Picking a Wedgie Near You

With all this talk of competition, I'd like to address an issue that all coaches, gymnasts, and spectators have experienced.

She's in the middle of competing her routine. She poses in time to the music, does each skill correctly. And then one hand drifts down. Nooo! you shout internally. You want to call out to her. You want to slap her hand away. But alas, you cannot do any of these things. So you and everyone else watch as her fingers pluck at where her leotard meets her butt. The judges immediately deduct one-tenth of a point.

Sure, I've never seen an elite gymnast do this on television. I'm pretty sure they would be excommunicated from their team for such a transgression. But wedgie-picking doesn't stop at young gymnasts. At one notorious college competition, I recall one of my teammates committing this offense not once but twice in her floor routine. It's a lapse of concentration. That is, if there was any concentration to begin with.

Our first meet featured numerous wedgie incidents. Thus I instituted the wedgie rule at practice: pick it during your routine, and you have to start over.

It always happened that Jamie, or Tia, or Christina (the three biggest offenders), would approach the corner before their final tumbling pass. As they caught their breaths, they tugged on their leotards. "Start over!" I called.

They would groan. Drop their heads. Sometimes dramatically fall to the floor. But nobody wanted an extra floor routine because of such a mindless mistake. Nobody wanted to repeat a fall-free beam routine when, just before their dismount, they'd forgotten.

Now, if you see my girls at a meet, you may see them fall numerous times. You may see their legs bend and arms flail. But you will no longer see them pick their wedgies.