- Feb 4, 2008
- 204
- 1
The day started with tears -- mine. It was dd1's last meet and could easily have dd2's. I told them each my favorite gym memory and completely lost it. I never cry, so both girls looked at me in stunned silence.
Dd1 was very happy with her meet. She's state vault champion. Funny, because it's probably one of her worst events. I almost laughed out loud when I heard the family behind me say, "If you want to see how a vault should be done, you should watch that real tiny girl from X gym." She baubled on bars, an event where she routinely scores 9.5. This time she finished at 9.375. She finished 4th AA.
Dd2 was not a happy camper. There's big drop in the number of girls competing between level 5 and 6. The next big drop comes between levels 7 and 8. And, in a small state like ours, that means the age groups cover quite a range. So, dd1, who is almost 15, who saw puberty come and go a couple years ago and definitely has a woman's body, finds herself in a group with pre-pubescent 12 year olds. Her lines will never be as straight. To top it off, our flight was our gym and Chow's. Yes, folks, Shawn Johnson's gym.
Now, we all love Mr. Chow. He's a very nice man and a gentle coach. We've been competing with his gym for 5 years, and I've never seen him say a harsh word to any of his athletes. However, his goal is producing elite and Olympic athletes. His teams are small because he's very discriminating in selecting gymnasts, even for his compulsary teams. He looks at parent height/build, age of the child (his oldest level 8 is 12), in addition to the things you'd normally look for in a gymnast. We hear rumors about daily weigh-ins, etc, but probably not all are true. Anyway, the result is that his gals are pretty close to unbeatable. You might outscore one on a single event, but they pretty much sweep the all-arounds.
So, our girls are competing in a rotation with girls who score 9.5-9.8 on most events, and 3 of them are in dd1's age group. She didn't get skunked (one medal), but for the first time since level 5, when she was competing with a broken hand, she didn't place AA. Fortunately, she did get picked up for regionals, and there, at least, the "Senior B" group is all her age. As she says, "Good, I shouldn't be the only one with boobs and a butt."
Our biggest disappointment, however, is that dd1's teammate did not make regionals. Like dd1, she is done this year. The two of them had been together since level 4, and I would have loved to see them finish out their careers together at regionals.
Dd1 was very happy with her meet. She's state vault champion. Funny, because it's probably one of her worst events. I almost laughed out loud when I heard the family behind me say, "If you want to see how a vault should be done, you should watch that real tiny girl from X gym." She baubled on bars, an event where she routinely scores 9.5. This time she finished at 9.375. She finished 4th AA.
Dd2 was not a happy camper. There's big drop in the number of girls competing between level 5 and 6. The next big drop comes between levels 7 and 8. And, in a small state like ours, that means the age groups cover quite a range. So, dd1, who is almost 15, who saw puberty come and go a couple years ago and definitely has a woman's body, finds herself in a group with pre-pubescent 12 year olds. Her lines will never be as straight. To top it off, our flight was our gym and Chow's. Yes, folks, Shawn Johnson's gym.
Now, we all love Mr. Chow. He's a very nice man and a gentle coach. We've been competing with his gym for 5 years, and I've never seen him say a harsh word to any of his athletes. However, his goal is producing elite and Olympic athletes. His teams are small because he's very discriminating in selecting gymnasts, even for his compulsary teams. He looks at parent height/build, age of the child (his oldest level 8 is 12), in addition to the things you'd normally look for in a gymnast. We hear rumors about daily weigh-ins, etc, but probably not all are true. Anyway, the result is that his gals are pretty close to unbeatable. You might outscore one on a single event, but they pretty much sweep the all-arounds.
So, our girls are competing in a rotation with girls who score 9.5-9.8 on most events, and 3 of them are in dd1's age group. She didn't get skunked (one medal), but for the first time since level 5, when she was competing with a broken hand, she didn't place AA. Fortunately, she did get picked up for regionals, and there, at least, the "Senior B" group is all her age. As she says, "Good, I shouldn't be the only one with boobs and a butt."
Our biggest disappointment, however, is that dd1's teammate did not make regionals. Like dd1, she is done this year. The two of them had been together since level 4, and I would have loved to see them finish out their careers together at regionals.