Artistic gymnastics and early specialization: too young to specialize, too old to be a champion!

Abstract

In Artistic Gymnastics we usually observe very young gymnasts committed to training and competition, and getting outstanding results in the international context. Therefore, this discipline has BEEn frequently targeted for the doubtfulness of its practices and the actual need to start systematic training at earlier ages. However, in Brazil, we could not find any data regarding initiation and specialization in Artistic Gymnastics so far. The purpose of this study was to investigate and to analyse the point of view of coaches regarding the ideal age to initiate and specialize in Artistic Gymnastics and their concerns. We interviewed 46 Brazilian coaches, who are coaching developing young competitive gymnasts at all levels of skills. The content analysis technique proposed by BARDIN (2001) was used for data treatment. The results showed that both boys and girls start to practice at early age. The women and men gymnasts' coaches revealed that the early specialization occurs due to the inherent nature of the Artistic Gymnastics, the age of participation in the official competition, and the required time to develop a gymnast until his/her readiness to compete. Particularly, regarding the male gymnasts, some of them need to start working, and coaches feel pressured to pursuit results before the period when dropout begins.