Gymnastics: Your Best Meet Ever!

Excellent book ruined by a section on dieting. The overall message was trying to be "weight doesn't matter (but being fat is a problem)" and "eat (my definition of) healthy," but in the process children were encouraged to carefully track calories and weigh daily, and visit a doctor to determine how much fat to lose. I literally took scissors and cut out this chapter because the rest of the book has so much value, but the words "lose weight," calories, weigh, scale, diet, fat, and splurge are not anything I even want on my 8 year old gymnast's radar. I could get behind some discussion about food groups - protein, energy, carbohydrates, heck yea! Eating to build muscle, planning pre/post workout snacks - this might have been valuable info. Assigning moral value to food choices and discussing weight loss and calorie tracking? Completely unnecessary. I hope future editions cover this topic with greater care and consideration for eating disorder prevention in this vulnerable population.

Thank you, Rita Brown. We are a small club in the Bahamas with less than 3 years in operation. After reading your book, we recommended it as a "must read" for our entire competitive team. It offers a pragmatic approach for the novice gymnasts especially and a blue print for all parents, coaches and team members to follow. I only wish that we had this book as an available resource a long time ago to have avoided some of the unnecessary mistakes that our gymnasts experienced because of poor mental and physical preparations. "Better late than never". Thank you for sharing these invaluable insights and in so doing, transferring your nuggets of advice as a baton on to the next generation of athletes and our rising stars. It's a gift that will continue to bear much fruit in the fullness of time.Nicola "Nikki" ThompsonDirectorBahamas Gymnastics Parent Booster ClubLiaisonBahamas Star Gymnastics

Competitive gymnastics is a different world...both for the parent and the new team gymnast. While we started last year, we're still learning the ropes & I was thrilled when I ran across this book....and then it lived up to expectations as well!!While this is not (nor can any book be) a comprehensive guide...this gives an amazing baseline for both the gymnast and the parents on what to do, expect, how to communicate, set goals, etc.If you've a gymnast....this should definitely be on your shelf, and well-worn.

I bought this as a present for my daughter in advance of her second competitive season. Given all the positive feedback on this site, I was surprised at how poorly printed it was, and how rough it read. While the author clearly has some experience in competitive gymnastics, she is not a strong writer and the book is not well organized. There was some fine advice, but most of it was stuff my daughter had already picked up herself or that her coach had told her. Maybe this is a fine purchase for someone from a smaller club about to compete for the first time, but I think there must be better resources out there for most competitive gymnasts looking to better understand their sport.

I really enjoyed this book and i am a level 6 gymnast and i already knew it all and i didn't learn anything.

It was a recommendation to purchase . We have been to this years meet as well. She love it and has learnt how to perform at the events. Great book and Rita has a great personality. Thank you for your advise. See you next year!!!

I loved this book, it has so many good tips in it, no matter what level it should be read. I love how it talks about making "movies" in your head to try to get a skill. Definitely a good book to have if you're competing!

In this book, I found and highlighted so many inspirational and helpful parts. I am a competitive gymnast and I found it extremely helpful! I would definitely recommend thus book to all competitive gymnasts!

My preteen gymnast read the whole thing and is using the techniques - she does her first competition next month! Wish her luck!