“I don’t know why I can’t just do it!”
This was a statement made by a gymnast, through her tears and feelings of doubt as she was struggling on a skill she had performed dozens of times before. There was no fall, no negative feedback and no clear explanation on why she couldn’t perform her skill, but day after day she showed up to practice, got up on the beam and froze.
For months her coaches were patient with her, her team was encouraging and her mom tried everything from bribery to tough love but nothing was working. Her mental block was starting to affect other skills and with a competition season quickly approaching, her coaches were worried about her safety. Fast forward to her first competition, her goal was simply to perform her skills under pressure and not worry about scores. Mission accomplished! She performed her skills and earned great scores. She got 3rd on vault, 1st place on bars, 5th on beam (the event that started her mental block), and 2nd on floor, with a total score of 37.325 she earned 1st all around.
It was as if magically her mental block had just vanished. Exploring what was happening for the months of tears and mental breakdowns at practice, there were many factors that went into helping this gymnast succeed. The coaches played an important role, they were encouraging, gave her small goals to accomplish, assigned extra workouts when skills were not performed and when she was unable to control her emotions she sat to the side. They acknowledged her feelings but did not feed into them and nurtured her but did not baby her. Her mom’s role was simply to be a mom. Offered a safe place to talk about what she was feeling, or sat quietly so she could cry it out. Every moment possible they did things that did not involve gymnastics like hiking, trips to the beach, bike rides and highlighting other things she was successful in. A great outlet was music and singing out loud to Pink and Worship music while driving to nowhere. For the gymnast, what was causing her mental block? She still can’t explain it, just that her body would not do what her head was telling it to do. Her fear was real to her and small goal setting helped build her confidence. She turned to prayer a lot, visualized her success and once that first meet was over, she was unstoppable. It is coming to the end of her competition season and she just competed at her State meet and earned 1st on every event bringing home 5 first place medals and a spot on the regional team to represent SoCal at Regionals! She has proven to her coaches, her team, her parents, and more importantly to herself, that she shows up ready to win.
Anxiety looks and feels different for everyone.
If you think your child may be suffering from anxiety please reach out.
It is very important to understand that anxiety may never go away, but it can be managed.
To learn more please reach out about counseling for parents and children.
"With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world." - The Dalai Lama
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