The Gymnastics Book: The Young Performer’s Guide to Gymnastics 3rd Ed. Revised and Updated

The third edition of The Gymnastics Book: The Young Performer's Guide to Gymnastics, co-authored by Elfi Schlegel and Claire Dunn, is an updated and revised version of the first two editions. Schlegel was an award-winning young gymnast in the 1970s and 1980s and is now a sports commentator and co-owner of a gymnastics centre in Ontario. Co-author Dunn is a writer and film and television story editor.

Schlegel and Dunn have crafted a guide to all things gymnastics for children thinking of taking up the sport, young athletes, coaches, teachers and parents. The 10 chapters in the book cover basic areas such as choosing a club and coach, healthy lifestyle, skills, warming up and cooling down, adding rhythm and bounce, competition, gymnastics greats from past and present, and gymnastics related careers. The three chapters featuring information on completing gymnastics movements, “Skills”, “Cooling Down”, and “Adding Rhythm and Bounce to Your Program”, are broken down into different skill sets and colour coded accordingly. The coloured tabs separate sections on “Stretching”, “The Basics”, “Floor Exercise”, “Vault”, “Bars”, “Balance Beam”, “Stretching”, “Rope”, “Hoop”, “Ball”, “Ribbon”, “Clubs”, and “Trampoline” and offer a quick way for readers to access the pages on those specific skills. The chapter featuring “Gymnastics Greats from Yesterday to Today” has been updated from previous versions and includes North American gymnasts such as Simone Biles, Ellie Black, René Cournoyer and coaches Victoria Moors and Kim Zmeskal-Burdette. The information included in the chapter on competition provides unique insight into competitive gymnasts’ lives and includes their training schedules, meal plans, judging and coaching schedules, superstitions, and direct quotes from the athletes providing “insider tips.” In the final chapter, “Beyond Competition: Where Gymnastics Can Take You”, Schlegel and Dunn offer possible career alternatives for those with a love of gymnastics, including journalist, sportscaster, agent, stuntwoman/man, physical therapist, sports journalist and gym owner.

The Gymnastics Book has been tried and tested with two previous editions, and the current layout and design are clear, well-organized and user-friendly. The chapters more than adequately cover the sport, the necessary skills, its various forms, superstars and careers, and will appeal to both amateur enthusiasts and future competitors.

The book is visually compelling with an abundance of white space on each page punctuated by high colour photography featuring young gymnasts who appear to be within the 8-14 year age range. The inclusion of photographs of children of colour, children from various cultures, and featuring more than one male in the stars of yesterday and today section would serve to make future editions of this book accessible to a more inclusive and diverse readership. Featuring Special Olympic rhythmic gymnastics athlete Emily Boycott is a step in the right direction. Offering more information on the topics of eating disorders, healthy/unhealthy body image and injuries, common issues in the sport, would also be useful. The absence of information on abuse by coaches, a current topic in the U.S. gymnastics world in particular, is also surprising. A section on touching, what to be aware of and how to report abuse, should be included in future editions. Despite these omissions, this third edition of The Gymnastics Book: The Young Performer’s Guide to Gymnastics provides a good introduction to the sport in an easy to read format.