![]() ![]() Melisa: Positive self talk and blocking out the static, concentrate. What are your best tips for overcoming nerves during competition? GymnasticsHQ: Our readers often tell us they do well in practice but then struggle in competition because of nerves. I am also drawing from my experience as a coach for how she finally learns the skill. I am drawing from personal experience to describe her frustration. I am currently working on book 7 and in this story Trista is struggling mentally with a flyaway. As I got older I learned the forward skills (front tumbling, front landings, etc) were easier for me mentally so I worked more of those skills. I had to put in a lot of numbers to feel comfortable with almost any skill. I was a two-steps forward, one-step back kind of kid. For me, backing down the progression when my brain was being difficult worked really well. Melisa: I was a cautious gymnast and I had many mental blocks. Have you ever overcome a mental block and if so, how did you do it? And did this experience influence any experiences of the characters in your books? GymnasticsHQ: A common struggle our readers have are mental blocks. Melisa in eighth grade competing Level 6. So I gave up my social status at school for more hours in the gym and whole heartily embraced my gym friends. Gymnastics had my heart, it always had, and always would. Which one did I want to do? I had no bigger picture that I could do either sport in college, I was just picking which one made me more happy. We saw how the hours were going to increase for both Level 7 and high school cheer, I could no longer do both. My mother sat me down and told me I needed to choose. ![]() I was very successful as a cheerleader and the high school cheer team made it clear they wanted me on the team. As an eighth grader I was competing Level 6 and doing cheer for my junior high. Melisa: Yes, I hit a crossroads before I entered high school. GymnasticsHQ: Was there ever a time when you almost quit gymnastics and why? I just loved the sport and wanted to do it for as long as I possibly could, and for me, I assumed that was until I graduated high school. I saw kids in my gym half my age and twice as good and even they weren’t good enough for “the ranch.” There were elites from my gym getting scholarships to UCLA and Oregon State, and they were so good, I assumed I wasn’t good enough for college either. Melisa: Getting a late start and being a pragmatic child, I knew I was not good enough for the Olympics. GymnasticsHQ: What were your dreams and goals as far as gymnastics when you were a child? Did you want to go to the Olympics, college, etc.? I was on the Utah State University team for all four years of college and said a very sad good-bye to the sport at the age of 22. I had Level 10 caliber floor, so I was fortunate enough to make a college team as a specialist. I moved up a level almost every year (repeating only Level 8) becoming a Level 9 as a senior in high school. From then on, gymnastics was my world and I LOVED it. I went only once a week until a coach noticed my potential and put me on pre-team at the advanced age of 11. Melisa: I started at the age of 8, but at that time my focus was on soccer and softball. GymnasticsHQ: Tell us about your gymnastics journey (how you started, how far you went, etc.) Without further ado, read our interview with Melisa Torres below. Her struggles are relatable for many gymnasts and her story can give hope to those who dream of competing at a higher level one day. Melisa was a competitive Level 9 gymnast and she also went on to compete at the collegiate level as a floor specialist. In our interview with Melisa, n ot only did she give us great information about each of her books, she also gave us some amazing tips that we wanted to share with our GymnasticsHQ community. However, these Perfect Balance Gymnastics books are a clear exception and prove that Melisa does indeed know what she’s writing about, having personally experienced a lot of the topics she discusses in her books. Often the gymnastics books available to children are not written from the perspective of someone whose been through the trenches herself and can miss the mark ever so slightly. In doing our research we found out that Melisa Torres, the author of the series, was a gymnast herself which made us even more interested in learning more about her and her books! Recently we came across the Perfect Balance Gymnastics Series while searching for quality gymnastics books to recommend to our readers. ![]()
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