The life of a gymnast – 2021

First of all, happy new year! I hope this year will be a good one for you all, especially after our Covid setbacks in 2020.

I started off the new year by being named WAG Club Captain for Splitz gymnastics club for the second year. It was a huge honor to captain my team in 2020 and being given that role again has really kickstarted this year. I’d like to start of this blog by reading you a line from my captains speech. “2020 was not the year to get everything you wanted, it was the year to appreciate everything you had”. As I reflect back on last year I’m left with a sense of appreciation. I think that we all learnt a lot and came away from a difficult year stronger in many ways.  

I’m starting year 9 at high school this year. I had a great year academically last year and I’m hoping to achieve that again this year. I’m trying to navigate what I’d like to do with my life. I know it’s early but my mind has started trying to plot my journey. I’d really like to study law so I have to make sure my grades stay high so that I can achieve that.  

People often ask me how I fit in school to my busy schedule with gym? I always have to think about that because I’ve been managing it since I was five! I just have good organizational skills and I study and do my home work on my day off from gym. But some nights I can be up quite late if I have strict deadlines. I have an extremely understanding coach, so when I have block exams he doesn’t mind if I finish early to get home to study.  

I’m also starting WAG 9 at gym and I have my old coach John but also have Laura who has joined the senior coaching team. I have lots of goals this year for gymnastics and like life, they require planning. A lot of them are skills like my back pike back sault connection on beam, and others like taking the first steps to becoming a coach later on in the year. I feel like I have a lot to give back to this sport and I’d like to be apart of a new generation of coaches. My sport has been the target of a lot of negativity from old school practices so I feel like girls like myself can make a huge positive impact.  

I represent both GMD activewear and Little gym shop. I see huge developments for both companies this year and I can’t wait to be a part of it. I really enjoy designing for GMD and promoting Little Gym Shop has always been fun because I use my equipment at home and like to share my experiences with the gym community.  

Have you seen Little Gym Shop’s new chalk bags? They are awesome so make sure you go check them out! Due to covid restrictions almost all gyms require you to carry your own chalk. I like the way that LGS are always trying to work out what the gym community needs!  

Thanks for reading! I look forward to writing more soon!Tahlia