Grit-logo-main
Menu

Another remarkable US woman

Post by: Dr Louise Randall  |  October 30, 2024

I know it’s been a while since the Olympics but I didn’t just want to jump on a bandwagon writing about various athletes even though we use the power of sport (non-contact boxing) to transform lives. I also wanted to watch the documentary about Simone Biles before writing this post. As I now have done that, I shall continue.

I love gymnastics. I enjoyed it as a child until my ability to visualise all outcomes of a potential mistake (usually a broken back or neck) reached a peak and I stopped because I had too much fear to progress. I therefore always watch on in awe when the gymnastics is on, marvelling at what the human body can do. I recall the Tokyo Olympics when Simone Biles suddenly pulled out due to ‘Mental health’ problems. I’ve always been a firm believer that it’s during those times when your anxiety levels are high and you feel you can’t do something that it’s important to dig in and find a way through. I therefore had mixed feelings reading about Simone ‘quitting’ because of mental health problems. In actual fact, she didn’t quit, she had a case of The Twisties which from my understanding sounded like her mind had disconnected from her body and she was no longer able to work out where she was in the air, meaning she was at very real risk of injury. There’s no spoilers here when I let you know that this setback made way for a spectacular comeback in the Paris Olympics. I was interested in finding out more about the story behind this comeback.

It turns out that Simone’s story has remarkable parallels to GRITS Four Corners Method.
First, she sets her goal. In GRITs logo we use the semi-colon after the 'T'. The semi colon is used when you could have ended a sentence there, but the author chooses to continue with the sentence. When GRIT first started it was commonly used amongst people who had experienced depression as a representation of their own battle -they could have chosen to end their story at a certain point but they decided to continue changing the narrative of their life.
Simone quite clearly expresses her distress at the media portrayal and backlash against her as a ‘quitter’ and decides that she wants to decide how her story ends, not the media or public. She makes it clear that this isn’t about getting gold or being the best, but simply coming back knowing that she gets to dictate how her career will end. Empowerment is a key component of the GRIT programme - showing young people that it is possible that they can change the course of their future path.

The next step was processing the emotions she had kept bottled up for so long.
Something about the Tokyo Olympics and the lack of crowds etc seemed to trigger something within her and she recognised she needed to go on a bit of a healing journey and come to terms with the trauma she had faced during her earlier years. This correlates with our Doctors Corner which is all about understanding emotions and how they affect the body, especially during adolescence when emotions become intensified and new, more complex, emotions make their presence known. She also talks about getting to understand herself, her values and then utilising the support of her teammates. How important this was to her comeback is made very clear during the documentary series and demonstrates that, in our time of need, we really need to know who is in our corner and how to open ourselves up to support. Finally, she uses her experience to grow and comes through it a stronger person, knowing that she can not only win medals but also win the fight within herself.

It’s an inspiring watch and I would highly recommend it if you get a chance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

splash-whitesplash-whitesplash-whitesplash-white
Grit-logo-footer
facebook
© Copyright GRIT Charity. All Rights Reserved.


Registered office: 18 Chiltern Road, Hitchin, SG4 9PJ

Registered Charity Number: 1176272