Personal Narrative: My Experience With A Gymnast

Challenges:

One challenge that I had to face in the last few weeks was a gymnast ran full speed into a balance beam and hit the front of his head. Understandably, he was in tears and complained of a headache. There were no instructors immediately around so I had to handle the situation on my own. After a few minutes, I was able to calm him down and ask him a few questions. He answered all my questions in a timely manner, and didn’t show signs of a concussion. We got a drink of water and I brought him over to his mom and explained the situation. After five-minutes of taking a break, he was ready to get back on the mat and we resumed the activities. Another challenge I faced this week was a gymnast with severe autism. He did not want to partake …show more content…
One of the main instructors told everyone to get out and find a new station. My kid though had severe cognitive impairment and was very content with playing in the foam pit. I listened to the instructor and convinced him to move, but he was pretty upset about the situation and wasn’t interested in going to another station. It seems like it would have been easier just to let him continue doing what he was enjoying. If a situation like this arises again, I might ask the instructor if it would be possible to stay at the …show more content…
I have never had to do first aid on someone with a mental disability, but since doing this internship at Tiger’s gymnastics, I knew how to approach the situation differently than I normally would. I knew I had to be overly sympathetic and make sure his emotional needs were met just as much as his physical needs. I had to ask different questions than I normally would for someone with a head injury because he might not have understood what I was asking. All in all, the situation was properly handled and within 15 minutes we were back on the mat having a good