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I have had this picture of Catalina Ponor saved as a draft post for a little while, waiting for an excuse to use it. I have it saved because she is one of my favourite gymnasts.
She won three gold medals at the Olympics in 2004 as a seventeen year old; with the Romanian team, on floor and on beam. She retired in 2007 and did not go to the Beijing Olympics. In 2011, Catalina returned to competitive gymnastics after a four year absence, looking like she had never left. In a sport that produces so few dual Olympians, let alone gymnasts who are able to leave the sport and return to it competitively, she is somewhat remarkable. Catalina won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the London Games, a few days short of her 25th birthday.
Another remarkable fact about Catalina's career as a gymnast is that she has never fallen off the beam in international competition. For those of you unfamiliar with gymnastics (and by some miracle are still reading), the beam is 10cm wide and 124cm high. Even the great "perfect" Nadia Comaneci fell off beam during her incredible career.
I love and hate coaching balance beam. Gymnastics is a difficult sport that requires hard work and focus from word go if you wish to succeed. One of the many things that can turn a young girl off of gymnastics is balance beam.
Succeeding on beam requires strength, flexibility and skill as well as balance, grace and tact. Most of all it requires fearlessness or the ability to embrace fear and use it positively. It is so frustrating coaching a gymnast who has the physical ability to complete a skill but is too afraid to do it on the beam and looks to you for an answer.
Theoretically, any skill you can perform consistently on a line, you should be able to perform with equal ease on the beam. The only difference is the level of risk. To succeed on the beam you need the kind of confidence that says "if I can do it on a line, I can do it on the beam". A confidence that says I don't care if if I split the beam, take the skin off my shins or land on my face/head/ribs/knee/side. The kind of confidence that means you love the risk.
The most dangerous thing you can do in gymnastics is "baulk" - abort the skill you are attempting part way through. Your chances of injury are so much higher if you do this. If you complete the attempt, even if you can feel that it will not be good, you have a greater chance of landing safely, even if you don't land well.
Succeeding on beam is like beating Roger Federer, you have to believe you are going to win and leave respect at the door. As soon as doubt creeps in, your chances of success creep out.
Guiding young gymnasts toward this confidence if they don't have it naturally is one of the greatest challenges I have encountered as a coach thus far. It can take a very long time and often the gymnast becomes frustrated and quits before they get there. It also requires an individual approach for each gymnast, which is difficult to do when you have to divide your attention equally among the athletes you are teaching.
The challenge of the balance beam is an obvious metaphor for great challenges in life. In other situations or on other apparatus it is easier to cover mistakes or get by without having a wholehearted belief in yourself. When facing a great challenge in life you can't let failure into your mind or you'll bring it about. Similarly, most of the time the worst thing you can do when you're facing something awful is give up part way through. You have to either go full steam ahead or don't try.
What I love most about Catalina is her attitude. Before the Olympics last year she was asked in an interview if she was worried about injury in the lead up to the Games. Her answer follows,
“If I get injured, I swear I will bite my leg or arm off and compete like that.”
She is fierce, determined and I think she'd probably snort in your face and spit on your shoes before giving up or losing focus. It's a pinch or two of that kind of attitude that I want to take with me in 2013.
She won three gold medals at the Olympics in 2004 as a seventeen year old; with the Romanian team, on floor and on beam. She retired in 2007 and did not go to the Beijing Olympics. In 2011, Catalina returned to competitive gymnastics after a four year absence, looking like she had never left. In a sport that produces so few dual Olympians, let alone gymnasts who are able to leave the sport and return to it competitively, she is somewhat remarkable. Catalina won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the London Games, a few days short of her 25th birthday.
Another remarkable fact about Catalina's career as a gymnast is that she has never fallen off the beam in international competition. For those of you unfamiliar with gymnastics (and by some miracle are still reading), the beam is 10cm wide and 124cm high. Even the great "perfect" Nadia Comaneci fell off beam during her incredible career.
I love and hate coaching balance beam. Gymnastics is a difficult sport that requires hard work and focus from word go if you wish to succeed. One of the many things that can turn a young girl off of gymnastics is balance beam.
Succeeding on beam requires strength, flexibility and skill as well as balance, grace and tact. Most of all it requires fearlessness or the ability to embrace fear and use it positively. It is so frustrating coaching a gymnast who has the physical ability to complete a skill but is too afraid to do it on the beam and looks to you for an answer.
Theoretically, any skill you can perform consistently on a line, you should be able to perform with equal ease on the beam. The only difference is the level of risk. To succeed on the beam you need the kind of confidence that says "if I can do it on a line, I can do it on the beam". A confidence that says I don't care if if I split the beam, take the skin off my shins or land on my face/head/ribs/knee/side. The kind of confidence that means you love the risk.
The most dangerous thing you can do in gymnastics is "baulk" - abort the skill you are attempting part way through. Your chances of injury are so much higher if you do this. If you complete the attempt, even if you can feel that it will not be good, you have a greater chance of landing safely, even if you don't land well.
Succeeding on beam is like beating Roger Federer, you have to believe you are going to win and leave respect at the door. As soon as doubt creeps in, your chances of success creep out.
Guiding young gymnasts toward this confidence if they don't have it naturally is one of the greatest challenges I have encountered as a coach thus far. It can take a very long time and often the gymnast becomes frustrated and quits before they get there. It also requires an individual approach for each gymnast, which is difficult to do when you have to divide your attention equally among the athletes you are teaching.
The challenge of the balance beam is an obvious metaphor for great challenges in life. In other situations or on other apparatus it is easier to cover mistakes or get by without having a wholehearted belief in yourself. When facing a great challenge in life you can't let failure into your mind or you'll bring it about. Similarly, most of the time the worst thing you can do when you're facing something awful is give up part way through. You have to either go full steam ahead or don't try.
What I love most about Catalina is her attitude. Before the Olympics last year she was asked in an interview if she was worried about injury in the lead up to the Games. Her answer follows,
“If I get injured, I swear I will bite my leg or arm off and compete like that.”
She is fierce, determined and I think she'd probably snort in your face and spit on your shoes before giving up or losing focus. It's a pinch or two of that kind of attitude that I want to take with me in 2013.
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