Teves Talks
By Sydney Teves
By Sydney Teves
Gymnastics is as much physical as it is mental, and possibly even more so than physical.
The sport is especially mental for me, because I tend to overthink things. Because of this, I’ve gotten a mental block on all the events at least once.
A mental block can be a kind of fear, it’s when you are physically able to do something but you mentally can’t, your brain won’t allow it. They’re really difficult because there’s no surefire way to “cure” or get rid of it.
For me, vault is my weakest event. It could be because I don’t run fast enough, it could be because I just don’t like vault very much, but the biggest thing for me is the mental aspect. For some reason, it’s the event that I can most easily get a mental block on, even though the blocks are usually short-lived or easily resolved. A mess up in steps, a stutter step or even the smallest movement around me that I think too much about can throw me off.
Lots of gymnasts, after falling on a skill, can get mental blocks that prevent them from doing the same skill for fear of repeating previous incidents.
It can take any amount of time to get over a mental block. Just recently I got over a mental block that I’d had for almost two years.
With many causes and no certain way to get rid of them, mental blocks are something that, unfortunately, most gymnasts and other athletes have to deal with.
The sport is especially mental for me, because I tend to overthink things. Because of this, I’ve gotten a mental block on all the events at least once.
A mental block can be a kind of fear, it’s when you are physically able to do something but you mentally can’t, your brain won’t allow it. They’re really difficult because there’s no surefire way to “cure” or get rid of it.
For me, vault is my weakest event. It could be because I don’t run fast enough, it could be because I just don’t like vault very much, but the biggest thing for me is the mental aspect. For some reason, it’s the event that I can most easily get a mental block on, even though the blocks are usually short-lived or easily resolved. A mess up in steps, a stutter step or even the smallest movement around me that I think too much about can throw me off.
Lots of gymnasts, after falling on a skill, can get mental blocks that prevent them from doing the same skill for fear of repeating previous incidents.
It can take any amount of time to get over a mental block. Just recently I got over a mental block that I’d had for almost two years.
With many causes and no certain way to get rid of them, mental blocks are something that, unfortunately, most gymnasts and other athletes have to deal with.