Olympic athletes have something to impress with their extraordinary physical abilities. Subjected to intensive training, they reach a high level, at a very young age for some. Even if it seems difficult, it is not impossible to get started in a sport that fascinates us on the screen these days, on the occasion of the Paris Games. For adults, it can even be an excellent idea. Today: gymnastics.
Spinning on a wooden bar, balancing on a 10-centimeter beam or launching yourself onto a mat before doing twists and somersaults, this is what young athletes still far from their twenties do. These feats of agility seem practically out of reach for ordinary mortals, and even more so if you didn’t do gymnastics as a child. However, it is entirely possible to start practicing this sport as an adult and hope to tumble like the Simone Biles of this world.
At the Centre Sablon, on the Plateau Mont-Royal, in Montreal, Nour Mohamed Abahnini has been offering a course for all levels to adults of all ages since 2019. With more than fifteen years of coaching and experience as a high-level gymnast, he supports participants in learning gymnastics, whether they are complete beginners or returning to the sport.
“I have always had the ambition to teach all age groups […]. I had a little happiness in teaching. [la première fois] to adults,” he says. Duty.
Every Wednesday, a small group of participants gathers, like Olivier Garcia, who started gymnastics last winter at the age of 29. Although he had already done a few somersaults on the beach when he was younger, he was new to the discipline. A natural athlete and still marked by his sandy memories, he wanted to try a new discipline. “The older you get, the harder it is to start a new sport,” he says, adding that this is especially the case for team sports, which require you to be at roughly the same level as the other players.
He felt that gymnastics would allow him to experience concrete and individual progress, but he does not hide his apprehensions: “What is always scary are the new techniques, the new jumps and the new figures. It is inevitably a little frightening.”
That’s why Nour Mohamed Abahnini directs his athletes according to their goals and limitations. “One thing I don’t want to do is put everyone in the same boat. Especially with one session per week.” Each participant can arrive with goals for the apparatus of their choice, and the coach will guide them towards the exercises that will allow them to achieve them. After a collective warm-up, the athletes are free to practice at their own pace.
Far from being put off by beginners, he sees them as a source of motivation: “I have more fun with those who have never done gymnastics […]. It’s exciting.” He challenges himself to get his students to fulfill their aspirations as quickly as possible.
Back on the mat
For Thomas Weil, 37, the class is an opportunity to rekindle the gymnast he once was. He gave up the sport at 14 because he was stuck on back figures. “Often at that age, you have to compete, and I didn’t like that at all,” he says.
Today, he does things differently. No more trying to perform figures that bore him: he does what he wants. “We give ourselves little [défis]but they are not huge. That’s what’s nice, to see the progress.” The dopamine released by his successes keeps him coming back every time. Due to health problems, he can no longer raise his left arm more than 90 degrees. But this limitation is not a problem in the class of Mr. Abahnini.
Also affected by injuries, Éloïse Monat, 21, has left the competitive world aside. A participant since the spring, this former athlete wanted to “regain sensations and vary her training”. The one who competed from the age of 6 to 19 is now taming the atmosphere of gymnastics classes without constraints. “I had never thought of doing gymnastics without competing […]. I go there without pressure, without performing. It’s a completely different mentality.”
The recreational aspect is very appealing to participants. They can focus on their pleasure of moving and their personal progress. Nour Mohamed Abahnini loves teaching in these conditions: “It’s always better. You don’t have the stress of going for the medal.”
He admits, however, that many coaches hesitate to give these courses, since they can hardly distinguish themselves in the world of gymnastics afterwards.
Rare pearl
Mariane Parent, general director of the Accès Participation Network, finds this avenue very interesting. “We have sedentary behaviors that are increasingly crystallized,” she says. Introductory classes allow adults to vary their sports practice while offering them a social meeting, which is not to be neglected, she emphasizes.
All the participants in Nour Mohamed Abahnini’s class noted the joy they had in being in a group. “One of the first benefits that is not physical is the atmosphere,” says Thomas Weil. “It is an individual sport, but it is very collective. Everyone knows the strengths and weaknesses of the others, and everyone encourages each other.”
“It’s not necessarily something I was looking for. It’s true that I got that as an extra, and it really made me happy,” adds Olivier Garcia.
Unfortunately, these classes are a rare commodity. In Montreal, a handful of sports centres offer them to adult beginners on a recreational basis. They are even harder to find outside the city. Thomas Weil says it took him a while to find a class that was right for him, with men’s equipment.
Most group physical activities are offered to young people or seniors, and there is a gap for adults from adolescence onwards, notes Mariane Parent. “The offer is very much geared towards people who have already developed skills in a sport or activity,” she emphasizes. “It takes rare gems in the federations” to decide to set up classes for adults of all levels.
One of the first benefits that is not physical is the atmosphere. It is an individual sport, but it is very collective. Everyone knows the strengths and weaknesses of the others, and everyone encourages each other.
This is something Thomas Weil also noticed when playing several sports. “I had played badminton. If you’re not good enough, you’re made to feel it. If you’re better than others, it’s a bit boring. […] It’s difficult to find individual or semi-team sports in which you feel good when you arrive.”
This context can discourage some adults who want to start a new sport: “These are barriers that we are going to [se mettre] to ourselves. The adult who has not developed these skills in his youth will doubt his ability to integrate them,” underlines Mme Parent.
Mme Parent and Mr. Abahnini agree that it is never too late to start, even if the body ages and it is possible to get injured. “It should not be a concern. It is much better to move and maybe get injured, to heal and to go back. The health benefits are much more important,” maintains the general director of the Accès participation Network.