Salutes. There are two different types of salutes, one salute is for a female and the other is for a male.Salute is a position you go into before and after a skill and routine. A salute is when you stick your chest out and put your hands in the air. The position your hands go in is different for every gender. For boys your hands form a straight line out by your side with fingers together. For a girl you need to put your hands up with your fingers spread out and one of your fingers pointed downwards. It is preferred to put your middle finger down and your head up. Your back must be arched to the back and your chest must be out. To avoid deductions you must land with both feet on the ground, balance for a minimum of two seconds, and then salute. If you are wiggly or fall over you get points deducted from your score. Now, you don’t have to have a plain and dry salute. You can add many of your own personal touches to it. For example, in the Olympics, the USA team salutes differently than the Chinese team salutes. The USA team has more of a bubbly salute where the smile is the main part of the salute. The Chinese team has more of a rehearsed salute that is mainly artistic in a way. Salutes are one of the very few things in gymnastics that you can express yourself through your own personal touches that you can come up with on your own. Another interesting thing about salutes is that no two gymnasts have the exact same salute. They’re smiles are different and so is how much they arch their backs. For example, my salute is very artistic while my teammates' salute is more stiff. Mine is more artistic because I arch my back and place my hands with more grace while my teammates' salute is more fast andThat’s what makes them so special it can add a whole chunk of originality and flair to your overall performance. It can identify what gymnast you are through your salute. You can either have a bubbly, cute, or even just a plain serious salute if that is the type of gymnast you are. Salutes are something that don’t seem important in the beginning but actually is a very important part of your routine during the beginning and the end. If you take the time to give a good salute in the beginning it can help you to remind yourself to take a deep breath and focus. This can help you perform the best that you can during your routine because it helps you not start the routine suddenly.