Tips From The Pros: Bouncing Back From A Fall

Tips From The Pros: Bouncing Back From A Fall

Making mistakes is natural for any athlete, and gymnasts are no exception. While routines are judged on a 10.0 scale and gymnasts strive for perfection, wobbles and falls are part of the sport.

Jun 7, 2017 by Lauren Green
Tips From The Pros: Bouncing Back From A Fall
Making mistakes is natural for any athlete, and gymnasts are no exception. While routines are judged on a 10.0 scale and gymnasts strive for perfection, wobbles and falls are part of the sport. But it is how a gymnast responds to a fall that shows her resolve as an athlete.

In our new series, "Tips From The Pros," you'll get an inside look at how experienced gymnasts deal with struggles and other common situations in our sport. Check out how some of the top collegiate gymnasts rebound from a fall during competition.

Oregon State senior Madeline Gardiner:

"After a personal fall, you have to flip your mindset. You did what you did, you did everything you could. Nobody goes out there to fall so you have to almost forgive yourself and say, 'I have other teammates who are counting on me to be there for them and to support them in their next routines.' So you have to flip your mindset and be like, 'This team needs me more than the routine I just did. I need to be supporting my teammates, letting them know that I have confidence in their routines.' And so it really is all about the way your team and your teammates pull you out from that.

Going up after someone else falls is almost more of an individual thing. You can be like, 'Well, I've been training hard for this. I know my body. I know my routines. I know what I have to do so I'm going to go up there and do what I do every day.' And what they do in front of you, whether they get a 10 or they get a nine, it doesn't really matter because my gymnastics is still my gymnastics individually.
You just go up with a confident mind and say, 'I'm going to do my best no matter what happens.'

Georgia freshman Sabrina Vega:

"My mentality is new day, new routine. So if it's in the middle of the routine, I give myself a second and reset my brain [and think], 'That's in the past, you're going to get back up and finish the routine without giving the slightest deduction. You're going to make the rest perfection.' But if it's from meet to meet, it's definitely a new day, new routine, start fresh, and just trust in your training [and] not really rely on that one fall, that one mistake that you made. The good outweighs the bad. You just trust the effort and the numbers that you put in at practice."

Michigan freshman Polina Shchennikova:

"After you fall, you have to brush it off. You have to keep your team in mind, and then you still have the entire routine to finish."
The most important thing is that you get back up and finish well. You make sure you smile right afterwards.

UCLA senior Peng Peng Lee:

"The way you bounce back from a fall is you have to accept that it happened, and then you have to make sure that you're dialed in for the next skills and perform it to the best of your ability. We always say every tenth counts. It doesn't matter if you fall. If you give up halfway through the routine, then we might be counting a really low score because if someone else falls you have to count one of the scores."

Oklahoma freshman Maggie Nichols:

I think you just need to take a deep breath and get back on and finish your routine like you didn't have a mistake.

Alabama freshman Maddie Desch:

"I think the biggest thing is that it kind of dampers your confidence. When you have a fall, you learn something from it. You can improve the next time because you know what you did and what happened. With bouncing back, you just have to believe and not let it ruin your confidence because you can do it. It was just a mistake and mistakes happen and you learn from it and move on."

Denver freshman Sam Ogden:

"In my head, I try to just forget about it and realize that I have the whole rest of the routine to go. Otherwise, I try to laugh it off."

Oregon State senior Kaytianna McMillan:

"I think we practice this all the time in the gym that we have each other's backs. That's what we're there for. If somebody falls, it's not the end of the world because people make mistakes all the time."
You just need to go up and do exactly what you know how to do -- nothing more, nothing less -- and try and keep that calm mindset.

Washington freshman Madison Copiak:

"You have to quickly refocus. You have to think of it as, 'Even if I make a mistake, the rest of the routine I need to make as good as possible' because you don't know what will happen down the lineup so they might end up having to count your score. So you need to pull together and finish your routine with the absolutely best quality that you possibly can."

Stay tuned for more Tips From The Pros right here on FloGym!