The Impact of Coaches on their Athletes
If you know me at all, you know I can be persistent and also quite stubborn. I tend to reach for my goals on my own and I rarely let others tackle them with me. During my gymnastics career I realized that without the help of a coach, the goals I had in the sport weren’t going to become a reality. Expectations in gymnastics sometimes are extraordinarily impossible yet judges and gym owners expect you to exceed them. The difference between success or failure can sometimes come down to the simple fact of how much your coach cares for you and your success. One of the moments that opened my eyes to the truly unreachable expectations coaches, judges, and gym owners put on their gymnasts happened to me when I was in eighth grade. After a tough day in the gym during the middle of competition season my coach pulled me aside to tell me how lazy and unmotivated I was acting at practice over the past few weeks. She told me that I wasn’t committed to my team or my gym even though I had placed ...