DYK? Gymnastics Can Help Kids Succeed in School!

With the start of a new school year fast approaching, parents everywhere are thinking about how to help their kids succeed. You may be checking out the latest research on power breakfasts, elementary-school style, or whether tutoring will enhance your child’s math skills. But did you know that regular gymnastics activity, in addition to being good for children physically, is a great way to give them a boost in school, too?

Physical Activity Relates to Academic Success

Numerous studies have shown that physical activity is good for kids in all kinds of ways. Not only does it help growth and development, it helps prevent health problems later in life as well. This page from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, summarizes some of this information.

Why Gymnastics?

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of physical activity, you may be wondering why gymnastics in particular, is helpful. If you’ve ever watched a gymnast in competition, you’re aware that these athletes develop strength through their workouts. It can also be inferred that they know how to eat healthy meals that provide energy without loading up on extra calories. However, gymnastics also gives kids a host of social, psychological, and cognitive benefits. This article from the US Elite Coaches Association, for women’s gymnastics, outlines just some of them.

Social Growth

Whether your child ever competes or simply enjoys a regular gymnastics class for fun, she will be gaining social skills. From the earliest levels, classes help kids learn to wait their turn and support their fellow students. They learn to cope with the frustration of struggling to learn a new skill and, if they move into competition, how to accept defeat. Kids make new friends that may not go to their school, thus widening their social horizons.

Psychological Benefits

While social skills are good to have, and will be useful throughout life, it’s the psychological growth that occurs through participation in gymnastics that has the greatest effect on academic performance. Children who participate in gymnastics programs gain in self-esteem, a trait essential to academic success. Gymnastics activities provide lots of opportunities for trying new things, while well-taught classes maximize that chances that those efforts lead to success. When your child feels good about her abilities at gymnastics class, she’ll likely transfer those feelings to school as well.

What Your Child Can Get Out of Competitive Teams

When your child wants to join a sports team you’ll have lots of questions. How much time is required? Will we still be able to have family time? What about homework? What about school altogether? For many teams, such as soccer or softball, the time commitments are not so large as to significantly affect your family’s lifestyle. For gymnastics, the commitment is much larger, but before you say no, think about the benefits for your child of participating with competitive gymnastics teams.

Basic Benefits

Just as with recreational gymnastics classes, children’s overall fitness continues to improve when committing to a team. Strength, flexibility, and endurance all increase as your child spends more time working on gymnastics skills and routines. At the same time, as her abilities move to new levels she’ll also become more confident not only in the gym but in all areas of her life. Most children who are involved in a competitive sport that they love also do well in school, despite the time required for workouts and competitions.

Growth of Mental and Emotional Skills

Joining a competitive gymnastics team also boosts a child's mental and emotional growth. Goal setting becomes more important, giving her a solid foundation for this life skill. Learning how to cope with the boredom of repetition, as a child practices the same routine over and over again, contributes to a mental toughness that lets her see beyond the moment to the ultimate goal. And as hard as it may be to accept, turning in a less-than-stellar performance at a competition teaches resilience so your child can get up and try again.

Social Rewards

Although you may be concerned that the commitment required by competitive teams may take away from your child’s social life, many former gymnasts agree that the friendships formed with team members are among the most solid and long-lasting of their relationships throughout their lives. Your child will learn to cheer on her teammates and rejoice for the one who achieves the highest score. Children on competitive teams also learn about commitment; they don’t want to let their coach and teammates down, so they go to practice even when they don’t want to.


Overall, whether your child competes with a series of teams as she grows older or finds that a couple of years of competition is all she wants, she’ll achieve a sense of accomplishment she can find nowhere else.

Why Gymnastics is Perfect for Boys and Girls!

When the United States women’s gymnastics team won nine medals this past summer at the Rio Olympic Games, little girls by the thousands signed up for gymnastics classes this fall. With the spotlight shining so brightly on the women’s side of the sport, it’s easy to forget that the U.S. also fielded a men’s team and that a male U.S. gymnast, Alex Naddour, won a bronze medal with his pommel horse routine. It may be hard to get boys interested in this sport that seems to focus so much on the girls, but there are compelling reasons for boys to get involved.

Benefits of Boys Gymnastics

The greatest benefits of participation in gymnastics programs apply equally to boys and girls. Boys gymnastics classes teach social skills, improve strength and coordination, and build confidence, just as classes for girls do. The trick to selling boys on a program is in making the focus reflect what boys want. For boys, gymnastics classes should focus on gaining strength and improving coordination. Studies have shown that gymnastics is a great foundation for other sports as well as a great cross-training sport for kids who are already involved in another sport such as hockey or soccer.

As a parent, you may appreciate that gymnastics offers boys an opportunity to demonstrate their strength and coordination without hitting anybody. Boys and girls learn both self-control and body awareness as part of a gymnastics program, skills that transfer to other sports and enhance an athlete’s performance.

Mental Discipline

By participating in gymnastics classes, children learn the mental discipline necessary to practice the same skills and routines over and over until they can practically do them in their sleep. These skills are so essential to success not only in sports but also in school, where practicing math and spelling skills is tedious but absolutely important. Laying the foundation for mental discipline at an early age will make it possible for your child to employ it throughout his life.

Overall, girls and boys gymnastics programs are great places for your children to learn a multitude of skills that will benefit them in sports now, transfer to academic growth through college, and foster career success as an adult.