I've experienced, and will experience again, the ultimate thrill, which, for me, is parasailing. because of my time spent para-sailing, sailing in the air off a gymnastics apparatus will never hold the same allure that it once did. still, It's pretty addictive.
Floor exercises and tumbling are just that, and anyone can do them at any time and at any place. There's a buzz associated with being able to complete a sequence of handsprings, round-offs, tucks, and other maneuvers that most other people cannot do, and I'm grateful for the buzz I get each time I complete such a sequence even if no one is watching, but the thrill is in the flying, and the greatest flying that occurs in gymnastics happens with the aid of an apparatus.
My personal favorite apparatus is the vault. It's the one that most closely simulates flying. You start at the end of a runway, much as an aircraft would, get a bit of speed going, and use a combination of a springboard and a vault to fly and flip through the air in ways that the human body probably was not intended to do. The time spent in the air is no more than two seconds, but it feels as though time is suspended and seems longer than the very brief couple of seconds that it is.
I'll continue to para-sail when I get the opportunity, but vaulting is much less expensive.
Floor exercises and tumbling are just that, and anyone can do them at any time and at any place. There's a buzz associated with being able to complete a sequence of handsprings, round-offs, tucks, and other maneuvers that most other people cannot do, and I'm grateful for the buzz I get each time I complete such a sequence even if no one is watching, but the thrill is in the flying, and the greatest flying that occurs in gymnastics happens with the aid of an apparatus.
My personal favorite apparatus is the vault. It's the one that most closely simulates flying. You start at the end of a runway, much as an aircraft would, get a bit of speed going, and use a combination of a springboard and a vault to fly and flip through the air in ways that the human body probably was not intended to do. The time spent in the air is no more than two seconds, but it feels as though time is suspended and seems longer than the very brief couple of seconds that it is.
I'll continue to para-sail when I get the opportunity, but vaulting is much less expensive.
