Men's Gymnastics has Gotten a Tough Shake

One of the showcase Olympic sports is gymnastics. Both the men and the women draw in viewers with a combination of athletic prowess, artistic beauty, and dramatic twists. You never want to look away during a routine of a contender because any single trick can wow and a single slip or fall can sink a competitors shot at a medal. The women's side of the sport is the pinnacle of a large and widely participated in amateur world. Girls start participating in gymnastics at a young age and the sport stays popular through high school. Yet for some reason on the men's side gymnastics can't match this. It doesn't managed to hold a place in American culture outside Olympic years. There isn't a large pool of participants practicing the sport. The male athletes aren't celebrated. This is a shame.

In Washington, my home state, there are few, if any, high school men's gymnastics teams. For a young man to compete in the sport he would have to seek out a club team, private coaching, or something similar. Most school based coaching drops off after elementary school and young boys are channeled into team sports, wrestling, or track and field. This makes it hard for young athletes to participate in the sport. It also prevents young men from becoming fans of the sport. None of their friends or brothers are gymnasts and probably their only exposure is a sisters practice. The lack of school sponsored men's teams and the prominence of the girls gymnastics teams, has led to a common belief that gymnastics is a girls sport and feminine. Male gymnasts get grouped with male cheerleaders as wimpy or soft. That is a wrong belief.

Male gymnasts should be sports heroes. The men have some of the most chiseled physiques in the sports world. The guys are ripped from head to toe. They perform athletic feats that very few of us could even dream of doing. The best of them should be plastered over Sports Center, SI, and anywhere fans watch or read about sports. Even if you don’t like gymnastics or understand it you should recognize the top competitors as some of the best athletes in the world like you would a tennis champion or great golfer. Male gymnastics has gotten a tough shake.