On Biles taking a mental health break: Critics, hold your flapping tongues' updated 9/15/21

Update 9 15 21 Simone Biles condemns U.S. Olympic Committee, FBI for sex-abuse crisis | Reuters

Update 8/3/21

Simone Biles Makes A Triumphant Olympic Return And Takes Bronze On Balance Beam : Live Updates: The Tokyo Olympics : NPR

ON BILES TAKING A MENTAL HEALTH BREAK:   Critics, hold your flapping tongues (and my flirtation with an Olympic sport)  I am amused at all the armchair talking heads criticizing Simone Biles for dropping out of certain events in the Olympics.  I more than sympathize with Bile's decision. It is so much easier to be a critic who has never been in that situation. Maybe she needs to reprogram her muscle memory or maybe she needs to get control of her head. Maybe this is temporary or maybe it is permanent and she hangs up her spurs. So critics, get off your high horses and hold your flapping tongues. Her dropping out in certain events cleared the way for her teammate to win gold and a new star was born. For those who feared that the US gymnastics was doomed with Biles's withdrawal, the gold medal all-around was won by Sunisa Lee, Biles' teammate. . A new star is born...and the first Asian American made history with winning her gold. Sunisa Lee wins and becomes Team USA's new gymnastics star - YouTube Biles cheered Suni Lee from the sidelines showing her generous spirit and sportsmanship. That is what a real champion personifies. Another US team member was able to medal since the Biles withdrawal gave her a chance she could ever have dreamed about. How a message from Simone Biles helped MyKayla Skinner win her silver medal (yahoo.com)   Biles'  team spirit can only be lauded even more.     .Biles is the recognized greatest gymnast in the history of the US and the world.. She does not need more medals. She knew herself and she had to fight some demons to continue to do her best. She knew she was not meeting her own high standards or what the world expected of her. She took a mental health break, and in her sport, mental health is as important as physical ability and fitness. A missed landing could be more than just a deduction; it could be a career-ending injury. She still will compete in balance beam.

So much of success in high-risk sports dependent on individual performance is indeed mental focus. Putting aside doubts and fears of injury is key to taking risks. The minute your head is not on right, your choice is to quit or push through

.For about 20 years I trained as much as two times a week in the equestrian sport. dressage. Dressage is an Olympic sport, and it is most familiar to many as practiced by the famous white stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria. I knew I would never be anywhere near the level needed to go very far, so for me, it was a labor of love and bettering my own skills. The US got silver in team dressage in Tokyo, the first since 1948, and were near perfect and an inspiration to those who participate in "my sport".

In addition, the partner is a horse. Horses do unexpected things. Flight is their overwhelming reaction to fear and pain. Fearful riders can pass on their fears to their mounts who in turn think there is something to fear and react to it. Having the right horse with the physical ability to do what some have called horse ballet and the right temperament is critical to success in competition. Like pairs skating, the partner's talent is equally key.

I do get the seriousness of focus on each movement, because dressage is much like figure skating and gymnastics and scored per movement in competition, and is dependent on an individual's performance. It is not a team sport and self-blame for a failure cannot be placed on a missed field goal or the wrong play call. I am not sure I always succeeded, but when fear of injury ruled my head, I put myself in greater danger because horses were my partner and sense it and react. Muscle memory alone is not enough, or another way to say it, keep your head clear so muscle memory can work or rewire.

So, at age 70, I quit and never rode again. Fear of a future of slow healing orthopedic injuries in old age took over. Some would call this a victory of good sense. I had escaped serious injury, though I was thrown off many times, had a few broken bones, having ridden since I was 4 years old.

Needless to say, I was following "my sport" in the Tokyo Olympics. The USA scored a silver medal in team dressage, the best showing in that event since 1948, and also garnered a silver in individual dressage.

https://www.usef.org/media/press-releases/us-dressage-team-earns-silver-medal-in-fei

US rider Steffen Peters brought home the silver individual medal in dressage, too. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/carmel-valley-steffen-peters-brings-silver-home-in-dressage-making-him Germans dominate the sport with their German-bred horses. Two of the 3 US team members are US citizen immigrants from Germany. Here is what won us the silver. U.S. team rides to best dressage finish in 73 years | Tokyo Olympics | NBC Sports - YouTube

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2V87VPzgQg

Dressage is not just a sport for the uber wealthy

This is a version of the previously posted blog about dressage.  It is now published in the www.skyhidailynews.com today as a column

Dressage...it isn't for wimps and not always for the rich

  Whether it is winter Olympics or summer Olympics, it is my favorite time.  I like them both.

 Living in a ski resort,  having been a klutzy skier, I can only admire what a dedicated, talented human can do.  The reality of winter games is personal. My path has crossed with many  of the Olympic and para Olympic  medalists who train  in Winter Park. Colorado.  I am awestruck  in their presence.

I have my own favorite summer Olympic event. . Dressage.  Yes, that is the same executed in formal wear that has become politically controversial. Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, is a dressage rider and her horse is ridden by a professional  in the Olympics . Whoa, there.  The sport itself needs defending.  

I confess I was a  dressage rider , hanging up my spurs a couple of years ago,  but I learned enough to appreciate the technical ability of the top riders.  It is so technical that it is not much of a spectator sport  in the US.  Unless you are a practitioner,  watching a dressage competition is a little like watching  grass growing.The exception in free style,  where horse and rider partner to  dance to music.

I was once an  untutored cowboy rider, beginning  at age four on my cousin’s pony. Finally, after  a string of trailhorses,  my first big timer was a  sorrel  quarter horse gelding  bred at the little ho Ranch near  Granby, Colorado. , a great headin’ horse used by a friend for  team roping in the Granby Flying Heels arena.  When I turned 40.  I took dressage lessons  to improve my riding. 

For the next 30 years, improving balance and control, I gained sufficient skills  to make whatever  horse I owned at the time, a quarter horse,  an Arabian, or a Thoroughbred,  do some fancy maneuvers. I once thought riding English was for sissies,  but  perched  on a nearly flat saddle without the security  of grabbing  the  horn  of a western saddle  is not for wimps.

 Dressage  was primarily born in Spain, based on military cavalry techniques, and popularized  by the white stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna,.  It is the basic training for police horses and there is a direct connection with western riding, which, too, came from Spain. In the past, usually cavalry officers rode  in competition in uniform and some with military or police credentials still do.    Formal, white vested wear   indeed looks very upper classy, but that is the required costume for civilians in competition. 

Yes, it is an expensive sport, but it is possible to do the basics on a budget, and have a good trainer work with you and your horse, a necessity since both need to understand the same cues.   It is not a millionaire’s sport unless you launch into major competition and can  afford the strong,  tall  warmbloods,  a breed developed   from  a cross between German north European farm horses and  thoroughbreds or Arabians.  

 I live in cowboy land again,  but dressage techniques are also relevant here. They are used by barrel racers to bend a horse better. The western form of dressage, reining, is  now an Olympic  demonstration event, expected to be formally recognized by 2020. It is  performed at warp speed, and unlike dressage , with a loose rein. Both disciplines require performance of tests or patterns .   Flying lead changes (switching which leg goes first), roll backs( quick reverses), and spins (turning 360 degrees multiple times with one back foot not moving)  in reining also are  similar to some slower motion, tightly controlled dressage movements. Sliding skids to stop are left for reining, but a dressage horse has to halt from a canter  or a trot immediately with  all 4 feet planted  perfectly squared . No head tossing,  please. Try it sometime, my fellow riders.