My daughter was in tumbling from age 7 - 18. She was a 2-time national champion at her tumbling level when she was 9 and 10. When she was 8 she would get so upset if she did not finish 1st, and throw a fit. I told her, "If you do not finish 1st, hereafter you will walk up to the winner, and congratulate the winner, or you are not doing this anymore." Next meet at the UNI-Dome she walked up to the winner and congratulated her. She loved the sport so much that it continued this way and she made many friends from other towns in Iowa.
At age 9 she was #1 on the podium every time. When she was 10, it was a bit less so but somehow she squeezed out as national champion over 67 other girls. At ages 8 and 9, other girls mostly congratulated her. As she got older we went back to the previous way where she was congratulating winners. Monday, she was up at 5:30 a.m. watching the gymnasts live b-4 she went to work as a physical therapist.
The above photo reminds me of one of my few good parenting moments. It appears other parents with daughters with much greater athletic ability sent the same memo when their competitive daughters were young.
