Sport-Specific Contexts
In gymnastics, you are more aware of your body than almost any athlete in any sport.
The position of every joint. The line from the fingertips to the pointed toes. The relationship between your center of gravity and the apparatus. The body is the instrument of your performance in an unusually direct way — there is no stick, no ball, no implement between you and the execution. The performance is entirely embodied.
That awareness is one of gymnastics’ gifts. It is also one of its vulnerabilities.
Read this passage slowly.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Fearfully and wonderfully made. The body the gymnast competes in is that. Not the body as it appears in a judging context. Not the body compared to a teammate’s body or an idealized physical standard. The body as a created thing — specific, capable, wonderful in what it can do when it is trained and cared for and trusted.
Gymnastics’ culture has historically produced significant body image pressure, and the research on disordered relationships with food and body perception in gymnasts is serious. The same heightened body awareness that makes gymnasts technically precise can, in the wrong cultural environment, turn toward the kind of scrutiny that produces harm rather than performance.
The right relationship with the gymnast’s body is a functional one: what can this body do? How does it respond to training? What does it need to recover and be available for the next practice? The question is not what does it look like. The body that functions excellently in gymnastics — that is strong and flexible and responsive and resilient — is a body that deserves to be treated with care because of what it can do, not managed or constrained because of how it appears.
Fearfully and wonderfully made. That is the ground truth about the body you compete in. Build your relationship with it on that foundation.
The right relationship with the gymnast’s body is functional: what can it do, what does it need, how does it respond? Not what does it look like. Care for it accordingly.
How do you talk to yourself about your body? Is the primary relationship with your body about what it can do or what it looks like?
This question requires significant safety and care. If any disclosure about disordered eating or eating-related behavior arises, follow up with appropriate professional resources. Know your program’s resources before delivering this devotional.
Fearfully and wonderfully made. Build your relationship with your body on that foundation.
This devotional touches on body image in gymnastics, which carries significant risk of disordered eating and body dysmorphia in this sport. Know your program’s mental health and sports medicine resources before delivering it and have them available.
The National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline (1-866-662-1235) and a sports psychologist familiar with athlete body image are the appropriate professional resources if concerns surface in this conversation.