How to Help Your Kids Build Gymnast Confidence

Gymnastics, a sport that is common and popular in both life and competition. For the general public, it is not only seen as a form of daily exercise but also as a mean to cultivate good physical posture. In terms of competition, it is a means for athletes to strive to victory and achieve excellent results.

When gymnasts are learning new skills, whether it be just for practice or improving their skills for competitions, they want external encouragement too, to boost their self-confidence. If things don't go their way, the gymnast's self-confidence can also take a hit.

It’s easy to lose confidence as a gymnast while facing external pressures, so as a parent, guardian or caregiver of a gymnast, you can help them regain their confidence!

Whether it be through daily companionship and encouragement or more comfortable and healthy gym clothes, these things can aid in building a strong foundation of confidence.

Tips to help develop your child’s confidence as a gymnast:

1. Don't compare your gymnast to teammates.
Everyone has their own pace when it comes to learning.
Whether it's fast or slow, to achieve efficiency, everyone has their own standards. Maybe your child needs more time when practicing or studying to get good grades, that's okay. So when you talk to a child, don't bring the comparison into the discussion, and don't compare two gymnasts.
Instead, encourage your gymnasts to keep practicing and learn the skill at their own pace—rather than focusing on another person's standards.
 
2. Channel a positive and healthy mindset.
Turn negative self-doubt into positive encouragement. New or things difficult things, can cause us to have feelings of negativity and cluelessness, which will damage our confidence. Children are no exception, when a young gymnast gets frustrated with an exercise or competition, they develop negative views of their performance within the sport. During these times, we as caregivers need to take the time to restore their confidence. Encouragement and trust are the greatest forms of affirmation to them, let them know that you believe in them and they can do anything they set their minds to!
 
3. Encourage setting small achievable goals.
Setting small achievable goals is extremely important. It neither seems ambitious nor stagnant, however stills sets the gymnast up success. Let gymnasts see the results of their efforts, this can aid building their self-confidence. The blueprint or Plan of Action, as beautiful and exciting as the goal is, it is only achievable with a step-by-step process and building on each little achievement. Setting small achievable goals and taking things step by step, will help increase your gymnast's determination to achieve bigger goals.
 
4. Focus on how far you have come, rather than how far you still need to go.
Where there is a will, there is a way! Maybe your gymnast is going through a low point and doubting their ability to keep going. During this time, it’s important to remind them, that going through lows is part of the process as necessary to reap the joy of reaching the top. Let them know where they started and how how far they have come since. There will always be both the joy of success and the frustration of failure, but it is precisely because of these existences that this journey is colorful. Being able to see where they started from the beginning allows them to see the progress they have had made!
 
At JOYSTREAM, our gymnastics leotards are designed with care to help give young gymnasts an extra boost of confidence, when they walk into the gym. Shop our best-selling leotards to help empower your gymnast during each practice.