't do anything much in terms of gymnastics, I couldn't do anything complex other that run stumbling in circles. Partically because I was a big child but also that of a Dyspraxic.


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Campin_Cat
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03 Oct 2014, 7:30 pm

I didn't do TOO badly in gymnastics. I was best on the equipment. I especially liked the uneven bars, but made my P.E. teacher extremely nervous 'cause I was too tall for them, really. I did rather poorly on floor stuff. I could do a somersault, but I went all crooked----no matter how many times I tried, I went crooked. I couldn't do a cartwheel and that bummed me out, because I had a good friend that was very athletic, and I sooooo envied / admired her. I could do a headstand and a handstand against a wall. I think the only equipment I couldn't do was climbing a rope.

As for team sports - thumbs-down. In softball, I could hit the ball OR run, but I couldn't hit the ball AND run----I just got all confused. I was fairly decent at Dodge Ball. One time, we were given instructions on how to do something (I can't remember what the game was), and I got all confused, and got my nose busted----blood everywhere----all over my favorite dress (Elementary school; we didn't have uniforms, then)----had to be sent home.

I could / can forward-dive, and back-dive. It took me a million years to learn how to back-dive, but I was determined because I wanted to get my "Shark Certification" (it was the last cert in my swimming classes that went from "Tadpole" to "Shark").





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03 Oct 2014, 8:52 pm

little_blue_jay wrote:
I hated when we did gymnastics in gym class.


Gymnastics for me in high school P.E. meant bruises all over my arms and legs. Oh, and a lump on my head. And a friction burn or two.

That was week one...



Amity
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03 Oct 2014, 8:56 pm

My experience with gymnastics was uncoordinated and brief. :) In school Physical Education was basketball on an outdoor court, I sat on the bench until the coach indicated that everyone not on the team was excused from PE, five years in a row, happy days. I was good at balancing exercises on moving horses though.



little_blue_jay
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03 Oct 2014, 10:45 pm

Amity wrote:
I was good at balancing exercises on moving horses though.


Yes! Although my balance is terrible on my own, I've ridden horses years ago and my balance was just fine when riding!


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