SPRINGING BACK FROM ADVERSITY
Pandemic hit hard for gymnastics coach Bennington, but Zoom sessions and a personal touch have seen her...
HARD work. Sacrifice. Relentlessness. Results. These are words hardwired into the sporting mind. Signposts towards greater goals and achievements.
Over the past 18 months, though, Megan Bennington has come to realise they are only part of the story. Right now, in truth, not really the story at all. When reflecting on what sports clubs give to their communities and what those communities deliver in return, her tale is one of support, friendship, family, compassion. And love.
Bennington was in Leeds yesterday to be honoured by Princess Anne at the UK Coaching Hero awards, set up to recognise those who went above and beyond to circumvent Covid-19 and carry on finding innovative ways to deliver sessions and keep people connected.
Now back running Stewartry Gymnastics Club and her own business Gymtastic from the converted St John’s Church in Castle Douglas, she hosted classes on Zoom, set up her own YouTube channel, even went round to people’s back gardens to make sure her charges had some one-to-one tuition.
Yet, Bennington is at pains to point out that this was always very much a two-way street. And an experience that has changed her own relationship with the sport that has been a constant in her life since the age of two.
Lockdown in March 2020 hit the 31-year-old hard. Stress over what the future would hold for her club snowballed. Often home alone while her projects engineer partner went to work, silence proved a pernicious enemy. Bennington got to the point where her building anxieties made it a challenge even going to the shops.
Devising ways to stay in touch with the young gymnasts she works with gave them a welcome reminder of what normality was — and would be again — but it proved a lifeline and a learning curve for her, too.
‘I struggle with anxiety quite a lot, which a lot of people find hard to believe because, I guess, as a gymnastics coach, you are the happy-clappy, always-enthusiastic, person,’ confessed Bennington, who moved north from her native Durham 15 years ago.
‘But I’d never not had gymnastics in my life. I started when I was two, trained at quite a high level and have seen all sides of it. When that was taken away from me, I just didn’t cope well with the unexpected.
‘The stress of not knowing is what made my mental health dip. You didn’t know when it was going to be over,
The stress made my mental health dip. Even things like going to the shops became a big deal
what would happen, whether we would have any money coming in.
‘Those initial worries were debilitating, I suppose. If we hadn’t had a physical gym to come back to, it would have been hard to keep the kids going, but getting the government grants was a huge relief because I know some people fell through the cracks.
‘We also had some really generous offers from club members and people in the community to keep us going. Parents were also really supportive in getting me out for walks. I think they realised if I wasn’t well, it was going to have an impact on the club.
‘They all supported me and I make a point of talking to the kids about things like that even now. I don’t want them to come to gymnastics and feel they are the only one feeling a certain way.
‘They know I get nervous. It is also a running joke that I love to have a good cry. All of the parents will tell you I am super-emotional, but it is because I am so invested in what I do. It is my passion.
‘Yet, the anxiety did sort of take over for a while. I received counselling for it. Even little things like going to the shops became a huge deal for me, but being able to have those Zoom calls with my gymnasts served as a moment of normality — even though it was different on a screen. You got to see the children’s faces and you realised everything will go back to normal in time.
‘I just felt a need to spring into action. All I kept thinking about was the kids. If I was struggling, how were they feeling? Not having their friends, not having school or their local sports clubs.
‘Reconnecting with them just made everything a bit more manageable. And when you break everything down into manageable chunks, suddenly, going to the shops doesn’t seem such a big deal any more.
‘It is amazing I have won an award, but we all helped each other through. And coming out of the pandemic and back to gymnastics has been like returning to a family. I love the community here and I don’t think you’d ever get me to leave.’
Yet, now the gymnasts have returned to their club base, things are different. This is where Bennington has utilised her changes in perspective wisely.
‘You put a brave face on in front of the children because you are always reassuring them, but you have to listen to what you’re saying — and act on it — yourself,’ she reasoned. ‘You can’t be a role model otherwise. Looking after myself has made everything else fall into place.
‘Before, I was of the mindset that you had to work really, really hard all the time to achieve results. Now, I have realised you need a good balance of so many things within the gym to make sure everyone is functioning at their best. We’re now seeing really good results with the gymnasts’ training.
‘I struggled to say “no” in the past. I just wasn’t admitting when work was too much. I’d work seven days a week for a month-anda-half straight and was burning myself out.
‘People were respectful when we restructured the timetable and I felt more confident to say that we were going to run things a certain way.
‘One thing from the pandemic is that I think people are much more respectful of you just saying your piece now. They are definitely more understanding.’
Disarmingly honest, emotions are never far from the surface when discussing the impact of Covid-19 with Bennington. Never more so than when reflecting on the first night her gymnasts were spared the restrictions of social distancing and allowed to enjoy real contact with their friends again.
‘They were all sitting in their own little boxes miles away from each other,’ she recalled. ‘I’m going to cry just talking about it, but, when I told them there was no distancing any longer, they all just got up and gave each other a hug.
‘Everyone missed that human contact. Just to see them all having a cuddle and then sit in a little circle altogether was just so lovely. They needed it. It was a moment that really made me think everything was going to be OK.
‘On a Monday, we train for four hours and they couldn’t sit any closer to each other at snack time now, having a gossip. It is great to sense that normality returning.
‘You just never know what people have been going through during the pandemic and you just have to talk to them and approach them with kindness. I hope that is one thing we can really take from all this going forward.’