I have a confession: I was holding back on you guys when I said my only athletic experience was playing one soccer season in the second grade. I also have done three years of ballet. But that was when I was 7-10 years old, and that flexibility is long gone now. So when I went out to try gymnastics, let’s just say out of all my experiences so far, this was the most humbling.
I reached out to Kaya Nepomuceno (12) who has been doing gymnastics for the past 11 years and has been on the Westview team since her sophomore year. For my own safety, we only did floor skills, avoiding anything above ground level (i.e., beams and bars).
When we met up, I thought we should start off with the basics before I even attempted to do anything more complicated. First, she demonstrated each skill she would teach me: a handstand, cartwheel, roundoff, and a back walkover. Each one she did flawlessly, which somewhat amped up my confidence because with her skill she made it seem extremely simple.
To attempt the handstand, she told me to focus my weight on the knuckle part of my palm and kick off with my left foot since I was left-handed. After the first try, I wasn’t able to keep my legs up at all and I could already feel a tightening in my thigh (and as I’m writing this a day later, I still feel it). On my second attempt, Nepomuceno suggested that I make sure to straighten my back, which would help straighten my legs when they are in the air. So when I kicked off, I listened to her advice…and ended up falling back the opposite way onto my back. But I didn’t back down. I tried a few more handstands until I was able to hold it for at least more than two seconds and I felt good enough to move on.
Next was the cartwheel. I’ve seen my younger cousins easily execute this, so I assumed there was no way I would fail at it. I told Nepomuceno that I was right-foot dominant, which I learned doing the long jump, so that’s the foot I started with. She told me that it’s the same idea as the handstand but instead, you keep the momentum going to kick both your legs over your head. When I tried, I was able to get my legs over my head, but I wasn’t able to end upright. Instead of going in a straight line, my attempt fell into a slight curve. For that, Nepomuceno told me to focus on my shoulders to let them guide me straight and to push off with my hands to give me the momentum to stand up. With her advice, I was able to decently execute the cartwheel, although not as flawlessly as she did.
The next skill I tried was the roundoff, which is the same thing as a cartwheel, but you land with your two feet together and face the opposite way you started. Before actually attempting this, I walked through it with Nepomuceno to see what I needed to do to end up facing the opposite way. She suggested that I focus on where my belly button is facing to help me turn my body, and said that it was all in the hips. After my first few attempts, I couldn’t seem to turn all the way. I was focusing on so many different aspects of my body; my mind was everywhere. I really had to lock in for this one. Once again, I settled for being able to land on both my feet and be at least mostly turned all the way.
Finally, I attempted the back walkover. For this skill, you bring your hands over your head and arch your back, down into a “bridge position,” then kick your legs over. When I made an attempt with Nepomuceno spotting me, I made it to the bridge part, but when I thought about bringing my legs over my body, I knew in my gut that this was where my limit was. So I once again laid on my back on the floor, feeling really humbled but mostly sore. This was easily the most difficult skill I have tried. No matter how flawless and simple gymnastics looks to the audience, it is far from it.
