Yesterday I had the pleasure of having lunch with some of the senior athletes I coached over the past few months. (It kind of turned into drinks and coffee after, long day haha.)

Me being me, we ended up talking about everything. Gymnastics came up quite a lot (damn obsession), and I was happy I got to know them a bit more outside the gym walls.

I managed to hear more of their worries. A bit more of that deep itch and desire they all have. The things that crawl under the skin but rarely come out because life gets “busy.”

They’ve been without proper guidance for a while. The lack of coaches worldwide makes this more common than people think. I’ve seen it in Germany too, one of my senior athletes there is captain of her Bundesliga team and had to step into a coaching role herself (doing a damn good job, I might say).

So, as always, I’ve been trying to teach these boys self-sufficiency. Giving them tools so they can progress faster and more efficiently on their own.

But one of them said something that hit home:

“But it is nice to have a coach that guides us.”

And he’s right.

It is nice to have someone pull you back on track when you drift to the sidelines. Someone who pushes you a little harder on the days you need to reach your limit. Or simply someone there on the low-energy days.

I hope they start putting that extra effort into becoming a better team to reach their potential. In a sport like gymnastics, people often treat it as purely individual, but having a teammate on the sidelines makes wonders for your motivation to push further.

So I’ll leave you with this:

Do you have a crew?
Someone to steady you when you drift, to push you when you stall?

Because chasing something that crawls under your skin is easier when you’re not doing it alone.