Flipping the Ideas of Gymnastics

Gymnastics is… patience, strength, hard work etc., yet when talking to high school peers it seems to be the colorful leotards and the girls dancing around that make up the wrong impression about the sport. Gymnastics seems to be a misinterpreted sport by both genders and everyone seems to look over the actual major details of gymnastics. What seems to be confusing is the creative art of gymnastics which most students claim to not be accustomed to.

Some teens don’t believe that gymnastics is an official sport and many only believe that it only is because gymnastics appeared on the Olympics. It’s understood why gymnastics would not be considered a sport. Watching gymnastics immediately shows that it’s not like any common sports. With the extraordinary tricks and unusual events gymnastics comes off as an odd competition. “It’s not a sport, because it doesn’t have a ball” stated one student.

Many sports don’t consist of a ball such as karate etc. but what makes gymnastics different than the other sports is that the way to win is not as clear. For exampled swimming, to win in swimming a swimmer has to reach the goal before the other competitors. As in wrestling, one participant must pin the other’s shoulders on the ground. Yet in gymnastics, the way to win is to what may seem like impressing the judges. Gymnasts doing their routines don’t just do whatever they can do to make them look remarkable.

Another common misconception is that some teens don’t understand that there are actual rules to gymnastics. As mentioned before, some actually do believe that gymnasts do rather hard tricks to amaze judges but little do they know there is a requirement in gymnastics as well as policies. If gymnasts don’t follow certain rules they will be disqualified from the competition as done in any other sport. An example of a rule is when doing a certain trick; the gymnast’s body must be in a certain form that relates with the movement of the trick. Any other shape of the body such as not keeping her or his legs straight in a layout will have points deducted. Rules and events differ between the two genders.

Gymnastics in reality is a sport for both girls and boys. When asked what they thought of gymnastics a few students mentioned that it was a “girly” sport. Explaining his answer, one said “…because when you think of gymnastics you think of flexibility. Girls are usually more flexible than boys.” Flexibility is an important component in gymnastics so this student’s explanation is acceptable, but the real reason why most people think gymnastics is a feminine sport is not a hundred percent clear. Some peers even answered “I don’t know” for their explanation as to why gymnastics is considered a girly sport. The reason for this would be the fact that many people don’t really know the idea of gymnastics. With knowledge of the sport, thinking of gymnastics as girly is quite confusing.

Gymnasts, both genders, train tremendously and work hard. The muscles on a gymnast’s body display his or her commitment and the tricks that the gymnasts perform are awfully extreme to land. Most times when something is described as girly it’s understood that it’s not challenging or no strength required like “lady push-ups” which is the exact opposite of what is known as the feminine sport, gymnastics.

The common thoughts of gymnastics among students all center on similar ideas although most of those ideas aren’t accurate. Gymnastics seems to be a sport that no one ever considers to learn about which explains the misunderstanding.