If you get a daughter and you like classic stuff.. what would you dream of your daughter doing in the future?
Yep.
Ballet.
Very classic.
So when Samantha was 4, we decided to send her to a ballet school in Taipan. She didn't like it. At first, we thought to just give it a try and give her time. We bribed her, in fact (teehee), sent her for ice skating lessons (because, yes, she loved doing it) and told her we would send her for ice skating lessons as long as she does ballet too. Parents can never go wrong when it comes to giving their best for their kids, right?
Wrong.
Samantha refused to go and it has been like this for more than a year.
After more than year, we finally got it and stopped sending her for ballet lessons (because it's expensive to do both, ballet and ice skating lessons at the same time).
For a year, we didn't do anything (talk about moving house and moving school).
One day, we walked from the church inside Summit to find a place for lunch. There, we saw gymnastics competition organised by
Sarina's Rhythmic Gymastics Club. Samantha stopped all of us and said:
Wait. I wanna watch this.
Ok.
Then later she said:
Mummy, I wanna do that.
Ok.
She started doing cartwheels and handstands after that.
She perfected her handstand after 6 months of trying to do it.
In fact, this was her last December 2013
She's been doing acrobats on her own and I feared she wouldn't do things properly. She should have a good foundation, we thought.
So we started finding gymnastics school for her.
We tried out 2 gymnastics schools first then we settled for the one nearest to our house.
Everyone's excited for Samantha. We all go to her gymnastics school and wait up outside for a couple of hours. Parents are not allowed to be inside - which is good because - you know.. some parents can be quite kiasu. If you have lived in Malaysia, you would definitely know what I mean. I mean, hey, there's already a note outside the gym that parents need to stay outside and I can still see parents hanging around inside.
Anyways, why am I complaining about parents on my first ever post about Samantha's Gymnastics Journey? Well, probably, this is going to be a battle. I really hope not.
I wanna be a parent that would want my daughter to do her best, at the same time, I want to chillax. After all, this is a sport and I want Samantha to have fun and not turned away by the pressure.
So yes, back to my story about sending her for evaluation. We went to a first gymnastics center (recommended by a friend whose daughter has been doing gym for a few years now) without knowing anything about gymnastics. Talked to the head of the school, had Samantha evaluated and we were told she would rather put Samantha for artistic gymnastics - because she's strong and short. And I was like... is that the one on the beam and the pole? (I am a dreamy type so imagine me imagining Samantha on a beam doing acrobats.
I got so excited!
Went back home to search more about artistic gymnastics... and compared it with rhythmic gymnastics. Well, this Mamooch right here thought artistic gymnastics can be quite dangerous. I know overprotectiveness kicked in. And also, most of the artistic gymnasts look so muscular. And I was like... hmmm... let's do the other one instead. LOL.
I researched more about rhythmic gymnastics. And I thought I liked all the pretty stuff they were doing.
The hubs and I talked and searched for more gymnastics school and found Sarina's. Went there the next week. Found out she only does rhythmics. We also realized it was her club that did the competition that encouraged Samantha to go for it.
Had Samantha evaluated. We were outside (remember about parents not allowed inside?) so we didn't know what she was asked to do. After 2 hours, Sarina talked to us and told us Samantha was very good so she would put her straight away in the advance class. She just needed to work hard.
On 18th January, she officially started her lessons at Little Gymnast level, skipping one level.
.jpg) |
| With the ball, rope and gymnastics shoes, sans the uniform. |
So yes, Samantha's gymnastics journey has begun!
So here's a
Beginner's Guide to Sending your Child to Gymnastics Classes:
1. If your daughter is doing cartwheels in the living room, flipping on your furniture and making her own gym out of every surface in your house, down the isles of the supermarket and out in the yard, that's indicative of a child who has some innate gymnastics ability. They are self teaching by mirroring what they have seen somewhere else and their desire to flip or be upside down is natural. Some kiddos cannot tolerate being upside down but some prefer to constantly be cartwheeling, we call them gymnasts. Click here for more on:
Does my daughter has what it takes to be a competitive gymnast?
2. Learn the difference between artistic, rhythmic, and acrobatic gymnastics.
Artistic Gymnastics - is also called regular, uses bars, beams, floor, vault (and rings/horse/p-bars for men)
Rhythmic Gymnastics - Less acrobatic/tumbling based. More about dance, grace, fluid movement.
Acrobatic Gymnastics/Tandem/Group gymnastics - This is what you tend to see "chinese acrobats" doing, or "russian" acrobats doing, where they build human pyramids, support groups, and what cheerleaders borrowed and called "stunting."
Once you know these 3, you may choose which one you want your child to do.
3. Search for gymnastics centers around your area and don't settle on the first stop. You need to go around and compare them as to see which center will be more convenient for you.
4. Don't compare your child to other children (i.e., how come that child is more flexible than you? how come she can do that and not you?). Children are built differently and they each have different learning speed. Comparing your child to others can create pressure and stress for your child.
5. Make it fun for your child. Praise her a lot.
6. Constantly encourage her. Samantha almost wanted to quit after 2 weeks but we gently encouraged her and not push her. I showed her a lot of videos about rhythmic gymnastics and told her if she continues doing it, she can do whatever the person is doing in the video.
7. Practice with her. I try it almost every night with Samantha and give her reward if she can do hard moves. her reward is simple... I lay down on my back, put my hands and feet up and she gets to ride on my fours. It allows more bonding between us, too.
8. Pray for her. Everytime she goes to the gym, I do this. Not only it encourages her, but I also think that if we entrust our child's activities unto the Lord, He will bless everything she does and empowers her and helps her achieve what and who she is designed to be.
9. Don't be too kiasu. Just enjoy the journey with your child.
Here's how we practice at home:
Here's how we have fun:
Will be back for more update later.
.jpg)
.jpg)