In Australia, ‘Gymnastics’ is the umbrella term to represent seven different Gymsports:
- Gymnastics For All;
- Men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics;
- Trampoline sports;
- Rhythmic gymnastics;
- Aerobics; and
- Acrobatic gymnastics.
At Artemis Gymnastics, we offer recreational gymnastics which draws skills from artistic gymnastics, trampoline sports, and Gymnastics For All, in our Foundation gymnastics classes for boys and girls ages 4 – 10, and Tumbling classes for boys and girls aged 11-15 years.
Seven reasons kids benefit from learning gymnastics:
1. It’s fun!
Gymnastics captures flying, rotating, turning upside down, and teaches you how to move your body in amazing ways. You get to jump high on trampolines, swing on bars and rings, and impress friends with flexibility and strength prowess. Gymnastics is essentially training to become the human superhero!
2. All the tricks
Officially these are called skills and there are thousands to learn in gymnastics. Take a humble straight jump, which can become a split jump, a full twist jump, a back sault, or a double somersault. Even common basic gymnastics skills such as handstands and cartwheels turn up at the Olympics – masquerading as their fancier cousins: Yurchenkos, kip cast handstands, and no-handed cartwheels on beam.
3. Coordination and Spatial Awareness
Coordination, timing and spatial awareness are intrinsic patterns that must be learnt through repetition and mapped as pathways in our brains. The huge variety of skills and movements in gymnastics lends itself nicely to accelerating skill development in acrobatic sports such as cheerleading, tumbling, diving and aerial skiing, as well as providing a strong base for coordination, body strength, and work ethic for other sports. ‘Start here, go anywhere’ is a motto adopted by numerous gymnastics organisations for good reason!
4. Self-Discipline and Perseverance
Gymnasts become masters of the learning continuum, and refine, refine, refine ensuring that they have mastery of their bodies and minds to execute skills perfectly, especially under pressure. Gymnasts take risks, learn to fall, and learn how to pick themselves up and try again! Gymnasts also learn about the choices it takes to achieve a goal from an early age. For example, dedicating time at home to work on improving your splits isn’t the most interesting of tasks, but it accelerates your flexibility development which makes gymnastics skills easier.
I love gymnastics because it never gets boring, and there is always something to work on. Gymnastics is so challenging which makes it that much more rewarding when you learn a new skill or stick a landing! Aly Raisman (3x Olympic Gold Medalist)
5. Focus
You need to coordinate multiple actions and body parts moving in the right sequence, and make fast decisions and adjustments if things don’t go to plan! Even Nadia Comaneci, the famed Perfect 10 athlete, made a quick adjustment in her beam routine to avoid a wobble, enabling her to continue flawlessly to score a perfect 10. Gymnasts need to block out constant distractions from noise, movements and others. The ability to maintain focus is a huge aspect of learning gymnastics that plays into other parts of life – school, exams, performing, and work!
6. It’s safer than doing it at home!
Although kerbsides make great balance beams, couches and beds make trampolines, and the washing line makes bars, gymnastics clubs are set up with certified equipment to meet safety requirements, and plenty of matting to help make landings safe. At Artemis Gymnastics, all our coaches are qualified and educated by Gymnastics Australia, the sport’s governing body. They use layered learning to ensure the gymnasts have the right tools to safely execute new skills.
7. Make friends and work in a team
Although gymnastics is mostly an individual sport, great programs utilise teamwork to build support, culture and ultimately accelerate learning. Partner conditioning, team challenges, common goals and overcoming obstacles bring athletes together and create strong friendships.
Artemis Gymnastics at Melbourne Girls Grammar School offers educational gymnastics classes for beginners aged 4 – 15 years from the Melbourne community. We welcome all enquiries and new members.