Thalassophobia.
by Edvard
Some coaches are pieces of shit thinking only about themselves and their own gain. There are levels of pain and humiliation no kid should be put through. Young people are easily manipulated, and often enough they are not even aware of what's being done to them while being trained. In martial arts coaches can get away with even more, because, you know, "being hit happens". One of my coaches used to be abusive, but I didn't understand just how much until later. Being beaten senseless during "sparring" if I failed to perform how many rounds of a specific burpee he wanted, or number of reps of figure 8 uppercuts with the kettlebell or whatnot, was only a small part of it.
I like how passionate you are about gymnastics. You said you had to take a break from it for a while. Why? And how hard was picking it up again?
You seem to love the rush that comes with it. Ever tried bungee jumping?
the last time I tried to request a glass of wine on a flight the stewardess told me that I was too young to drink!
Ever thought that looking too young makes it difficult to be taken seriously by others? :D
I'll answer your third question before I address your first two: yes. It certainly does. I find that beneficial, however, though I imagine that as an intern, my attitude is going to change. Interns have difficulty being taken seriously even when they don't look like they're still reading "Seventeen" magazine in the on-call room.
I took a break from gymnastics when I began my undergraduate degree. I've limited myself to three nights of training per week; I've love to do more but I just don't have the time. I have found it surprisingly easy to pick it up again considering I was out for so long, though I've kept myself in relatively good shape since I quit. Prior to my return I was practicing yoga three times a week, completing one hour of resistance training every morning and running a 10km trail run once a week. Ironically, gymnastics is less time consuming than all of that! I wish I'd known that awhile ago!
And yes, MA coaches can be utter brutes. I don't have your training experience, which disturbs me even MORE because based on that fact alone I shouldn't be able to resonate with your experiences. I have, however, had MA coaches allow me to free spar with men who're twice my size "for experience" and on those occasions those men were forced to fight as hard as they could (or at least convince the head coach that they were fighting as hard as they could: I doubt that any of them actually struck me as hard as he was capable of). The instruction to do so, however, is disgraceful. I benefited somewhat from the experience (I suppose the idea was to "toughen me up") but what benefit did the men gain from beating up on a woman half their size? Given that it's socially unacceptable to strike women in our society I imagine it would take one hell of a long time for a man to become accustomed to fighting a woman in the ring. I would actually like to see a man-on-woman fight in the ring, where both fighters are of roughly equal weight and with roughly equal experience. Unfortunately I believe that that's the only way women's MA or boxing will be taken seriously in this country, despite the fact that male fighters do occasionally fight female fighters in some Asian countries. But what would a man gain from such a match in Australia? If he won he'd be guilty of beating up on a woman. If he lost he'd be reputed to have had his ass handed to him by a woman. And then there are the ethical issues you've mentioned.
As for being beaten for failing to complete your conditioning... that's disgraceful. If this were a movie you'd go back to the dojo/dojang and kick the guy's ass.
Whoa, good point, there should be a professional class of sports where women are men are paired against each other.
Oh wait, there is. Dance. Or that's art I guess.
Fuk, even things like curling, and golf are divided down the sexes.
At least something like nascar has a woman driver or two now I guess.
"But yes, gymnastics is dangerous. And it's not just the inherent danger of the sport - you also find that there are some pretty sadistic coaches out there. I've had coaches push me until I collapse; I've had coaches physically sit on me to force me into an "over split" (a split with one leg on a crash mat and the other extended on the ground behind you. Etc." <--- Yes!! I competed at a fairly high level in diving as a kid. My coach was quite the jolly giant sadist. The man was as hard as nails, yet he combined this approach with what could best be described as cruel mirth. Jumped up and down on my stomach to make sure my abdomen muscles were tight enough. Made me repeat dangerous, difficult maneuvers, even after crashing so hard I almost fainted. Laughed at my pain. Tolerated not a smidgen of fear, and openly mocked the slightest mistakes. I was about 10. But I'll be damned if his tactics weren't effective. I became an excellent diver under his instruction.