Podcast: https://anchor.fm/zachery-evanssomethingspiritualsports/episodes/Bonnie-Rutherford–Facing-Failures-and-Fear-A-Gymnast-Story-ebi0fi/a-a1okfr7
A Gymnast at heart facing failures
Have you ever felt so afraid when you’ve failed in the past that you didn’t want to try again? That’s what happens when you’re a gymnast. Bonnie Rutherford talks about how there is a lot of facing failures and fear in gymnastics and also in life. As a matter of fact, the whole world is facing fear right now with the Corona Virus. How do we overcome? God is the only answer.
Bonnie started gymnastics at a young age around 9 almost 10 years old. “My best friend was doing gymnastics; I pretty much begged my mom to put me in gymnastics and she did. I excelled quickly and loved it so much”.
Favorite event facing failures
Bonnie’s favorite event is floor. Mainly for her love of dancing. However, she scored best on the balance beam. She loves watching the bars because they’re fun to watch. Her favorite gymnast is Kerri Strug who was an Olympic gymnast in the 70’s. She was very determined and tough that when she broke her one ankle, she landed on the other leg on the vault.
Bonnie competed in gymnastics from level 2 all the way to level 8, “I was training for 9 when I decided to stop.” Her favorite memory was when they competed at ESPN’s Wide World of sports. “It was my highest level of competition level 8 and I got first place! I just hit all my routines it was a great day.”
Sports but not the sport
Bonnie played other sports like soccer and T-ball but she wasn’t near as good as she was with gymnastics. Bonnie said, “It was my sport. I did it until I was about 17, I ended up fracturing my ankle and just kind of quitting after that. It was really stressful on me mentally and physically and I kind of just wanted to enjoy my last year of high school.”
From there Bonnie would help out with summer camps. After that she began to teach gymnastics in college. Soon Bonnie was teaching competitive girls’ teams, “I just fell in love with doing that and just working towards that goal of getting them ready for competition.”
College? No thanks… facing failures
While Bonnie never had the Olympics in mind, she did think about doing college gymnastics. She went onto say, “We were going to start recording me for scouts, but then I kept injuring myself and I just decided to stop because it got too stressful at that point.”
Bonnie believes that gymnastics teaches you important lessons in life, “God is teaching me and continues to teach me so many things through the sport. One of the biggest things is overcoming fear. It’s a risky sport and a lot of times you’re afraid to try something because you might land on your head.”
Gymnastics and fear facing failures
Bonnie also talked about how this applies to gymnastics and life, “A good example would be like having a mental block on a specific skill. You may have accomplished it many times and you never fell, but then there’s one time you fall and so you freak yourself out. You begin to believe that you are only going to fail if you try it again. You fail to remember that you’ve done it a million times perfectly before and there’s been only one time that you did it wrong.”
She continued talking about this, “I think overcoming that is very hard, we seem to focus on our failures than what God has done and how he’s been faithful. That’s what we need to focus on, not on when we make mistakes. He’s been faithful for us and He will be faithful again.”
How it all connects Corona Virus as well
The next thing Bonnie said was more about the Corona Virus and the Pandemic. Although the fear in gymnastics is far different from having a fear of death and dying there is a distinct correlation between the two.
We mentioned people have mental blocks in gymnastics or in life. Bonnie has a term of her own… A Faith block. She went onto say, “When you have a faith block, you’re just focusing on the right now. I can’t control this and you’re causing your mind to be blocked on the thought I’m scared, my loved ones can get sick, I can get sick, people are dying, but you’re forgetting to remember that God has been faithful in the past. He’s been faithful to save us, so no matter what I’m in His hands and He has me. He has promised to take care of me and never leave me”.
A word to young gymnasts everywhere
Bonnie’s advice to people who might want to go into gymnastics, who might have some fear seems basic but is essential. “Stop overthinking, focus on doing your best, what I’ve done and focused on is literally to pray for those moments when I am overwhelmed by my thoughts.
The world tells us to believe and trust in yourself. I can’t trust myself because my mind is whack and it’s giving me anxiety. Even though gymnastics might seem small to Him nothing is outside of Him. Just pray and trust that He’s carrying you through it.”
Favorite verse facing failures
Bonnie’s favorite verse is Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” She goes onto talk about how it applies, “I think that directly applies to everything we’re talking about. We need to remember to trust God that He’s in control, even when we can’t understand. We need to trust Him because He understands it. He’s good and He’s in control. We trust His faithfulness not what’s going on, or what we’re feeling or what we’re fearing.”
Many people have failed time and time again and feel like they’ll never succeed. The biggest thing God can teach us is that just because it didn’t work out once doesn’t mean it never will.
Growing in gymnastics
She said, “I like to just take a step back and examine what I did last time that wasn’t working well. I’ll ask myself, ‘can I receive constructive criticism?’ That can be hard if you have a coach telling you the same thing over and over again. ‘Did I actually try to apply what they said? Or am I being stubborn trying to figure it out on my own and do it my own way?’ We all have to be able to receive wise counsel.”
What about you? What do you fear? Is it the Corona Virus? Is it something you’ve failed at time and time again that you don’t even want to try anymore? I know this is definitely true of a lot of people including myself… If you would like to talk, I’m here. My number is 954-601-6776 and my email is zevans1@fau.edu.
