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gymnastics weigh-ins, scary weight scale story!
Interesting article: "Balancing the diet: Eating disorders & gymnastics Though many college gymnastics teams have lightened up their policies on pounds, athletes still feel pressure to strive for the perfect body" - http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5353750?source=rss [quote]Stepping on a scale was as integral to Shelly Eaton's young gymnastics career as tumbling. Scheduled weigh-ins, random weigh-ins, they all blurred together. And each gymnast's weight was posted on a board for everyone to see. Not much changed when Eaton arrived at the University of Utah, where Eaton, who at the time went by Schaerrer, competed from 1989-92. She and her teammates weighed in every week, and the results were charted on the refrigerator in the locker room. "They did it on Mondays so we wouldn't eat much over the weekend," recalls Eaton, who now lives in Arizona and is the co-owner of the Desert Devils Gymnastics Club. "I never ate on Mondays, I'd just have a Diet Coke, and I can remember standing there in my sports bra and underwear to be weighed. It wasn't a negative thing then, it was just part of the whole experience we were used to as gymnasts." That was then. To hear that story now, the eyes of several of Utah's gymnasts grow wide in disbelief. [/quote] wow! [quote]Going through puberty is one of the biggest challenges for a gymnast. Postell grew three inches in a year; Ford grew five. Both remember suddenly not being able to do tricks as easily as they once did. They also remember the looks they got, and still get. "The worst is when you go back home after you've been gone for a while," Postell says. "They'll look at you and say, 'Oh, you look different,' or 'Oh, you look skinny,' but you know what they're thinking of, back when you are smaller." [/quote] true you have to adust to your skills again after growth spurt; also that the coaches give looks to gymnasts after they come back to the club after a while, like when they come back from college and come to the gym to have summer or winter break practice, or if someone has switched gyms when they were like 11 or 12 and then the coaches from the club see them in competitions again when they are 13 or 14 after a long time - they do think about when the gymnast was smaller, thinner, etc. ...you just want to tell them - kids grow up...they're supposed to!
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[quote]"They did it on Mondays so we wouldn't eat much over the weekend," recalls Eaton, who now lives in Arizona and is the co-owner of the Desert Devils Gymnastics Club. "I never ate on Mondays, I'd just have a Diet Coke, and I can remember standing there in my sports bra and underwear to be weighed. It wasn't a negative thing then, it was just part of the whole experience we were used to as gymnasts." [/quote] they were really treated degrading it seems - why wouldn't they just get weighed in their leotard, or at least a sports bra and shorts if that's what they practice in?!
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Vanessa Atler on weight issues: http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=19087 [quote]New coach Valeri Liukin was equally upset, especially when Atler gained four pounds during her recovery. Liukin
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