Season has ended, finals are over, and it is finally time to relax. Whether you are heading home, staying at school, or going on the vacation you’ve been planning since January, you can rest assured knowing you’ve done it; you’ve gotten through another school year and gymnastics season successfully (and that’s so hard!).
In my previous Day in the Life, I spoke with two current NCAA athletes about the wrap-up of the season and what they are looking forward to in the coming months. They both spoke of their short-term goals individually, their long-term goals as a team, and their overall intentions for the next year. And these months from the beginning of May to the middle of August are when so much of this work gets put in!
At the end of each season, regardless of how well you did individually, how your team did as a whole, or if you accomplished the goals you set in August, you are always looking forward to this next season. After taking the (very much) needed time away, offseason training can take a lot of different forms. Some programs, if you choose to stay at school over the summer, will allow you to work out in the practice facility you have been in all year and train with the coaches when they come to campus. I can’t personally speak to how this type of offseason training looks because I always chose to go back home, However, the work that goes in, and the expectations for the summer are the same regardless of where you practice.
From my own experience, offseason training looked different for me in each of my five years. Going into my freshman year, I can truly say this was the hardest I had ever trained. I was so excited for this new chapter and to be a part of a team for the first time. I wanted to start off as strong as I could. This first year going in, the expectations look a little bit different than the other years. Coming from club to the NCAA, you have the shortest turnaround time. With JO Nationals ending the second week of May, and some teams having the freshman class move in early in the summer to get acclimated, you have the least amount of time to prepare for the preseason.
The skills you competed just a couple of weeks prior are usually what you are expected to have coming into practice along with whatever upgrades you have been training. The skills you have shown you could do while you were being recruited are oftentimes what you are expected to have coming in, whether this be an upgraded 10.0 vault the staff is expecting to have in their lineups or an E skill on floor. Coming into my freshman year, I pushed for the skills I didn’t yet have with the hopes of breaking into lineups from the previous season. So, while the coaches may have expectations for you, you also definitely enter this first offseason with major expectations for yourself.
Whatever this may look like, this time is filled with excitement. When you step into the gym, there’s the want to prove you belong there, to show you deserve to be there after all the work you put in, and to experience the ultimate joy of finally getting to the point you have worked your whole life for.
After your first season ends, the feeling is bittersweet; there is a sigh of relief you made it through your first one, but there is also the realization of how quickly the season goes and that each moment really does count. After my freshman year, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be better than I was the previous year, and I wish I had realized at that time I would never be that same athlete. This first year is honestly uncharted territory with managing your time, living on your own, and competing for weeks in a row. I knew my body was tired, everything hurt a little more and felt a little bit older, but my mind was so much stronger.
If I could give a piece of advice to any athletes leaving their first season going into offseason practices, it’s let your body adapt and let your expectations adapt with that. You aren’t the athlete you were when you stepped onto campus nine months ago, and whether you had the year you wanted or you have new goals to work toward, you grew. Taking these experiences into the offseason and using them to fuel what you want to accomplish in your next season is something I wished I had realized sooner, rather than just expecting myself to be the same version I was when I first came in.
Applying this mentality to the next three or four years you have left in the NCAA is crucial. Each year you learn more, you accomplish different things, and you want more from the next season. Whether you stay at school, or come home for the summer break, this period is when you have the ability to make your own timeline. You can do gymnastics at your own pace and be at the place you want to be to come into the next preseason. I would typically practice two to three days a week, and what I did was dependent on how I felt. I spoke previously about the expectations coaches outline for what you are expected to have when you come back onto campus, so I always knew those expectations were the end goal. Everyone approaches this differently and no way is right or wrong, but the most important part during these three months is to get stronger, stay healthy, and come into the next season with a fresh perspective.
Letting your body heal during this time is important, but, arguably, letting your mind heal is even more of a priority. For a couple of these years after the end of season, I really had a difficult time getting back into the gym, and I think this is something other athletes have experienced. Coming back for my fifth season, as much gratitude and joy as I had to be returning to a program and a team that I loved, it was really difficult for me to get back into the gym after the conclusion of my senior season.
This time during the offseason and well into preseason, I had to take the time to find my love for gymnastics, and ultimately how to fit into a different role than I had known. I went from competing four events my first three seasons, to competing three my senior year, and finished my career as a beam event specialist. Learning how to adapt to this final role was difficult. This time during the offseason, as much as I wanted to upgrade, do skills I had never competed before, and end my career on the highest note, my main goal during this offseason was to find my why again. That being said, feeling like you might be at a crossroads during the offseason in my experience is perfectly normal, and while you should be taking the time to set and work toward these new goals, it is so important to determine this why, and bring the joy back to gymnastics if going back into the gym after a season is something you might be struggling with.
Ultimately, like the rest of the season, you get out of the offseason what you give. This is not only a time to work on dream upgrades for the next year, but is the best, most crucial time to reflect on all the last year was, to enjoy the time to rest, to find the joy, and to work toward the outcome you want for the next year.
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Article by Julianna Roland
