Sometimes the hardest part isn’t physical, but mental.
After a month learning how to run and jump and flip at the Quesnel Gymnastics Club, I’ve found out my body is more capable than my mind gives it credit for.
We were warming up last week when I realized this, and it came crashing down on my head this week, in my last session with the club.
We were warming up on the floor and I was taught how to tumble, a fairly easy proposition. Now, tumbling doesn’t look all that cool, but it’s a bit of fun, especially if you go into it at a flat out run. Then one of the parkour students grabs a soft box vault and they proceed to do a variety of tricks, including a flat dive the length of the box that turns into a tumble.
My first thought here was, “Nooope.”
It looked tough. It looked cool. It looked like I would get carpet rash on my face.
Then, without thinking about it I threw my self into it and, lo and behold, it worked. It wasn’t the cleanest dive/tumble, but I rolled and the skin on my nose stayed in place.
So, buoyed by the feeling of victory, I continued tumbling and jumping and having a blast.
The flip side of the equation, however, is frustration.
Here we move to this week, as I was trying to finish my stint with a successful front tuck on the floor. I’d worked out the kinks on the trampoline and decided I was ready.
But while the trampoline is helpful and forgiving of mistakes, the floor is less so. And, flipping is something that little voice inside you seems to not like.
With that little voice in my head protesting as I made my approach, the smooth transition from bounce, arms up, tuck forward, flip and land turned into bormtuflan – it all got tangled up in itself.
This would have been the perfect chance to walk away and do something else so my mind could calm down and I could stop sabotaging the approach. That wasn’t the approach I took though. I just kept trying and kept landing on my butt.
And that was the ignominious end to my time as a gymnast.
I may be down, but I am not defeated. I will return and will master that and hopefully a couple of other neat tricks, when I find the time.
There’s the rub and the final lesson in this triumvirate: getting your brain in gear is the hardest part. It’s been two months now that I’ve been visiting clubs and I would love to continue training at both and that’s coming from a lazy writer. Find a club that’s right for you and that first time you may go with heavy feet, but I guarantee you’ll return with a smile.
It’s just finding the time or getting a round to it or… It’s just getting it into your mind and then doing it, without thinking, without worrying about what else you could be doing and without dreading the exertion. It’s like tobogganing: the hardest part is getting in position, but speeding down the hill makes it worthwhile.
Next up, I’m dropping by Bob Deane’s Black Belt academy to learn a bit of Tae Kwon Do.
–Jonas Gagnon is the sports writer for the Observer.
