This has been quite the month. After spending her first three years on her college gymnastics team mostly recovering from injuries and illness, your oldest daughter has been enjoying her senior season. Already competing more events in more meets than she did in her first three years combined, your daughter is feeling excited and thankful. As parents you are doing all of the travel that it takes to see her compete in this final season of a sport that has meant so much.
From the first days when the stretching drills took place on just a few interlocking floor mats to today when your daughter’s Division III collegiate team has competed against much larger DI schools, this has been an incredible ride. Learning perseverance, dedication, leadership, and dependability, this sport has taught your daughter valuable lessons.
Gymnastics Practice Mats Provide Needed Cushion for Many Areas of the Gym
Although the skills vary greatly, there are many pieces of equipment that are the same in any gymnastics gym. And while elementary school age gymnasts are may only be working on a handstand smash down on the vault and college gymnasts are perfecting sky high twisting skills, both of these skills, and everything in between rely on the same pieces of equipment: the vault, the springboard, and all kinds of training and competitive mats. From gymnastics wedges to interlocking floor mats and various sizes of crash mats, there are many kinds of equipment that keep gymnasts as safe as possible.
The vault, of course, is not the exception. The balance beam, the uneven bars, and the floor exercise area are also all the same no matter what level a gymnast is competing at. The youngest and least skilled gymnasts, of course, may only be using the lower bar and one third of the floor, but they are still using the same basic equipment, whether they are practicing or competing.
Although the mats that are used in a gym may serve a variety of purposes depending on the event, none of these will last forever. Making the decision to replace old mats with easier to clean and move upgrades can help everyone.
