Anybody else going to the Sand Dollar/Whitlow invitational?

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I and a couple of my guys (and perhaps a couple of my girls as well; they haven't decided yet) will be trekking down to Orlando in January for the Sand Dollar/Whitlow meet.

It will be my first elite meet, and my team's first out-of-state meet (excluding regionals).

 

[gracefulone]

Very cool! Good luck to you and your gymnasts! Have a safe trip.

 

[mom2kazkids]

DD will be competing as a level 4 there. I think that I am more excited than she is. This is a big travel meet for us, as we are from WI.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Cool!

I don't think any of my lower-level girls will be competing, though.

 

[cmc]

We're going to that meet. It looks like a great meet with good competition, we're from NC, too. See you there.

 

[AnitaV]

Having been to this fun meet several times, give yourself at least 30 minutes from the parking lot to the actual venue, it is an arduous process, have to walk from the parking lot to pay an entry fee to Wild World of Sports, and then pass through a turnstile, then some more check ins for gymnasts, release forms to fill out (they are on the Sand dollar web site so if you fill them out ahead of time that will save time) and then onto the actual "milkhouse building" which is probably another 5-10 minute walk, then you have to find "your gym" (it is a multistory building), etc. It takes longer than you think. Additionally keep the tickets organized as they now do forefinger "fingerprints" with the ticket at the turnstile so if you leave the complex you have get back in with "your ticket" matching your fingerprint. Becomes a problem if you are walking in say with ten girls and collect all the tickets to hold on to. Best to have gymnasts keep them individually in their gym bag.

 

[breezon]

I'll be going for the third time. It's a local meet for me though. It's a really nice venue (though as AnitaV pointed out...large) and a very well run meet.

 

[gymdog]

I went a couple years ago and it was big. All I remember is that I used my current grips (well I just lost them last week but anyway) for the first time...darn that was a long time ago. And it was the first meet that year I finally threw my actual vault at instead of an easier one. Sounds like it's gotten even more complex. It was pretty good though, seemed to be running relatively on time for a meet like that. I remember awards was in another building which was kind of confusing to find. The session breakdown was a little weird too but maybe it's different now. Seemed overly complex then with multi-level sessions and not as many optionals per level/age group in each session as you would have thought in some cases. Maybe that's changed though or we just had an off experience. It was otherwise well run.

 

[msl529]

DD's Winter/Spring schedule just got changed and we are now attending this meet as well. DD will be competing Pre-Opt...

We'll see you there!

 

[UnoMas]

Our gym's L4's and up are going...DD is just on the cusp of being a L4 so she won't be going this year, bummer!

Sounds like a big, fun event!!! Enjoy!

 

[msl529]

Our gym's L4's and up are going...DD is just on the cusp of being a L4 so she won't be going this year, bummer!

Aaww, too bad! Maybe next year, though!!!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Looks like just me and two of my boys will be competing (one L6, one L9).

Should be a fun weekend anyway, though; I have some friends down in FL that I'll probably visit while I'm there.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

The meet's this weekend, and I'm psyched about it. It will be my first competition in three years, and my chance to compete a new vault I've been working on which has never been done in competition before (to the best of my knowledge).

 

[bogwoppit]

Good luck GT and all the rest of our CB gymnasts.

I am sooo jealous, we only ever have meets when it's freezing with snow on the ground. It must be nice to go to a meet and not have to wear a snow suit!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

My Level 6 boy competed friday and got (if I remember correctly) 7th AA. My L9 boy and I both competed last night.

L9 did, without a doubt, the cleanest routines I've seen him do on everything except pommel horse.

I caught the stomach bug from hell soon after arriving in Orlando, and was therefore competing on about 2 hours of sleep and zero food in the 24 hours preceding the meet. But adrenaline cures all ailments! I was the only elite competitor, so it's difficult to really guage how I did, but I was quite happy with my routines, and it's great to be officially out of retirement and back to the world of competition!

AND BEST OF ALL! I competed the first ever tsuk arabian double front on vault. (I fell on the landing, but my feet hit the floor first so I got credit.) Here's a video of my first time landing the vault in training a month or so ago. I'll post vids of my vault and floor routine from the meet once I get back home.

All in all, it was a good meet; I and my guys had a blast.

EDIT: Link fixed

 

[bogwoppit]

Congrats GT on getting the vault, that's pretty impressive. Too bad about the bug, that's no fun at all.

Did your guys enjoy the experience?

Just watched the video, OMG that vault is FIERCE!!!

 

[gymdog]

AND BEST OF ALL! I competed the first ever tsuk arabian double front on vault. (I fell on the landing, but my feet hit the floor first so I got credit.) Here's a video of my first time landing the vault in training a month or so ago. I'll post vids of my vault and floor routine from the meet once I get back home.

That's pretty sweet.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Here's my vault at the meet: [youtube]0JqLVSvhXzA[/youtube]

I'll post my floor routine as soon as it finishes uploading.

EDIT: Floor routine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR0ErpHitdY

 

[gym4life915]

I was at this meet! I guess I didn't find the thread intime I did really good for my 2nd level 10 meet. Parents don't want me to post my place/age/gym for security reasons but I made the top ten!

 

[msl529]

Here's my vault at the meet: [youtube]0JqLVSvhXzA[/youtube]

I'll post my floor routine as soon as it finishes uploading.

EDIT: Floor routine: YouTube - Jeremy Waters Floor at Whitlow 2009

Wow, what a huge vault! Hope you had fun at the meet. Thanks for posting yourself here! We don't really have a 'face' to go w/ the name now, but at least we have a person, lol!