It is the Person, not the Technique 0
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Strong personality overcomes technique
In a recent email correspondence I spoke with another coach who puts on gymnastics shows. She mentioned that the hit of her last show were the little girls in her dance program who had very little dance and lots of costuming. She was nervous that the parents would be upset not to see the dance that they were paying for. Instead that number was the crowd favorite.
I told her that people care about people, not technique. If the personality comes through with great technique, then you have a great success. But the gymnast who has personality over the gymnast who has technique, the audience will prefer the one with personality. Of course the sport is totally focused on technique and the athlete with great technique will win over the one with personality. So for this reason, no coach develops the personality, only the technique.
But this is a myopic point of view characteristic to our immediate gratification society. The long term goals end at the Olympics, yet everyone knows that the winners of the Olympic games go on to professional careers in other fields fueled by their new found fame. For example, Carly Patterson has just recorded a singing CD. And, of course, the USAG promotes all their athletes who make it to the top in their new career directions. But what has gymnastics done to prepare these performers in their new careers? No one cares anymore that they did gymnastics. What showmanship did gymnastics help develop in them? Next to none, in my opinion.
Television understands what audiences want to see. They never just broadcast the routines. Besides the fact that the routines are too short to fill air time, people want to know about the athletes. The majority of a gymnastics broadcast is devoted to video biographies on the top athletes and the banter of the hosts who talk about the people and their struggle in training and competing.
On Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 the TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance?” broadcast the audition of Allison Becker who is a hearing impaired dancer. They gave her story before her audition, her dance and the judges reaction to a deaf dancer auditioning. It was extremely moving, yet her technique was clearly weak. Because her technique was weak, they sent her to choreography to see if she could take instruction and work with others. She did, and they sent her to Las Vegas.
Another dancer, Kelsey White, whose technique was equal to Allison’s was also sent to choreography but did not make it to Las Vegas. There may have been reasons in her choreography that disqualified her, but I am convinced it was because she did not have the emotional appeal that Allison has. And that is the difference between theater and gymnastics competition. The theater knows that star quality is not found in technique. It is found in the personality and story of the star. With coaching by the choreographers to improve Allison’s technique, she has the potential of drawing a huge audience as everyone wants to see the underdog win.
The gymnastics industry needs to reassess how they train their athletes. The FIG who makes the rules has been extremely narrow minded in rewarding technique over artistry and personality. The club owners need to look beyond their immediate goals of building a reputation for training high level athletes. We have a moral responsibility to help children blossom into the unique people that God has gifted them to be. I am also convinced that parents will appreciate a program that has a bigger view then just athletic training, and who see clubs as co-laborers in developing their children into creative and expressive personalities.
In my gym, The Stunt Gym, my program is advertised as a “Christian Holistic Training Center”. The parents understand that my training is geared to develop strong and healthy bodies, expressive personalities and sensitivity to their spirits. It is time for the industry to accept that their responsibilities in training athletes goes beyond mere sport.
