Gymnastics Explained

Why is the balance beam only 10 centimetres wide? What are "the twisties"? Can anyone learn to do the splits?

If there is a young gymnast in your house, you already know the questions never stop. This book has 100 of them, answered.

Gymnastics Explained is an illustrated question and answer book for kids ages 6 to 12 who love gymnastics. Every question gets its own full-page infographic, so young readers can dip in anywhere, follow the pictures, and actually understand the answer instead of skimming past it. It is written for real kids in real gyms: beginners in their first term, recreational gymnasts who train once a week, and competitive kids working through the levels.

Inside the book, kids will find out:

• What happens in your very first gymnastics class, and whether it is too late to start at 10
• How wide a balance beam really is, and why gymnasts do not fall off more often
• How a gymnast swings all the way around the uneven bars without letting go
• Why the floor is springy, why the vault table is that strange shape, and how deep the foam pit is
• What boys compete on, from rings and pommel horse to high bar, and why men and women use different apparatus
• How to learn a backflip, what a tuck, pike and straddle actually mean, and how gymnasts twist while flipping
• Why gymnasts use chalk, wear grips, get rips on their hands, and train in bare feet
• What to do when you are scared of a skill, and what "the twisties" really are
• How scoring works, why there is no perfect 10 anymore, and what judges are looking for
• The science behind it all: momentum, spin, balance, and the force that goes through your body when you land

Why kids love it: one question per page, bright infographics, and answers short enough to read before training but interesting enough to read again after.

Why parents and coaches love it: it answers the questions that come up in the car ride home, builds real gymnastics vocabulary, and encourages safe habits, including a straight answer about what you should and should not practise at home.

A great gift for young gymnasts, girls and boys, ages 6 to 12. Perfect for birthdays, Christmas, competition season, end-of-term coach gifts, or the reader who has just fallen in love with the sport.

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