Last week the Flair trampolinists had the opportunity to enter a very special trampolining invitational competition at one of our favourite clubs, SpringFit. So how did the trampolinists get on and do you think it is a good idea to encourage your child to part in competitions?..
Lead Coach Sam and the coaching team at our gymnastics club at Guildford Spectrum worked hard preparing the trampolinists for their competition day by practising and perfecting their trampolining routines.
LEAD COACH SAM SUPPORTS THE TRAMPOLINING COMPETITORS
All the hard work paid off as each of our competitors took home an Individual Medal and we are really pleased for them. Well done everybody! The competitors had a fantastic day and their great results really boosted their confidence. One of our Assistant Coaches, Emma Palmer also entered the competition and she was very pleased to win Silver for her Level G routine.
SPRINGFIT COMPETITION RESULTS
Samuel Betson – Level F – Bronze Medal
Samantha Irvine – Level H – Bronze Medal
Emma Palmer – Level G – Silver Medal
Amy Burgon – Level E – Gold Medal
ASSISTANT COACH EMMA WINS SILVER
But what if they hadn’t won any medals. Would that have dented their confidence and taken away their motivation? Is losing, an experience you should shield your child from? I don’t think so, in fact I believe that some of the best achievements come not through winning but through losing, and using it as a vehicle for growth.
Why are gymnastics competitions good for your child?
Competition is known to develop vital life skills including confidence and self esteem. And it is from that confidence that your determination grows, and your desire to be the very best that you can be. What is really important to note though is that the element of competition that is really important is NOT the winning (or even, as the old saying would have us believe, the taking part). What’s important is the STRIVING – the working towards a goal. Although this goal can be a competition, it can also be a personal goal that involves becoming better at what you’re doing.
THE TRAMPOLINING COMPETITORS
What can we learn from failure?
During a competitive activity we are competing against both other people and ourselves – any activity can be competitive if we aim to continually better ourselves at it and achieve new “personal bests”, whatever the activity. Attempting new things, or even striving to become better at something we can already do, is difficult, and there are times when we won’t do as well as we want – when we fail. But practice at failing can actually make it easier next time round. Although it can be crushing to see our child “fail” or not win, as parents we do our children a great favour by allowing them to be in situations where this happens. A qualification to this statement though is that we have to give them the tools to use these “failures” as learning experiences. So we need to allow them to talk it through, to ask themselves the questions of “What can I do different next time?” and “What did I learn from competing here?” We need to help them understand that next time they can use what they’ve learned from this time to move them forward. These are all skills that they’ll carry with them into adulthood. Failure must always be viewed as ‘feedback’, it can then be seen as a positive outcome. The difference between successful people and others is that they fail more times than anyone else – because they attempt things more! Successful people choose to embrace failure. In fact, failure is ‘THE’ reason to continue: to strive to do better, to learn, adapt and go again until you find a way to succeed.
CLUB MEMBER AMY WINS GOLD
The sweet taste of success.
Eventually anyone who takes on a goal or challenge will win, or will achieve a goal or a personal best. These moments are SO much sweeter if they’ve been hard won! In a world where a common philosophy is that everyone’s a winner, and everything is “awesome”, those that have achieved REAL success know what it really feels like. Children aren’t stupid – they know when they’ve done well, and they feel the confidence that comes with that real success. With confidence we grow in emotional resilience so when things aren’t going well at some point in the future they have an inner ‘knowing’ that they’ve done well before and can do so again. True confidence is knowing that you can.
Failure equals success
The number one question I would ask you to ask your child if they get upset or angry at losing or not winning a prize/competition is “Have you enjoyed the process up until this minor disappointment?” Also ask yourself: does your child enjoy their classes, do they have fun doing the training and love learning? If they do, be an awesome parent and step back and allow them to fail, or to even risk that they might fail. This is the only place where they can truly grow. Allow yourself to show your child the bigger picture: that in order to WIN, desire for success must be greater than fear of failure – and ultimately in life the only person you are in competition with is YOURSELF. By always striving to be the very best possible version of yourself, the results include the wonderful combination of ‘progress’, ‘happiness’ and ‘confidence’ – which makes you a winner!
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