Improving Mental Health, Depression, and Anxiety in Gymnastics

In my experiences, there are a lot of people who focus on the technical and physical development of gymnasts. Most of their efforts focus on getting new drills, strength exercises, or progressions to help athletes get new skills or move up to the next competition level. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely an important area of the sport for safety, readiness, and achieving goals.

However, in my opinion, I don’t think these areas of gymnastics are the root causes of some of the much more serious, and much more important conversations.

The best drills in the world go nowhere fast if the gymnasts are unhappy in the gym, if they do not trust their coaches’ intentions, and if they are battling emotional/mental health issues like anxiety, fear, or depression.

The same goes for the coaches. Nothing will get done if coaches/parents feel burnt out, unhappy, and are taking out their frustrations with personal issues on the gymnasts or other coaches they work with.

The two biggest things that are not being talked about honestly in gymnastics right now are

Taking ownership of how personal problems impact the training environment
Mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and insecurity fueled egos.

I was recently asked to do an interview where we talked about some of these heavy issues. It was definitely a thought-provoking conversation, and I was grateful for the chance to discuss this area of gymnastics. In this episode, we talk about

What I do as a coach to support mental health issues liked anxiety, depression, and fear with gymnasts
If I think the emotional expression is a strength or weakness in athletes
What I think allowed USA Gymnastics to mistakenly build a culture of fear in athletes
What I do personally to manage my ego, anxiety, and periods of being unhappy
Why coaches and parents need to take responsibility if they are unhappy in the gym, and not take it out on the athletes
My personal values, philosophy, and morals that I try to follow every day

I really think people are going to enjoy this one. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher below!