Today was a very eventful day in gymnastics for a number of different reasons. The most significant thing, perhaps, is the fact that it was my friend Anna’s last training session ever. Along with my other close friend Jaz, we are the three highest-level female gymnasts in the school and we have been through many many years of gymnastics’ ups and downs together. As one of my closest teammates, this day was both hard for herself and me. Although I initially tried to convince her not to leave, I understand that passion for this sport is not something that’s easy to hold onto, particularly in such an ever-changing environment because of covid along with a lack of goals to work towards. Even though this is certainly something I am struggling with myself, I’m still able to find gymnastics as an outlet for good exercise, stress-relief, time for social interactions, and way to push myself out of my comfort zone. It is true that now Anna is gone the environment in the gym will change, however this doesn’t take away from the value of the memories that I’ve accumulated over the years nor does it take away from the importance of this sport in my life. Personally, I think that one of the greatest challenges that Anna’s decision to leave will engender is having a strong support system in training, and having someone to turn towards. Gymnastics is a very emotionally and physically tolling sport, so having someone who can empathise such as Anna is key to maintaining mental balance and motivation. I foresee that this may be a struggle, however I am also confident that the rest of my team will continue to support each other no matter what and I am ready to take on the next season with optimism. As today was Anna’s last session, we finished by both doing a Tsukahara which is a difficult skill we compete on vault, all to bring some closure. I also hadn’t done this in a while so below is some footage of me doing it with spot from Coach Noel (filmed by Anna). This is accompanied by our last team photo with Anna, taken after training.
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