My FCGC Story - How i found confidence by Judy Liu (FCGC coach and gymnast)

​I first started coaching gymnastics in 2016 at a gym that wasn’t FCGC (I still coach there, as well as at FCGC, today). My friend was a coach at that gym and she encouraged me to apply for a coaching position there. But here’s the most interesting part: I had never done gymnastics before that in my life. I didn’t start doing gymnastics until shortly after I came to FCGC in 2017. I knew due to my lack of gymnastics experience that coaching would be a learning curveball but since I started coaching at that gym, and since coming to FCGC as well, my skills and knowledge have only continued to grow, along with my passion for this sport and what I do as a coach.
 
Since becoming a gymnastics coach, my view on the sport has changed completely. I used to think of it as a purely competitive sport, but now I realise that it can also be just for fun and fitness (and that competing can be fun too!). I also used to think that you had to start it as a child, and now I see gymnastics as a sport for all, which it truly is, and it’s never too late to start. In only two years of coaching I’ve been able to work with such a wide range of people in gymnastics, including school-aged children, preschoolers as young as a year old, and even adults with disabilities, and I truly value this experience for helping me to appreciate this sport so much more and opening my eyes to its wide variety of benefits. To tell you the truth, I used to not know how to even define gymnastics, but now I know that it’s simply about learning how to control your body. This can range from anything like walking across a beam to performing twists and somersaults, and it also means that gymnastics has something for everyone.
 
In the short amount of time I’ve been at FCGC, I’ve realized that there is nothing short of the truth in our saying that gymnastics helps with finding confidence and growing in character. Gymnastics teaches so much more than cool flips and tricks. It teaches you to give things a go even though they seem really scary. It teaches you to keep persevering with things even when you struggle, and to work hard to achieve what you want. It teaches you to trust yourself and be confident in your abilities and potential. In short, it teaches skills for life. Not only do I see these things happen in the gym, but I’ve experienced them myself. Being a gymnast and a coach has made me so much more sure of my character, and has shown me that I can make a difference and do great things. This increase in confidence and self-belief is something I didn’t even realise I needed until I got to the point where I could say all these things with conviction. And I think because I’ve experienced what it’s like to find confidence and grow in character through gymnastics, I’m now more equipped to help others do the same thing. At the end of the day, that’s what FCGC Gymnastics is all about, and it’s one of the things I love about being here.