While juggling the demands of her first competition cheer season, Kaitlynn was also attending multiple tumbling classes each week to continue building her skills on the mat. As a level 4 (advanced) tumbler, she had been working towards some of her difficult skills for MONTHS with little progress. It's not uncommon for advanced tumblers to face what is called a "block" where the mind overcomes matter and they regress tremendously in their skill. Kaitlynn first went through this several years ago and experienced this again late last year. Lesson after lesson, class after class, she struggled to improve and sometimes couldn't even complete a basic skill that she had mastered years ago. As with all tumblers who go through this, her body knew what to do but her mind (fear? confidence?) would prevent her from doing it. It was beyond frustrating for her but also for Jeff and me, and there were many weeks of classes where she left in tears and wanted to give up. We had many heart-to-heart conversations about building her mental toughness and persevering through the hard times.
It was tough to walk through these challenges with her, and yet it was interesting to notice the many parallels to the obstacles that Connor was facing in his own path with athletics. It made me wonder if these kids will ever know that we as parents feel just as much (if not more!) pain than they do as they face disappointment and struggle along their path.
Fast forward a few months, and Kaitlynn slowly began working her way out of her mental block. Getting her trampoline at home was a big help, which led to increased confidence in her classes. Sure enough, she began to emerge from the block and then began making huge strides in her tumbling. Never was there a bigger smile than when she would finally hit her skills on the gymnastics floor. It was so much fun to witness her growth after this challenging time and remind her of how her perseverance was paying off. So proud of our amazing tumbler!
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