Inside the Chalk Box: Tough Practices Define Athletes

By Jackie Yanchocik, NC State Sophomore Gymnast

And so we are off!  Preseason is more than midway through, and boy has it been tough.  As a Wolfpack gymnast I am finding myself more and more prepared for the long season that is ahead of us.  All the 7am workouts, three and half-hour practices, and four times of cardio a week, I’m feeling the effects of our training and it feels good. 

We began the start of our training in September and we have been through just about two months of preseason, which seems like its been forever.  Let’s get a move on already.  If you ask any gymnast they will tell you that preseason is by far the hardest part of the season.  You know that once you have persevered it just gets that much easier along the way.  From that first set of sprints to getting through that first full routine, you start to feel more accomplished. 

I’m not going to lie, with accomplishment comes hardships, and since we’ve started I’ve had a couple setbacks, but each day I try to move forward.  Last week was the worst practice week I’ve had in very long time. Gymnastics is all a mental state of mind, if you’re not in the moment its very easy to get distracted.  That day I walked into the gym just not in the mode and everything went down hill.  The next couple practices I found myself in a slump and I felt like I couldn’t get out of it.  Finally towards the end of this week I decided I was going to put all those bad practices behind and start owning up to the gymnast that I know I am.  It was tough, but once I put my mind to it, I found that I was being more successful within my practices. 

When things get hard, or aren’t going right, it’s so easy to get sucked into it.  As a division one athlete that’s when you have step back, and say, “You know what? I am better than this.”  When one bad practice turns into a series of bad practices, you can’t just go along with it, and expect things to just turn around.  You have to be the one to make that change for things to get better.  Being part of a team helps with that too.  Even though gymnastics is an individual sport, you still are part of a team.  So when one person struggles, the whole team will pay for it, too.  Luckily, when I was going through those hard practices last week, I had my whole team behind me to push me through it. 

It's funny because a lot of times athletes always want to be on their “A-game”, but sometimes you need those tough practices, because that way when you do have a good practice the feeling is so much better.  I know now that I just have to keep a positive attitude, leave the bad days behind, and regardless of what happens keep moving in the right direction.  Season is just around corner and I’m so excited to get things rolling!  Or in this case, flipping!