314212 - Children in high performance gymnastics – can there be a child-wellbeing and child centered approach?
Social media is replete with images and videos of incredible levels of skill (not just in gymnastics) achieved by pre-adolescent children. This delivers a false message to coaches and parents that such achievements are worthy and desirable and should be emulated. It sends a message of the need for hyper-early specialization and early high volume and intense training so that such skill levels can be attained. But is this necessary? Is this in the interests of the children’s wellbeing? Does it translate to future high-performance success?
I will argue that such efforts, though great for social media “clicks and likes” and envied by the easily impressed, are counterproductive and often damaging in many ways. This presentation will focus on a more rational approach for achieving high-performance success for when such success is significant rather than serving, as it does much too often, only to temporarily impress and shock. The well-being of children and the safe and systematic training towards a successful future serves, not only the children, but also the larger gymnastics community and the reputation and esteem of the sport.
