Training gymnastics, or any high performance sport, can be rewarding as well as frustrating. You see the joy on a kid’s face the first time they do a cartwheel or flip. Yes, that is all part of the fun of learning. A child’s first competition is often shocking for parents because all they can see is two different scores for the same skill. The difference is not what was attempted but details of how the skill was done – like amplitude and extension.
To perfect a skill is a l-o-n-g journey. You see the kids’ long faces when you ask them to practice the basics or to break a skill back to its components or to repeat a skill over and over again. Details like shoulder position, knees, toes, lines, landing, consistency all takes understanding, patience and drive. Just think of the 100 meter run, how much time and effort goes into shaving off just one second of a runner’s best time. Furthermore, the faster you are, the harder that last second of improvement. How do you maintain that drive?
“Practice more” by itself does not perfect a skill. Furthermore, you get comfortable and get into a ‘cruising’ pattern, you cease to notice subtleties and you no longer do it with the same ‘oomph’. To keep things fresh, you must vary how you train every so often. There are times when you need to decompose a skill back to its components, improve on the components before going back to the skill again. Just remember – bad habits are formed with each bad repetition!
Exercise
Even a 5 year old knows how to throw a punch. Every martial art style have punches. You see dance-aerobics throw punches as part of their routines too. So what constitute a good punch? Does it matter what style it came from? Almost everyone that goes into the ring have a punch that can knock their opponent out. The reality is that knock outs doesn’t happen all the time. Where is the problem there?