This is a huge topic, but I am going to attempt to stand up a series of hubs that will address different gymnastics skill for beginners that will give the reader a fundamental idea of how to perform the skill.

I need to throw out the typical warning that reminds you that you can get injured performing gymnastics skills. I recommend that you only attempt to try these skills at a gymnastics facility with trained instructors and proper safety equipment.

Having said that, I want to spend the rest of this hub discussing some of the fundamentals of girls gymnastics, the equipment used, and the necessary apparel.

Women’s gymnastics is comprised of four separate apparatus: vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor. Most of the time we see young ladies competing on these events on TV during the olypics or national championships, but there journey to gymnastics greatness started long before they got in front of the camera. All of these young ladies began their careers at a local gymnastics center. The finely tuned gymnastics machine you see on TV has spent thousands of hours pouring her life into the sport she loves…gymnastics.

These young ladies make many sacrifices during the course of their young lives to perfect their skill in this demanding sport. They begin with simple skills such as forward and backward roles, and then progress to walkovers, and saltos. Some young ladies have a natural talent and move through the new skills easily, leaving their peers behind, while others have to work very diligently to achieve proficiency in the sport.

If you, or someone you know, has a desire to participate in the sport of gymnastics, they are going to need some very specialized equipment sooner or later. The first thing the gymnast will need is a gymnastics leotard. These leotards are specifically designed to allow the gymnast to move and stretch in the manner she will need to accomplish the skills she will be attempting. Another piece of equipment the gymnast will need is grips. These are leather apparatus that the young gymnast will put on her hands to protect the center strip of her hand. As gymnasts swing on the uneven bars, blisters develop on the palm of the hands. Typically, these blisters will rip completely off before the gymnast even knows they have them. The gymnastics grips help to protect the hands and minimize the abuse they take. In addition to the grips and gymnastics leotards the gymnast will need hair scrunchies (if they have long hair) and bike shorts to wear over the leotards.

This is where the gymnastics journey begins. Look for my next hub that will talk about forward and backward rolls. While these skills sound incredibly basic, they are the building blocks that your gymnast will need to master in order to excel in the sport.