AboutRik Feeney Expertise I can answer questions regarding all levels of the sport of women's gymnastics, the business of gymnastics, and the marketing of gymnastics programs.
Experience I am the author of "Gymnastics: A Guide for Parents and Athletes" currently being published by McGraw-Hill. I am also a ghostwriter and co-author of the Gymcert series of books "Levels 1-3 Gymnastics Coaches Certifications Manuals" for recreational gymnasts, and the "Levels 4 - 6 Skills and Drills" books as well as Safety Basics for Gymnastics Instructors. I have written several other books on the sport of gymnastics for Richardson Publishing, the latest of which is titled, "Back Handsprings: The Secret Techniques." Oh, and by the way, I was a competitive gymnast through high school and college (Temple University), gymnastics club owner for 10 years, and women's gymnastics coach for 30 years working with gymnasts at all competitive levels
Organizations USA Gymnastics
National Writer's union
Florida Writer's Association
Publications USA Gymnastics magazine
Technique magazine
International Gymnast magazine
several newspaper articles
Education/Credentials Temple University - Health Physical Education, Recreation & Dance
Norwich University - Bachelors of Arts in Writing & Literature
Awards and Honors Several state and national level gymnastics champions in different systems of competition.
Past/Present clients Gymnasts, coaches, and club owners nation-wide.
Question Okay- this has been annoying me for the past several months. I need a
second opinion.
There's this girl in my class, and year younger and over a foot shorter then
me, who's being given loads of attention. She's going to be on team this year,
apparently.
I can do everything she can, heck- I can do more. I know 85% of the
compulsory routines (I can never get all those poses on beam quite right).
She didn't even know the difference between optional and compulsory until I
mentioned it to her.
As you can see I'm pretty jealous, so this may have blinded me to some
reasons why she's being picked and not me. BUT something very interesting
happened just yesterday.
I went to another gym for open gym time, as my gym is closed for the week.
The coaches there thought I was pretty good and invited me to join them for
the last hour of practice!! So ironic, especially since that gym is 45 minutes
away, so I can't go there regularly!
I have made it clear that I am interested in doing team. When I said to my
coach that I would like to do team, she replied with "Yeah, so would I." My
other coach just nodded and said that was a "good thing to work towards."
Give me an hour and I'll learn a routine! Ask me to name all the level 6-8
team members- I will! I watch them practice every monday! Ask her to try a
Tkachev (not that she'd ever do one)- she'll say, "what's that?"
I have all my level 5 skills except for kips and vault. The only part of the bar
routine she can do is the back hip circle-underswing-dismount.
My coaches say there are certain skills you have to have, but she didn't say
what they were. The team coach watched her do one thing and said she had
everything she needed.
I'm ready to write an essay on why they should give me a chance. What
should I do??
...Sorry for flipping out a bit here. I tried not to. Just, very, very, angry...
Answer Dear Hannah,
Your story has all the classic elements of a fairy tale waiting to come true.
You could turn it into a "movie of the week" at the very least if you just let your passion and desire for the sport carry you through the stumbling block of what seems to be "coaches blind to your talent" but even more important, blind to your level of desire.
As a gymnastics coach, I would always pick the gymnast with the level of desire you represent over talent any day.
My suggestion is to use the "broken record technique." You simply keep asking to be on team, like a broken record that keeps repeating itself over and over and over..., until they finally let you on team.
Once you get on team, however, it is up to you to demonstrate that you belong there.
Don't let me down; I want to hear about a happy ending to this story.
