What does coordination have to do with gymnastics?

Answer 1

Coordination is an important aspect in gymnastics because not only is it a trait that aids in performance of many gymnastics skills, it is also one of the benefits of participation in the sport at any level. Obviously, the more you train the more beneficial your experience will be. Gymnastics enhances body awareness in two important ways. First, kinesthetic awareness helps the athlete to know what position their body is in in relation to itself. Second, spatial awareness is the ability to locate one's body in the environment or space, depending on the apparatus or skills in question. Spatial awareness is the biggest advantage gymnasts have over other types of athletes though. The ability to know which position your body is in and how it is situated in relation to the equipment or other players is a great advantage because it enables the athlete to out-perform non-gymnastics athletes in all sports. For instance, a soccer goalie that can move their body in any direction while twisting or even flipping in order to get to the ball is going to be a valuable asset to any team. The same holds true for other sports. One distinct side effect is that coordination is greatly enhanced as well because of the combination of physical attributes gymnasts share their overall coordination is usually far above other athletes, generally speaking.