Why Gymnasts?

This past summer marked the end of two of my younger sisters’ first gymnastics competition seasons, which resulted with a sixth on vault for my sister, Monica. Rachel won a first on floor, third on bars, a second on vault, and a fifth place on all around. My sister Rachel spends Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Saturday afternoons at Peak Athletics; she then adds an extra practice on Friday evenings. On top of all this, she even practices during her free time at home. Because of all the gymnastics she does, she eats like there is no tomorrow. Phoebe, my sister who doesn’t do a sport, sits in her room all day and took it upon herself to start teasing Rachel. My mom got so nervous about this because of her research into eating disorders that in fact she told us we are not allowed to tease one another, especially Rachel, about what we eat. To further our understandings of how her gymnastics and our teasing can cause Rachel, or any of us, to have an eating disorder, my sister Monica, Phoebe, my dad, and I, all read the book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes by Joan Ryan. This was the first book that I have ever read that made me cry. The book is broken down into various chapters in which each discusses how the topic affects gymnasts and ice skaters. The main chapter that got to me was about these little girls from 11-17 years old, the same range as my sisters. They were manipulating their bodies and the food they ate so they would stay as these tiny little girls, with no boobs, and no menstrual cycle. The part that scared me in this chapter was that these girls were forced to manipulate their bodies through malnutrition by their coaches.