50 Olivia Miller – Gymnastics as a Community

Introduction

Gymnastics is a sport that requires a lot of individuality and also a lot of teamwork. They both go hand in hand and you must be able to balance out the two. Being a part of a gymnastics team is considered being a part of a discourse community. One of the six characteristics that make up this is, “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals” (Swales, 1990/2010, p. 24). Everyone in the gymnastics community is working towards similar goals. They want to improve as a gymnast, and perform well at competitions. A discourse community also typically has methods of interpersonal communication, communication about the community and what is working and what is not, written genres that the community reads, specific lexis, and experienced members as well as novices (Swales, 1990/2010). Being a part of a discourse community can be beneficial to anyone, especially when growing up. You can learn valuable lessons and learn what it takes to be a part of a community. Being a part of a gymnastics team fits in with all of these criteria.

Gymnastics is definitely not considered to be something that is simple. Members of the community also have a wide range of opinions on the sport. I started gymnastics when I was 11, and competed until I was 16. I was on a team with about 12 other girls. My time on the team was definitely an unforgettable experience. It is a sport that requires a sense of individuality, teamwork, self-discipline, maturity, and self awareness. Gymnastics is a sport that consists of a lot of goals, values, practices, and different types of communication. It truly is not made for everyone. It may be an intricate and tolling sport at times, but it also comes with great life skills, experiences, and memories.

Goals, Values, and Practices

The goals, values, and practices that make up gymnastics are similar and different compared to other sports. One factor that separates gymnastics from other sports is the fact that you are competing as a team, but you are also competing against your team. A gymnastics competition measures each gymnasts technique, skill, and performance as individual gymnasts, but your team also gets an overall score as well that goes against other teams. During awards, they do individual awards first. They are divided up by age group, but chances are, you will be against peers on your own team. Then, when it comes to team awards, the top three scoring gymnasts on each event contribute to the team score. Then, the team with the highest score wins. However, it all goes back to how the gymnasts do individually. A gymnast will want to score well for themselves, and if they score well, it will also contribute to the team score. Overall, a gymnast is putting most of their thoughts and focus into their own performance. Each gymnast is trying to improve from their last competition, perform to the best of their ability, and be the top scoring gymnast in the all-around.

Interpersonal Communication in Gymnastics

Even though gymnastics requires a lot of individualism, it is crucial that gymnasts maintain good sportsmanship and teamwork with their fellow teammates and with their coaches. Gymnastics, like any sport, consists of a lot of ups and downs. Some athletes will do better in certain areas, and some will have moments where they really struggle. When these situations pop up, it is best to put the competition aside and be there and support your teammates. Most of this support happens through communication. For example, there may be pep-talks, team chants, and one-on-one talks between a gymnast and their coach. A perk of being a part of a team is knowing you all are rooting for another and have each other’s backs. If one is having a rough practice or competition, it may be helpful for the team to offer words of encouragement and even fun chants to pump up the gymnast and remind them that they are not alone. Coaches also must offer a lot of support, as they are a huge element in a gymnast’s career. They may need to speak with and help a gymnast one-on-one get through a mental block or something else they may be struggling with. Without a coach, a gymnast would not even be safe doing the sport.

One of the most important factors of a gymnast excelling is whether they have a helpful, positive, and supportive coach. A coach has a tremendous impact on an athlete and their performance. A key idea regarding communication between a coach and an athlete is, “The quality of relationships coaches and athletes develop and maintain with one another creates a social situation that can be viewed as positive (rewarding, supportive, motivating) or negative (disappointing, unhelpful, uninspiring). Research findings suggest that coaches and athletes who find themselves in social situations that are positive are more likely to achieve their performance-related outcomes” (Davis et al., 2019). If a coach creates a negative environment for a gymnast, chances are they will not improve or succeed in the way that they could if they had a coach that created a positive environment. A coach is one of the core reasons that a gymnast excels in the sport. It is imperative for a coach to create a non-toxic and supportive environment for their gymnasts. This normally starts with positive and healthy social strategies. There needs to be trust and mutual cooperation between a coach and a gymnast. Not only for the emotional part of the sport, but also for the physical part of it. A coach must be able to communicate effectively with a gymnast so that there is improvement in performance. There is teamwork necessary even between the coach and the gymnast.

One thing that happens in every single practice or competition is a coach providing tips and corrections for a gymnast. A gymnast must be able to understand what their coach is trying to tell them. Gymnasts cannot see their bodies, they can only feel what they are doing, so a coach must use thorough detail as to what they are seeing is wrong. They may even take a video to show what the gymnast looks like. A coach may even use a model or another gymnast that can give an example of what they should or should not be doing. If a coach does this successfully, a gymnast will make the correction and improve their skill. If a coach does not give the corrections thoroughly, the gymnast will be left confused and will continue making the mistake. This is an important part of communication in the gymnastics community so gymnasts can grow and succeed in the sport. Not just anyone can give a gymnast tips, so it is necessary for a gymnast to have good coaching throughout their experience. Someone who is not familiar with the sport would feel lost when listening to a coach provide tips to a gymnast. There is a lot of vocabulary and jargon that is used in the sport that only the coach and the gymnasts may understand. Here are some examples of words that may feel foreign to someone outside of the community.

Unique Lexis in Gymnastics

Cast- a movement on bars where the gymnast gets enough momentum and lifts their hips off the bars to a certain angle with a straight body

Dismount- the skill that is used to finish a routine off the apparatus

Sickled feet- when the foot is turned inward instead of outward

Tuck- a forward or backward moving flip where the body is in a tucked position

Layout- a forward or background moving flip where the body is straight rather than tucked

Mount- a skill a gymnast uses to get onto the apparatus at the beginning of a routine

Relevé- a position where the gymnast is standing on her toes, extended as possible

Written Genre Used in Gymnastics

Another way a coach may communicate and teach a gymnast is through a written genre. Throughout the season, it is a goal for each gymnast that they show improvement in their scores. At a meet, the people giving you these scores are the judges. So, these are the main people that gymnasts are trying to impress. Judges in gymnastics are extremely picky, but that is how they are supposed to be. To prepare for the harsh criticism that the judges give out in scores, coaches sometimes read aloud or have the gymnasts read a booklet that was put together by USA Gymnastics. The booklet goes into intricate detail of the deductions you may get from your performances. It is called Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Development Program Optional Code of Points. It shows the explanation of the mistake and how big of a deduction each mistake is. A mistake can be from falling off an apparatus to something as simple as a minor bent leg. The coaches bring this booklet out sometimes when they are unhappy with a performance, and they want to break down their deductions and try to correct them. They may also just bring out the booklet to prepare a gymnast as it is a helpful tool. This booklet can help a gymnast further understand what they need to correct or excel at. Here are some examples of what a gymnast may read in this booklet (see Figure 1 and Figure 2).

Figure 1

Figure 2

As you can see, this booklet is super detailed and can be overwhelming. If you are unfamiliar with the sport, you may also notice certain words or abbreviations that are foreign to you. For example, “VP” and “SR.” These simply mean “Value Parts” and “Special Requirements.” VP is used when you are talking about the major skills that make up one’s routine. SR is used when talking about the skills required to include in a routine. Another unfamiliar word you may notice is “salto.” This really is just referring to any skill that consists of flipping with no hands touching the floor.

The author also uses other strategies to make the information clear and comprehensible. One feature that is obvious when looking at the example that was provided is the use of lists. The author not only separates each deduction, but also adds bullet points to further elaborate on mistakes that may be made. The author does this to approach the possible deductions in a neat way that makes them as understandable as possible for the reader. The author also uses terms like “VERY LARGE FAULTS” (USA Gymnastics, 2023, p. 22) to exaggerate and separate the difference in those mistakes. Maximizing helps emphasize and remind the gymnasts and coaches what mistakes are going to be more damaging to your score and what mistakes are more minor. Another feature that is shown in the example photo, is how the author goes into extensive detail when explaining the specific mistakes, especially when reading the information attached to the bullet points. Gymnastics is a super technical sport, and the author is trying to make it easier for the gymnasts to know exactly what they need to correct. It is important that there are no misunderstandings.

Interviews

It is a given that with every sport, there will be different opinions and experiences that one has with the sport. This is seen a lot in gymnastics. Some girls continue to do it until college and throughout college, while some girls quit before high school. This can come down to the coaches, the gym, or simply just the person’s desires. I thought it would be interesting to interview two of my fellow gymnast friends, Sophia Ford and Syvanna Navarro. They both agreed and said they would love to share their experiences. We all were on the same team at one point, however, Syvanna ended up moving to Indianapolis and switching gyms. She still does gymnastics, while Sophia does not. I wanted to see their separate experiences with the sport.

The first question I asked in the interview was about where the most competition occurs in the sport. When asking Ford (2024) this, she replied with, “Well, that question is kind of tricky because there are a lot of both. Like at a competition for example, everyone competes individually and as a team. So, individually you are competing against every other gymnast there that is in your age group, even the gymnasts on your own team. However, your team as a whole is also competing against all the other teams. So, in the end, you may be competing against your team members, but overall, you must cheer them on because you are a team and you are against other teams. You kind of have to silently compete against your teammates.” I then went ahead and asked Navarro (2024) the same question. She said, “I mean, obviously there is a lot of competition between the gymnasts, but I also think there is a lot of competition within oneself.  Overall, you should be focusing on improving yourself as a gymnast.”  Although they both have different responses, both of these points are accurate. There are different types of competition scattered all over when it comes to gymnastics.

The next question I wanted to ask was, “How did the team communicate with one another?” The responses I received were similar. Navarro (2024) shared, “My team and I are really close with one another. We support each other through pep-talks, and we even have group chats and plan out sleepovers to bond with one another.” Ford (2024) said, “I got lucky with a pretty good team in my first couple years. Some of my best friends came from this team. We always talked and cheered each other on even when the competition aspect of it got tough. We had inside jokes, sleepovers, and just genuinely loved each other.” Both of these responses are spot on and support the idea of how important an encouraging team is.

I wanted to dive deeper into the feelings that girls have over the sport overall. The last question I asked was, “How do you feel about your experience with the sport overall?” Navarro (2024) happily shared, “My experience with gymnastics has been wonderful. Of course there are tough moments, but I would not give up the effort I put in and the memories I have for anything. I am appreciative of my team and my coaches.” Ford (2024) responded with a slightly different answer. She said, “I obviously will always cherish my experience with the girls and the coaches that I had that were good, but there was also a lot of favoritism and hostility between some of the coaches and the girls. Sometimes it was very mentally tolling, and I am glad that I have moved forward to other things.” Considering both of them ending up going to separate gyms, it makes sense as to why their overall experience was different. The team and coaches make up a huge part of the sport, and if there is not a healthy environment there, there will not be a positive outcome. It also shows how the sport is not meant for everybody, especially long-term. These interviews demonstrated the positives and negatives that can come from the sport.

Conclusion

A discourse community can help one develop skills such as teamwork, discipline, and help you develop relationships with people who have the same goals and interests as you. Gymnastics as a discourse community has been a beneficial experience to many. It is that sport that evenly balances out the importance of individualism and teamwork. It brings together people with similar goals, values, and practices, and allows them to create a team that builds from love, support, communication, and passion.