Gymnastics Shelters You

I was just reading an article by Helena Andrews in The Root where she talks about how Gabrielle Douglas has retained so much of her innocence at a time when many young black women do not. I don’t feel like I have any license to comment on the lives of black people in America, but what I can do is shed light on the subject of innocence and being young from a gymnast’s perspective.

Gymnastics shelters you. That discipline that you have that makes you show up to the gym every day can keep you out of the kinds of trouble a lot of young people get into sometimes. When I was a kid, a guy I was friends with shot out a neighbor’s car window, and all my friends who were there were placed on probation. I wasn’t there; I was at the gym. That sort of thing started happening more and more as I got to be closer to the age that Gabby is now. My friends had abortions, smoked a lot of pot, started doing meth and skipping school. I was at the gym. You usually can’t get into trouble when you’re not around when the shit goes down. I loved my friends, but I loved being in the gym, so every day I went because I wanted to be there and had an intrinsic passion for what I did there. And I had friends there, too. Not that we never did anything wrong or got in trouble at the gym, but it was different there; if we effed off too much we would not be welcome back, and being on the team was important. I don’t think that many people know what it’s like to discover that kind of dedication, delight, and enthusiasm for something at such a young age, but it happens, and from that fervor comes the kind of discipline that belies a young person’s age. But being in the gym, toiling away like that can stave off the outside world, at least for a little while.

Some people say that young gymnasts are robbed of their adolescence by working as hard as they do. I never did make it to the Olympics, but as someone who found something I was very passionate about very young I feel like I understand why that kind of thing doesn’t matter. Perhaps some of us do stay innocent a little bit longer because of it?? In some ways we are, or were, very driven and mature, but still children, and still playing at something that is, at its base, extremely fun.