Nutrition for the Athlete

As a child, you basically eat whatever is put on your plate, but as an athlete, you realize at some point you need to take control of your own nutrition to achieve optimal performance. We were lucky enough at Black Diamond to have Shannon Doleac come to our gym. She was a University of Utah gymnast in college, but is now a nutritionist. As children, most of us learn to eat lots of fruits and veggies, but there is way more to eating healthy.

Eating healthy can improve performance, energy level, recovery from injuries and health. Shannon’s rules to building a healthy plate are:

1. Protein- serving of protein one to two times the size of your palm in thickness and circumference
2. Fill half of your plate with vegetables
3. Add about 1/2 a cup of starchier or mild vegetables (sweet potato, yams, potato, white rice, etc) and/or fruit
4. Add natural fat- for oils and butters, a thumb size or two and for avocado, nuts, olives cheese, etc, a small handful

Image courtesy of Fit Day

Now here comes the geeky, science-y part of food. In building your plate, you must have protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Proteins are important for building, maintaing and repairing tissues and immune health. Carbohydrates are important for fueling muscles for energy. Fat is important as a slow-burning energy source, cell structure and absorption of some vitamins and minerals. We also have to make sure the food has MACROnutrients (vitamins and minerals).

During Shannon’s visit, the first activity we did was differentiate the real, whole foods from the processed foods using pictures. Then we compared the two. What seemed to occur during every comparison was the color of the food. The real foods were much more colorful than the processed foods. THEY LOOKED DELICIOUS, and you know what they say, “eat the rainbow!”

Image courtesy of Life Tastes Good

The four main points Shannon made during her visit were:

• choose a variety of real, whole foods
• choose the naturally colorful foods (eat the rainbow)
• focus on the creating a healthy plate with the right amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat
• hydrate

So if you are an athlete, nutrition is crucial in attaining optimal performance. For good ideas, Shannon has tips and recipes on her website.

It's a Gymnast Thing #2

Handstands. Handstands at the beach, handstands on a hike, and even handstands at a gas station. The signature mark of a gymnast. If you are a gymnast, you can’t help yourself. Everywhere you go have the urge to do a handstand, a flip, or something gymnastics related. And, of course, you must take a picture. If you were to look through my phone, about three-fourths of my pictures are handstands or flips. Which means you will now get to enjoy the journeys of my handstands.

This picture is the most recent and one of my favorite handstand pictures. It was in Hawaii during Thanksgiving break, and my mom and I went to a beach near our hotel to watch my uncle surf. In between waves, we spelled out the words ‘believe’ with pieces of lava rock we found on the beach.

These pictures were from this summer in Lake Erie. On this vacation, I did a lot of gymnastics on the beach, and of course took many pictures. I could not choose between these three pictures, so I decided to use them all. So, I have my backflip, side-ariel, and bridge on a paddle board.

This picture is from Running With Ed in the Spring. A few girls from my team formed ‘Flipping For Ed’. In between each leg of the race, there are rest stops, and at each one we took a handstand picture. This one is my favorite and is at the Utah Olympic Park.

In the winter, we went to California for a competition, and after the first night of seeing a gorgeous sunset over the ocean, I was dying to get a silhouette handstand picture in front of the sunset. So, the next night, two of my teammates and I took a bunch handstands and leap pictures. Jamie is on the left, I am in the middle, and Gen is on the right.

Also this winter, we went to Arizona for a competition. At our hotel, there was a huge fountain. My mom knows how much I love my handstand pictures, so she suggested to take some in front of the fountain. One night, we went after dinner and took some good pictures (the splits on the edge of the fountain), and the next day after my competition, we went and took some more in my competition leo (the bridge). 

This picture is from three years ago when my team went to Idaho for a competition. This is still a favorite picture of mine. These two teammates and I love photography, and during this trip we took many creative handstand pictures. We had just finished competing and were on our way to dinner, but took about an hour getting back to the car in what should have taken about ten minutes. We took some detours because we kept thinking of more pictures to take, and when our parents finally thought we were out of ideas and were about one minute away from the car, I came up with a great one. So I gave my mom the instructions on exactly how to take the picture, and we three girls ran into the parking garage. I took the first level, Sam R. the next, and Sam B. the third. We each made sure we were in front of the window, but next to the stairs so they were not in our way. We counted to three and did a handstand, hoping our parents got the picture from outside the parking garage. 

All of these pictures are just a few from my many handstands, and there is no doubt I will have many more handstand pictures in the future. 

It's a Gymnast Thing #1

Most girls get excited over new clothes or shoes and wait for compliments on how cute they look, but guess what gymnasts get excited over…thats right, new leotards! When you get a new leo, you walk into the gym with the same feeling you have when walking into school with a new shirt. You say hi to all of your teammates, and just wait for them to notice. And of course, they notice right away. I mean, you only have so many leos, and your team is with you five days a week year round, so they are bound to notice. The very first thing they say to you is “Is that a new leo?!”, and you reply, “Yes!”, and they reply, “Oh I love it!”. So even though we get excited over new leos for practice, there is one leo that makes us stop in our tracks. It makes you nervous and excited at the same time. This leo, is the competition leo.

A new competition leo is something you get only every two or three years, so it is a pretty big deal. Just yesterday, we received our new competition leo. It was the end of gym, and we were stretching when Joy, who works at the front desk, walked into the gym holding a bag with a hanger. Even though the contents of the bag were hidden, we recognized the shape of it. Immediately, we jumped up. After waiting for about three months, it had finally arrived. 

New Competition Leo

Our coach reluctantly let us have a look; knowing she wouldn’t be able to control our excitement. We all gushed over the leo, and went to try it on. “Oh, it looks so good!” The eight of us crowded into the bathroom to admire the design in the mirror. Some of the new recreational coaches walked by giving us odd looks; they had never experienced the arrival of the competition leo before. After taking in every detail, we ran into the gym and did handstands and back-handsprings to test the quality of the material. Finally, when we were satisfied, we took them home in wait for our first competition.

A Week Full of Pranks

On Friday of this week, it was our coach Bryce’s birthday. Bryce has only been coaching at the gym for a few months, but the team already has plenty of inside jokes and humorous moments with Bryce. He is twenty-four years old, is in the National Guard, and is super buff. For his birthday present, we decided to fill his locker with a bunch of objects. If you saw his locker, you would think we just threw a bunch of random objects in there, but every single one of them had meaning. The biggest object was a homemade diagram that had trees with bow ties on them, a plastic smurf and a plastic tiger. It also had some grass and rocks to make it look like a jungle. So, what in the world do trees with bow ties, a smurf, and a plastic tiger have to do with gymnastics? Well, I guess it really doesn’t, but let me explain a little. This whole scene was based off of a phrase Bryce said about one of my teammates. “She is like a wild tiger in a civilized jungle.” Well, that is not weird at all. The trees with bow ties represent the “civilized jungle” and the tiger represents my teammate. Now the smurf. Whenever my teammates or I say something comical or bizarre, he doesn’t smile, he smirks. So for the smirk we put a smurf in the scene. I am not sure how we came up with a smurf for a smirk, but it works. We also put in a candle, hair gel, a stopwatch and some other objects. I will spare you the time of explaining all of these.

We did this prank on Monday, since this was the best day for everyone to be able to participate. This was going to be our only prank, but then some of the other coaches spread a rumor that we were going to pull a prank on him everyday this week. Of course we had to take the opportunity.

Day two was not as good of a prank because we did not have time to prepare, so we just wrapped his locker with pre-wrap (something gymnasts use under athletic tape for injuries, or for headbands). Day three was a glitter attack. This story comes from the day our team did the ice bucket challenge. All of us wanted to get Bryce wet, but we never did. But after practice was over, on the way out, one of my teammates, Patrisha, snuck up on Bryce and covered him with glitter. So this prank was a re-creation of that moment. Our head coach Katy asked him to get something out of her car, so we hid outside by the door and as soon as he walked out, we threw glitter all over him. For the rest of the day, we kept finding paths of glitter throughout the gym, and Bryce had glitter all over him. The next day he came in he still had glitter behind his ears literally.

Prank number four was the best prank. When gym was over, Katy took Bryce to Maxwells with some other coaches for a birthday dinner. While they were gone, we decorated Bryce’s car with car paint. On the windows we wrote things like “just married” and “baby on board” and “off to Paris”. Remember, Bryce is twenty-four, in the National Guard, and super buff, so to have this written on his car is hysterical. We had some issues with this prank. Bryce must have heard about it, so he hid his car from us. We spent thirty minutes running around trying to find his car.

Just one window of his car.

The last prank was on Friday, Bryce’s actual birthday. At the end of practice, we brought out a cake for Bryce. But he couldn’t cut the cake, so we jokingly made fun of him by saying “are you not strong enough Bryce?” Finally we told him that the cake was a block of ice with frosting on top. Then we brought out real cupcakes for everyone to enjoy.

This week of pranks was very successful, but now we need to make sure we live up to the same standards next year!

Miracle Day

When most people think of a “miracle day” they would think about their dreams coming true. Well, for my gymnastics team, we refer to miracle day as a fantastic gift from our coaches. We have these miracle days only once or twice a year, so for us, it’s kind of a big deal. Even though there is not some astounding phenomenon on miracle day, you could still say my dreams are coming true.

Today just so happened to be one of those sensational miracle days, and it was the most productive day I have had at gymnastics all week. First of all, it is a school break, so there were only four other girls who were at practice. We worked out with some of the younger girls in a lower level, and there were only five of them today. We had three coaches for ten girls, and because of the holiday weekend, other classes were canceled, so we were the only people in the whole gym. You could say this is a miracle, but I haven’t even gotten to the actual concept of “miracle day”.

Miracle day at Black Diamond is where you get to do whatever you want for the entire day. No assignments, no coaches telling you what to do, and no time limit (except the end of gym of course). I was able to focus on what I wanted to improve on, and there was nothing in my way.

Working on floor!

This miracle day was even better than most because like I said before, there were very few people there. Since we could do whatever we wanted, everyone was scattered throughout the gym, which meant more space for me! On vault and floor, I was the only one using the equipment and space I required, and on bars and beam I had more equipment than I needed. I had two whole bar sets and three beams available. I was truly able to focus on myself and my skills. The best part of miracle day was that I improved on some aspect of each event. I left with a great feeling of confidence and hope I can take this into future workouts.

My Idol

In the 2012 Olympics, the gymnastics team was Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordan Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross. Most people have heard of Gabby Douglas who came out of nowhere and won the gold in the All-Around, but the other four are not as popular. Aly Raisman qualified to the all-around finals and is known for her gold medal floor routine. (I had a different cut of her floor music the past two years) McKayla Maroney received second place on vault and is known by gymnasts as having a higher vault than men gymnasts, but known to the general public by her “unimpressed” face. Kyla Ross was not a stand out, but is still competing at the elite level today.

Even though I look up to all five of these gymnasts, my favorite has to be Jordyn Wieber. Jordyn Wieber was the gymnast everyone predicted would be the one to win the Olympics, but she did not even make it to the individual finals. This Olympics was a little different from the past as only the two girls with the highest all-around from each team could qualify for the finals. So even if you received third place all-around during the qualifications, if the girls who won first and second place were on the same team as you, you would not qualify. This is similar to what happened to Jordyn. She placed fourth all-around, but Gabby and Aly placed higher. Although she didn’t get to compete in the finals, the next day she still helped win the gold medal for the team. (For more information go here)

I admire Jordyn for this reason. After not making it to the finals, she came in the next day, changed her mind-set, did her best and cheered for her team. She did not mope and lose her confidence, but stepped it up even more to prove to everyone she deserved to be there. This is something that is so important in gymnastics. If you have a bad day, you come in the next day and work even harder. Even going from one event to another, or one turn to the next, you need to figure out a way to move on.

Jordyn Wieber - Image curtesy of Zap2it.com

After the Olympics, Jordyn wanted to go to college at UCLA and be on the college gymnastics team. Unfortunately, she had accepted a professional sponsorship to Adidas, causing her to be ineligible to compete for the team. Even though she can’t compete, she acts as the team manager, helping to move mats and motivating the team. Jordyn still goes in early to train by herself since rules prevent her from training with the team. 

I love how you can see how much Jordyn loves gymnastics and how passionate she is about it. She is such a great model to me because she showed me to hold my head high, no matter what my performance and my scores are. Disappointments sometimes happen, but it is up to me to work harder and make the best of each situation.

If you watch a UCLA gymnastics meet, you will see Jordyn on the floor cheering on her teammates. Since she is still training, I hope to see her in competitions in the future. 

My Team

According to Webster’s dictionary, the definition of teammate is “a fellow member of the team”. Since I spend more time each week with my team than I do with my family, this is not “deep” enough for my liking. I would consider my teammates to be more like sisters. Sometimes we drive each other insane, but we always have each others back.

At gymnastics, I train with levels six through ten, and we sometimes spend time with levels two through five, who are adorable. In level six through ten, there are nine of us total who are ages eleven through sixteen. We spend twenty-two and a half hours training together every week, but not even that is enough. We get together outside of the gym almost every weekend, and never get tired of each other. This weekend, Friday after practice we went to dinner and to see a movie, and Sunday we went to brunch.

Sunday Brunch

There is never a dull moment with my team. We all have our own unique personalities, and when you put us together, you never know what will happen. We can tell the same stories over and over again, and they never get old. Even the most boring thing you can possibly think of can be turned into a game or something enjoyable.

For me, traveling for competitions with my team is the most exciting thing. I absolutely love exploring a new place with my best friends by my side. I am stoked for this upcoming season, we are going to Colorado Springs, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona and Sacramento, California. At each of these competitions, we always have a team dinner, going somewhere interesting that seems to resemble the culture, or stereotypical culture, of each place. This year, two of the competitions have a gymnast after party, where everyone who has competed gets to hang out with their teammates and look like idiots together.

Besides all of the partying, there is the actual competition part of the meets, where the nerves are high and all of your hard work in the gym can pay off. I believe this is something that really brings the team closer together. We are competing with each other, as well as against each other. We have that passion to beat each other while still wanting our teammates to do their best. Even if I do not do too well, if my teammate rocks it, it brings my spirits up.

My teammates and I go through everything together, and have seen the best in each other as well as the worst. There are not enough words to describe the bond my teammates and I have, but if I had to come up with a new definition for “teammate”, it would be this: “an additional family member you can rely on to be your confidant, your cheerleader and your best friend”.

Does Gymnastics Define Me?

I am a gymnast, but is that all there is to me? Being a gymnast limits you from other activities such as other sports, instruments, and even hanging out with friends. I train five days a week, four and a half hours a day at Black Diamond Gymnastics. I have early release from school, missing one period every day, then go to straight to gymnastics until six. I get home, eat, do homework and go to sleep. This is my basic routine Monday through Friday. So, although I have a small amount of time to be social, does gymnastics really define me? This question went through my mind multiple times this summer. 

When most people think of me, they think of “Morgan, the gymnast”. It is the same with other people, “the football player” or “the singer”. But is our sport or activity all there is to us? Gymnastics is a huge part of my personality, but I have other characteristics that define me. This summer, when I was pondering this question, I really thought about what else there was to my personality. This was tough at first, as most of my life revolves around gymnastics. Many of my closest friends are teammates, I am at the gym twenty two and a half hours a week, and wherever I am I cannot help but do a handstand, some flips, maybe stretch a little, or just hang upside down. This concept is not something I thought about for a minute and concluded “well, I can throw a ball so I am okay”. No, I literally sat down at the computer and looked up lists of sports and activities to try in high school. I ended up doing some simple activities at home with my family for fun.

My family, where I live, my friends and even school have a place in my character. I have done gymnastics since I was four, and although it is not all that defines me, I believe it has been an immense part in shaping who I am today.

This is me (left) after my first gymnastics competition when I was six!