High School Gymnastics: The Love of the Game

High School Gymnastics: The Love of the Game

            This last Saturday was interesting. It had been a couple of years since I have photographed a gymnastics meet. The last gymnastics meet I had photographed was The Ohio State Women’s Gymnastics Team. Gymnastics is really hard to photograph. First you are shooting in low light high school gyms or club gyms. Secondly, unless you know the routines of the gymnasts it can be really difficult to shoot because you don’t know which way they are going to flip or what skills they are going to use.

           College Gymnastics is different in skill level than High School Gymnastics. In NCAA Gymnastics teams such as The Georgia Bulldogs, The Oklahoma Sooners, The Alabama Crimson Tide, and the UCLA Bruins; recruit girls who are former Olympians, National Champions and Elite Gymnasts. High School Gymnastics have girls that at one point were on their way to Elite Level Gymnastics, but they grew taller and their bodies matured. Some after spending 24 hours a week in the gym wanted to experience other things such as high school life. For others, at fifteen years old, it was their first meet.

            For most of the gymnasts competing in this quad meet at Dublin Coffman High School, they will not compete in Division I NCAA Gymnastics. Most of them will have their last meet their Senior Year. What I saw through the lens was something different, fun. Fun is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as 1. “Enjoyment or amusement: pleasure. 2. Playful, often noisy activity.” I want to focus on the second definition.

              While I was shooting this meet I noticed that the girls were very supportive of each other. The last performance of the meet was the epitome of this. The Central Crossing Comets and The Franklin Heights Falcons were a combined team. Most of these girls on the combined team had little or no experience in gymnastics accept Micheala Maddox.  The Combined Team was on the balance beam and all of the other teams had finished competing. Maddox donning her blue leotard was the last girl to compete. She put on a show as her fellow gymnasts from all of the teams represented rooted her on as she landed skill after skill. When Maddox nailed her dismount, the crowd went wild.

        Dedication, perseverance, and confidence is what is needed to win at any level of sport. Still many athletes at the elite level lack passion and enjoyment that got them into that level in the first place. What I saw from these gymnasts was something many athletes forget to bring to the table. The playful enjoyment that brings raucous and loud activity that is “fun.” That is why I believe these gymnasts are doing it because they are passionate about it. They aren’t competing for a spot on the Olympic Team or on a World Championship Team or being televised. They are doing it for the love of the game.