Gymnastics: The Underappreciated Sport

Jordan Clark, Staff Writer

When people talk about sports, things like football, baseball, and basketball are usually the first things that come to mind. While those are all very interesting topics, there are other sports that are equally as important, but most of the time not deemed as a sport at all. 

There are people out there that will take one look at gymnastics and decide that it isn’t a sport, but I know for a fact that they are wrong. Not only do gymnasts have to work all muscles in their bodies in order to perform skills, but they also have to train for several completely separate events. As elite coach Joseph Harrison says, “It is like training four different sports in one sport. If you are behind on just one event, you are behind on them all.” 

Gymnastics consists of sprinting, agility, balance, dance, and flexibility and strength training on all parts of the body. 

Now, I’m not saying that sports like football and basketball aren’t difficult, because all sports certainly have their challenges. But, people have no reason to be saying that gymnastics isn’t a sport, especially because those who have done it would certainly say that it is.