Ready For My First Gymnastics Meet

For most people in their fifties, shying away from new experiences that challenge your sense of fear is the norm. This Geriatric Gymnast has decided that running towards it and challenging the fear itself is the better part of valor.

At 36, I took a huge leap. I decided, as a full-time working mom, that I would take my first recreational gymnastics class. Eighteen years later, at 54, I’m taking another huge leap. I’m answering the call to emulate the Olympic greats like Simone and Ali and Jordan and compete in my very first gymnastics meet.

Let’s rewind for a moment and see where this came from.

Enjoying my play time

Once upon a time, when the interwebs and hashtags and smart phones emerged, I started recording and posting my gymnastics successes and failures. I was proud to be “of a certain age” and do things most people in my peer group wouldn’t dream of attempting. I’d enjoy the supportive comments, and eventually found a larger, global community of people like me. They were regular people who were either returning to gymnastics after a long hiatus or discovering it as an adult.

Over the years, I built skills, lost them, got some back, got injured, and recovered. I never had any inclination or desire to go any further than that. Getting a great gymnastics workout made me happy and that was enough for me.

Then, in 2022, I got a comment from a random stranger who suggested that I should considering competing as an adult. I didn’t even know adults competed in gymnastics. I thought that was just for the kids. I was flattered and instantly pooh-poohed the idea. I was an adult recreational gymnast. Flattered as I was, competing was out of my league.

To boot, I subsequently sustained two big injuries at the gym. In 2023, I broke my right foot. In 2025, I ruptured my right Achilles tendon. Both happened on the stupid TumblTrak. That further cemented my resolve that competition was not in my future plans. If I was that susceptible to injury tumbling on a rebounding surface, I was certainly not going to attempt it on the floor.

I also saw adults of all ages, doing their thing. I felt slightly out of place, but I figured while I was there, I’d better make the most out of it. And I did. I did my first back tucks off the balance beam and into the foam pit, ever. It reinforced the idea that there’s always something new to learn. I just needed to keep my mind open.

Giving competition a second (and third, and fourth) thought

Fast forward to November 2025. I’m about eleven months into my Achilles recovery. I’m getting more strength back in my right calf complex. I had been bringing back my bars skills, improving my back hip circle (which I had all but lost from lack of practice). One Sunday morning, I took a turn and put a few skills together. A glide, a pullover, a back hip circle, and forward roll dismount. One of my gym buddies yelled, and THAT’s your Silver Xcel routine!!

That moment gave me pause. Was it actually possible for me to enter a competition?

I went home and went about my life. But my brain kept buzzing: What would I need to do in order to compete? It wouldn’t make sense to go and just do a bars routine. That would be a waste of time. No. If I’m going to enter, I’m going to perform on all four events.

That would mean a few things:

• I’d have to work to make my bars routine consistent.
• I’d need to get back on the vault and work past the fear to get a handspring. Again.
• I’d need to create a floor routine. I knew nothing about that.
• I’d need to create a beam routine. I knew even less about that.

I had a lot to think about.

Time to prepare

Before I even considered looking for a meet, I needed to know exactly what would be required. Would I even have the skills to perform at the Silver Xcel level?

I consulted with Tammy and Lisette who led me to the NAIGC regulations for Women’s Adult Gymnastics (WAG). We actually have a binder with the rules in the gym, but since we are not a competitive facility, that book sat on the shelf most of the time. Last year, Tammy, Lisette and Leanne did a competition and I saw them flipping through the pages. Never did I think I’d be poring over them myself.

On floor

I also found the WAG Code of Points online. For Silver Xcel, I’d need to complete elements from these skill sets on floor:

• Acro Pass 1: Minimum of two directly connected acrobatic skills, at least one must have flight (e.g., round-off –back handspring).
• Acro Pass 2: A second connection with at least two directly connected acrobatics (flight not required) OR one isolated flight skill (e.g., front handspring).
• Dance Passage: A minimum of two different dance elements, one of which must be a leap reaching a 90° cross or side split.
• Turn: Minimum of a full (360°) turn on one foot. 

I’ve been a dancer/dance teacher for over 40 years. The dance part was not a problem. If anything, I could probably score some extra artistic points there. The only roadblock was Acro Pass 1. I did not have a round-off-back handspring and I likely never will on floor.

There’s always exceptions

There is a very strong adult gymnastics community out there with a wealth of knowledge. I learned that for WAG, there are some exceptions for the Silver level. One is a round-off-rebound-back roll. No go. I’m not a great back roller. Makes me nauseous and I’m afraid of hurting my neck.

Fortunately, an angel named Carrie saw one of my posts and reached out to me. She sits on the NAIGC Women’s rules committee and advised me that there was another recently approved addition to the exceptions: a round-off-rebound half-roundoff. BOOM! That was my way in. I could make that happen.

First, music

Almost instantly, I knew what music I’d use. One of my favorite pieces that I use in my dance classes is called “African Blues” by former NY Yankee center fielder-turned-jazz guitarist Bernie Williams. It is the perfect tempo, it’s instrumental, and there’s a great jazz vibe. I created a cut that fit perfectly, put a beep sound at the beginning, and got to work.

Then, choreography

For the floor routine, I fell back on my experience as a choreographer. I opened a Google Doc and started listing the skills I could do that were in the NAIGC requirements.

I visualized how I could connect them with dance that felt good to me. Once I had each music phrase filled, it was time to bring it to life on the floor. In the next few practices, I worked on getting it to flow from the page to my body. In about a month, I felt confident enough to start looking for competitions to register for.

Signing up for competition

Once the floor routine was set, I could start to look at the competition calendar. I figured I’d need some significant time to really feel prepared.

Tammy, Lisette and I decided to sign up together. We’d have another Geriatric Gymnastics adventure together, this time in Cambridge Massachusetts.

After a few more weeks passed, I realized I might actually be ready sooner than May. So, I went back to the NAIGC website and found the Red Hawk Classic, a meet much closer to home. 25 minutes from home, actually.

What sealed the deal for me was that the meet host was Montclair State University, my alma mater. It felt serendipitous and I reached out to Tammy and Lisette to see if they’d be interested. They were. We all signed up for the February 22 competition.

Getting serious about our fun

Things suddenly got very real. Now that my bars and floor routines were set, I’d have to focus on shaking off the nerves for balance beam and vault. Since the Achilles injury, I’ve been reticent to work on either. But in a year, I had proven over and over that the repair was strong enough to withstand landing impacts. It was time to get past the fear and be a boss. In early January, I got back to it.

On vault

While there were other, simpler options, I really wanted to compete the front handspring. I’m more than capable, as I was pretty good at them before my injuries. Post-injury, I needed to convince myself get back to training it. After a few tries with a spot, I got back into the groove. When you start on the runway, there’s a decision in the moment of takeoff to commit, punch and push. Eventually, your feet will meet the mat.

After the first landing, I needed repetition to convince Mr. Lizard Brain to go to sleep. I was in control now and I needed to act like the boss.

On balance beam

Once the vault was unlocked, it was time to make a beam routine. The hardest requirement is the acro skill, like a cartwheel or handstand. Both of those options were a no-go for my brain.

The only other options were a back roll (another no-go) and a front roll. The whole idea was insane. Performing a front roll on a 4″ wood beam and landing it didn’t seem possible. But after a few tries on a floor beam, then with a spot and a mat, my brain let go enough to try some more.

From that point forward, practice was about getting my exposure therapy in, tightening up the combination, and raising the beam to regulation height. Every time I raised the beam even a few centimeters, I felt like I was going back to square one.

Knowing how to fall

The thing I needed to remember was that part of the learning process is knowing how to fall. I tell this to the people I coach all the time, but it hits differently when it’s YOU you are trying to convince. In addition, there’s still an underlying fear of landing weird and breaking myself again. But I think I have had enough experience since I’ve healed in being really mindful of my environment and how I move through it in the moment. I know what the surfaces feel like. I know how to fall and land safely. I am trusting of my judgment and ability to make wise choices.

So even though balance beam is my least favorite event, I can get through it. I don’t have super high expectations, and that will help me stay focused and get the job done.

On bars

Since it was my bars attempt that got me to consider competing, I wanted to make sure I could perform the routine consistently. I changed the dismount from a front roll to an underswing, which is basically an abandoned back hip circle halfway around. I discovered it when I screwed up a back hip circle attempt and threw the bar away, landing on my feet. Tammy yelled that’s a great underswing dismount!! I was surprised, since I really didn’t know what she meant or how it happened. But if I did it once, I could figure out how to do it again.

In the ensuing months, I actually got pretty good at it. This is my practice a week before the competition:

You might have noticed the Code of Points binder (our Bible) in the right lower corner of the video. That resource is no longer on the shelf.

On floor

Once I was able to commit the floor combination to memory, it started to flow. There’s nothing better than to be able to connect to the music and perform your routine.

Here’s my practice a week before the meet:

I think, of all the events, the floor is where I’ll shine brightest.

Good advice

To be honest, just performing in the all-around (all four events) is accomplishment enough for me. That said, I still wanted to go into the meet as prepared (mentally and physically) as I could. I reached out to the greater adult gymnastics hive mind for any advice they could offer. These were some of the gems:

• Enjoy being there instead of focusing on results.
• Don’t worry about the judges. The first meet is a baseline, something to work off of.
• Judges are going to judge, don’t focus on that, focus on putting on a show!
• Don’t get sick or rip your skin before the meet, which means toning things down slightly in advance so you’ll be at peak energy and form. Be well rested, manage your stress creatively and get a good night’s sleep!
• Things to bring: snacks and a sports drink, gym tape, extra hair clips.
• Laugh, wink at the judges, and HAVE FUN!

And having fun while tackling a new milestone is exactly what I intend to do. Stay tuned for the post-meet debrief!