flashback: gymnastics.

i grew up my whole life doing some type of gymnastics. from ages three till ten i did basic gymnastics and then from ages ten till thirteen i did tramp and tumble. basic gymnastics has the floor, bars, beam and vault and i quit right before i wouldve started to compete. i then joined tramp and tumble because floor exercise is what i enjoyed the most. tramp and tumble includes rod floor, a strip of floor where you complete one tumbling pass, the trampoline, a risen trampoline which you compete a series of flips, and double mini, a smaller trampoline that you run onto and complete two flips and dismount. i quit tramp and tumble because of high school cheer and all the time it takes up. club gymnastics takes up too much time and i figured if i wanted to keep my tumbling i could do high school cheer which wasnt as competitive but kept me involved with school. now that i am having questions about if i want to cheer my senior year, i think to the possibilities of participating in high school gymnastics. the girls are super nice on the gymnastics team and i know they would be very accepting. also i love coach klemm which helps. the thing i think about, though, is what everyone else will think if i leave cheerleading to do gymnastics. would they think im a traitor? would they think im a quiter? i know i shouldnt care nor think about their opinion, but im only human so of course i am going to. i can honestly say im terrified to quit cheerleading to do gymnastics and not even be sure if i would make the team. its a matter of knowing i would definitely be on the cheer team and the mystery if i would make the gymnastics team. people say that i could do gymnastics and succeed very well, but what people dont realize is that having tumbling isnt the only thing you need to succeed in the sport of gymnastics. you need to be able to work the bars, vault and tumble on the beam. sure, you can pick and choose what events you do, but i wouldnt want to just do floor. id have to relearn my skills, which erin mcgaha is willing to help me with, but what if i cant and i already missed my chance to try out for cheer? its a risk, for sure and its something i have to decide soon as cheer tryouts are coming up. i dont even know when they are! if i was really convinced i wanted to cheer then wouldnt i know when they are and exactly what i needed to do for them? ever since the death of my grandpa i have realized that you have to live each day to the fullest and that while im young i need to experience everything that i can, take risks, and see whats out there. i only wish i could hear what he had to say. myself and other people are telling me that i would regret not doing cheer and finishing out my four years in high school doing the sport, but what would i say if i never tried something new and missed out on finding something i really enjoyed. the sport is only a season long which would give me a lot more time to do other things but also means that i would have to take a semester of gym, which sounds like a silly thing to be concerned about, but hey, i hate getting sweaty during school! its a huge decision i have to make, but sometimes i just feel like taking a wild chance and who knows if i will?