Balancing act

Few people would choose to walk on a bar not even four inches wide with nothing on either side.

Flipping, jumping and running on one? That’s another story entirely.

But it’s the world of the balance beam and that’s exactly what gymnasts do every day.

“Beam is harder than it looks,” junior gymnast Alex Martin said.

Who said it looked easy?

Balance beam is not for the faint of heart. It can be scary, even for the gymnasts who do it time and again.

“There are two sides to the beam, the mental and the technical,” USU assistant gymnastics coach Ernestine Russell said. “I think the mental is harder to achieve. You have to have someone who knows who they are, believes in themselves and has the confidence to do the balance beam.”

That’s the first step to doing the balance beam.

However, it’s only the beginning. Once you have faith in yourself, it’s time to start practicing … on the floor.

“It’s all rehearsal,” junior Meagan Lewis said. “I mean, you have to do hundreds.”

Both Martin and Lewis said repetition is key. Before even taking a routine to the beam Martin said you have to practice it on a straight line on the floor.

Once you can get the tricks down on the floor, it’s time to move to the beam, sort of.

Martin said when she was younger and first moved to the beam, there were two “panels” on each side, so if her hand missed a beam, she’d still be OK.

The key to staying on the beam is simply practice, always practicing.

“Practice it like you’re going to compete,” she said. “You do the trick the exact same way at the exact same time. You don’t change your arms you don’t change your legs. Changes on beam can be detrimental.”

From the same warm up every time to saying the same thing in their heads before each trick, Lewis said the beam is all about practicing it exactly like you’re going to do it in competition.

The first part of a beam routine is the mount.

Lewis said depending on the athlete, some are more difficult than others. She said she usually mounts the beam with a trick.

The routine usually consists of several tricks with the spaces in between with choreography and dance. Staying on the beam is the most difficult part. Lewis said it is important to stay focused on your landing position. She said sometimes people get nervous and jump out of landings too quickly – which would send them right off the beam.

After that she said you have to try to keep your ribs square over the beam to stay balanced. And hopefully, she said, you do everything perfect so you don’t fall off.

Then comes the dismount.

Martin said when she is getting ready to dismount she hopes she doesn’t miss her feet on the run.

“The run is crucial,” she said. “[Then] you have to punch straight up and out.”

The punch is when you plant your feet right before you flip off the beam, Martin said.

After that, it’s only a matter of landing straight with your feet together and doing everything perfect for the judges.

We won’t even try to go there yet.

-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu