LAUREN LAQUIDARI
The passion from a gymnast to a future coach
Flip
The first step is starting at the bottom and learning your way up and understanding where you want to be. The main thing to learn in gymnastics is to be able to do the basics, which leads you to flips. When first learning how to flip, mental blocks are created due to not knowing where you are mid flip. The hardest part of being a gymnast is being able to push through those mental blocks that hold you back. From growing up in gymnastics and learning that fear itself is not real, it is just your head making up thoughts has taught me to blossom out more in life and take chances even when I am afraid. If you let the fear overrule you, you will never get anywhere in life. With having anxiety that occurs daily has slowly improved over the years due to gymnastics. Being able to tell myself I can push through something I am struggling in even when my brain is telling me otherwise is not a skill everyone has. By me having this trait from gymnastics shows me that I can go for anything I want to as long as I do not listen to the negative thoughts in my head.
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One example I have experienced was when I first had my job interviews and I had to disregard the nervous thoughts. From the age 16 to now I have been to three interviews and it caused so much tension for me to have to speak to people I do not know, with hoping I say the right thing to get the job. Being social can be a hard skill for everyone in one way or another, but I was able to push away that stressed feeling to receive the job I wanted. This example continues to show me that negative thoughts can put you down instead of bringing you back up, and I am grateful to have this thought process for future opportunities.
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I am motivated to be able to show this trait to other athletes that struggle with stress or anxiety like me. With me wanting to be an assistant coach to a team that has hours of practice a week with a massive work load can be a lot and can have your brain thinking about only negative things, and I want to help an athlete to realize they have the power to push through it.
