"What sport do you do?"

It feels like every time we travel to a competition some stranger will come up to us and ask this question.  In some ways it cracks me up because we have 'Gymnastics' embroidered on our bags, shirts,backpacks, and sweatshirts.  (All of which we are required to travel in.)  I know we don't have 'gymnast' tattooed on our foreheads but it makes me worry about the literacy of America, have people forgotten how to read?

It's even better when people try to guess what sport we are.  This past season we had people ask us if we were volleyball, soccer, basketball, dance, and chess.  (Yes, you read that correctly, someone actually asked us if we were a chess team.) I'm always very confused when people ask if we are a volleyball/basketball team.  We are very short!  Most of us can barely touch the bottom tip of the basketball net when we jump.  Below is a picture of one of our gymnasts with one of the basketball players.  It's because of pictures like this that I am confused about how people think we could possibly be basketball players!

Because we are so short most people assume we are in high school.  Every now and then someone will ask if we are in middle school.  One time someone informed us that if we "kept practicing hard someday [we'll] be able to play in college."  It took a lot of effort to politely say thank you instead of informing her that indeed we are well aware that we could compete as a collegiate athlete considering we were doing just that!

Moral of the story?
Next time you're sitting in the airport and a team walks by don't automatically assume they are middle school basketball players.  Gymnasts may be small but we have a lot of spunk!  The picture above is a picture of one of our gymnasts with one of the basketball players.  It's because of pictures like this that I am confused about how people think we could possibly be basketball players!