By Anne Larsen
As a kid I was fascinated with the sport of gymnastics, and as adult I still am. Every four years when the USA would compete in the summer Olympic Games, I would become obsessed with watching the girls gymnastics team. It always seemed like a sport on the verge of tears or smiles……or both. Being neither flexible nor coordinated did not discourage me from my obsession. Floor routines, balance beam, bars…. you name it, I was watching it. Riveted. Now the fact that I am able to get a sneak peak into the life of a gymnast is just the icing on the cake!
This summer when I’m glued to the TV watching gymnasts from across the world competing for the Gold, I’ll have a greater appreciation of the precision, practice, and determination that pushes a gymnast to compete. Athletes like Rachel Howard pick the sport of gymnastics because of the challenge. “If you pick anything a sport involves, gymnastics requires it: precision, grace, power, strength, drive, endurance, control, speed, flexibility, commitment, and teammates. Though many people view it as an individual sport, teammates make all the difference.”
The Tumwater High School student started her gymnastics career 12 years ago as a little tyke at Percival Creek Preschool, which has a gymnastics facility within its program. Now you can find her training with coach Kevin Milliren at Grace Gymnastics Center in Lakewood. She trains four days a week, four hours per day – that’s sixteen hours a week! A typical practice involves stretching (flexibility), strength training and at least three of the events (vault, bars, beam and floor) each practice. The gymnasts spend between 45 minutes to 75 minutes on each of those stations.
“Gymnasts really need to enjoy what they are doing to avoid burning out. There are certain times of the year when in addition to their regular training schedule, they also travel to meets or training camps on the weekends. Burn out is a possibility and does happen, so it’s important to allow them time to back off from practice or have easier practices in general during these times,” reports Coach Milliren.
“When they’re tired there’s a greater risk of injury too. Again, I think goal setting and the process of achieving and working on those goals, helps to avoid too much burn out. I think every coach and athlete goes through a form of it at some time, some just worse than others. However, gymnasts at Rachel’s level have been pretty motivated kids to get to that level to begin with, so there’s usually something intrinsic that keeps them going.”
Coach Milliren has been coaching gymnastics for 32 years and loves the opportunity to help young people learn the importance of teamwork, goal setting, sportsmanship, and how to win and lose with grace and dignity. “I teach that winning can be a goal, but shouldn’t be the only one nor the most important. The most important thing is to enjoy the process of learning, no matter the outcome.”
Rachel looks at every day like it’s the most important training day in order to motivate herself. “Pushing myself to train hard and never giving up has gotten me to where I am.” She recently competed in the Washington State Championships and from there qualified to and competed in the Region 2 Regional Championships in Portland. After hitting her highest score every at State and placing at Regional’s, Rachel is working on all the skills that she will need in order to move up to level 9. This athlete’s favorite saying is ‘Go hard or go home’. “If you don’t put your all into everything, you won’t come out with much. It’s what I’ll live by forever.”
“Qualification for State Championships varies from level to level in gymnastics. In Rachel’s level (Level 8), she needed to score a 33.00 All Around in one of her regular season meets. Most gymnasts at her level manage to score that fairly easily. Getting to Regional’s also varies between Level 8, 9 & 10. In Level 8, they must finish in the top 65% of all gymnasts participating at the State Championships. This year there were approximately 125 Level 8’s participating. To qualify to Regional’s, you need to be a very well-rounded gymnast (able to perform well on all four events),” adds her coach.
The start of every week finds Rachel making a list of things she aims to accomplish. During the week, she will check off each goal as she goes along. In a sport that requires sixteen hours of practice per week, finding a balance of school and social activities can pose a challenge. She manages to get the majority of her homework done in the car on her way to the gym, or during school hours at Tumwater High School, and the rest is saved until the weekend. She also plays varsity tennis for Tumwater.
Rachel is extremely self motivated and mature, taking the initiative when it’s needed and she doesn’t require a lot of guidance. “I can tell her once what we’re doing, and she’ll do it.”
“Rachel has been an absolute blessing to our entire team, and for me as a coach. She’s self-motivated and driven. She understands the importance of hard work, but also knows how to be a great teammate and friend to everyone regardless of their age or abilities. She’s been a great example for our younger gymnasts to look up to and emulate. Our team is definitely better because of her.”
“I always try to think of the glass half full, and think of myself as a motivational person. Negativity can be a hard thing to avoid in gymnastics because it can be very frustrating at times, but I think I help people to handle it better and to keep moving forward. There’s so much repetition and perseverance required for gymnastics, so knowing people think I can do it if I keep trying really helps to motivate,” says Rachel.
Drawing inspiration from her teammates, coaches and dad pushes her to work hard towards achieving her goals and hitting those accomplishments. Her coaches inspire her to never stop trying, and her dad inspires her to keep doing what she loves, which he emulates in his love for cycling.
In future years, Rachel hopes to use the life skills gymnastics has taught her as well as the strength to be successful in the ROTC during her college years. She would also like to coach gymnastics.
Coach Milliren hopes that Rachel has nothing but positive memories of her time at Grace Gymnastics Center. “I hope that she learns that competition isn’t always about winning and losing, but also the friendships and the sense of accomplishment you get from achieving worthwhile goals. I hope that if she ever decides to coach children herself someday, that she teaches these same qualities to her athletes. I just don’t want her someday saying ‘let me tell you what an idiot my coach was.'”
Coach, I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.
