Learning gymnastics

Caitlin continues to amaze and inspire me with her confidence and the way she learns new skills.

When we were in Sydney in August, she went to a dance class with her friends, and they were doing front walkovers (I think that's what they are called - a handstand, over into a bridge). She had never done one before, and tried it with everyone else, and landed flat on her back. She was unhurt and unfazed, and later told it as a very funny story.

About 3 weeks ago she decided that she really wanted to be able to do it. She started doing handstands everywhere she went, and realised that she wasn't usually getting her legs high enough to then get them to go over to the ground. So she asked me to help by holding my arm out and she tried to get her legs up to my arm. After a week or so of practising every day, she could fairly reliably get her legs up high enough that they hit my arm - from there she was able to link her knees over my arm, and then she asked me to take my arm away - and she found that she could then push her legs over on to the ground and land, with varying success, in a bridge.

We tried that for another week or so, and her consistency was improving every day. At her birthday party she was showing her friends where she was up to, and 2 of the girls (with a lot of gymnastics experience between them) gave her some more tips. One of them was able to catch her legs rather than just have her rest her legs against an arm, and that helped to give her better balance. The other girl gave her tips on how to spring up in the handstand more effectively, and helped her practice getting into a bridge the regular way (by bending over backwards and putting her hands on the ground).

She practiced a lot with her friends, and then a couple of hours after they had left she came running inside excitedly shouting 'I did it! I did it!' We had a big hug and a celebratory dance then went back outside to watch. She did several in a row - it was amazing to watch. To come from not being able to do it at all, to doing it easily, in under 3 weeks just astounded me.

I think the thing that inspires and impresses me most is that she is always completely confident that she will be able to learn the skill she wants to learn. There is no doubt or hesitation or inhibition getting in her way. So because she knows that she will get there, it's simply a matter of practicing enough until she can do it, and every bit of practice is a step towards her goal. This also helps her to not get frustrated when she has a set back or if it's taking a while, because it doesn't ever feel to her like 'this is never going to happen'.

I love the way she jumps straight in when she's trying something new, and figures out her own ways of learning the skills needed. She will listen to other people's suggestions and use them if she likes them, or say 'no thanks, I think I'll keep doing it this way' if not. And she's happy to put a lot of time in over the short term and that helps her to learn things quite quickly (my practice tends to be short amounts of time over a longer term, which does mean I take a lot longer to learn. There's doubt and hesitation and inhibition mixed up in that, as well as a different learning style - I think I tend to be more analytical and like to have it all well thought out in my mind, and only get to the physical once I've understood it all, Caitlin is a much more physical learner).

Oh, the other thing that helped her in this case (and most cases) was watching her friend do one. Being a very physical, kinaesthetic learner, she often finds that once she's got some basic skills, if she watches someone else do it, she can do it as well.

I don't know that my own basic learning styles will ever change, and I don't need them to, we all learn in different ways and it can all be effective. What I can learn from Caitlin though is the confidence in learning new skills, and also to question the way I've always done things and to try different ways of learning - and to keep doing the things that work for me and drop those things that don't.

It was also cool to see the other skills she improved along the way - her cartwheels are now straight, with straight legs, she can do a cartwheel to get off the trampoline, and all of her landings are a bit neater. Another great reminder that learning doesn't happen in isolation, and whatever we are doing we will also be learning other bits and pieces along the way. Sometimes the things we learn along the way are more useful or important than the skill we were working on, so no practice or playing or learning is ever a waste of time.