I must say that this last meet had been interesting. Dani's session was running about 1 1/2 hours behind--it was supposed to start at 2:30pm and we didn't start til 4pm. Usually that is unheard of for the MDL, but I think there were some USAG girls from the home gym competing in the session before us as an exhibition and "practice" for their own meet tomorrow that added the extra time. But boy did they speed things along!! We ended up only finishing about 15 minutes behind schedule!!
So here is the rundown:
First up was Floor:
She was the first one to go and she did a beautiful routine. That backhandspring is getting so much more consistant for her
. I was shocked when I saw the score - a 9.15!!!! She has never scored that high ever!!! She even placed 4th on floor and was smiling from ear to ear on the medal stand!! This was definitely the highlight of her day!!
Next was Vault:
She had some gorgeous vaults for the warmup runs, but she ended up balking at the 2 required and scored a zero. Poor baby was so devastated! I could hear her sobbing from across the gym. I felt so helpless and just wanted to run over and hug her. But, her teammates did that for me and she ended up pulling herself together for the next event .
Bars:
Her bar routine looked solid. She kind of fell backwards out of her kip to high bar and ended up doing a back hip circle, which threw her off a bit. She regained her composure and finished strong - 8.60 for 7th place!!!
Last was Beam:
She started her mount on the wrong side so she had to do some improvisational turns to get her back turned around. There was a part in the routine (you can see it on the video) where she looks at her coach with this look like "Oh God--what do I do now???" She said that her coach just kept mouthing "keep going" to her and she finished up the routine. I guess the improvising worked for her because she got a 9.15 and 3rd place!! When I talked to her coach after the meet she said that she always prepares the kids in practice for the unexpected to happen especially on beam when they mount on the wrong side or the judge is sitting in a different spot. She said that she tells them that they may need to add in some turns or move around on the beam to get them to where they need to be in the routine if something weird should happen. The important thing is for it to "look like they know what they are doing" so the routine flows.
So all in all, it was a good meet. She obviously didn't place in the AA, but she had some very strong performances on the other events that she is very proud of. I am very proud of her for shaking off the vault and moving on to the next event well composed. I am so happy that she is able to let go of things like that and move on. I guess in a sport like gymnastics (and in life) that can be the key to success.
Here is the video:
YouTube - MDL Gymnastics Meet #4 - "Flower Power 2010"
So here is the rundown:
First up was Floor:
She was the first one to go and she did a beautiful routine. That backhandspring is getting so much more consistant for her
. I was shocked when I saw the score - a 9.15!!!! She has never scored that high ever!!! She even placed 4th on floor and was smiling from ear to ear on the medal stand!! This was definitely the highlight of her day!!Next was Vault:
She had some gorgeous vaults for the warmup runs, but she ended up balking at the 2 required and scored a zero
. Poor baby was so devastated! I could hear her sobbing from across the gym. I felt so helpless and just wanted to run over and hug her. But, her teammates did that for me and she ended up pulling herself together for the next event .Bars:
Her bar routine looked solid. She kind of fell backwards out of her kip to high bar and ended up doing a back hip circle, which threw her off a bit. She regained her composure and finished strong - 8.60 for 7th place!!!
Last was Beam:
She started her mount on the wrong side so she had to do some improvisational turns to get her back turned around. There was a part in the routine (you can see it on the video) where she looks at her coach with this look like "Oh God--what do I do now???" She said that her coach just kept mouthing "keep going" to her and she finished up the routine. I guess the improvising worked for her because she got a 9.15 and 3rd place!!
When I talked to her coach after the meet she said that she always prepares the kids in practice for the unexpected to happen especially on beam when they mount on the wrong side or the judge is sitting in a different spot. She said that she tells them that they may need to add in some turns or move around on the beam to get them to where they need to be in the routine if something weird should happen. The important thing is for it to "look like they know what they are doing" so the routine flows.So all in all, it was a good meet. She obviously didn't place in the AA, but she had some very strong performances on the other events that she is very proud of. I am very proud of her for shaking off the vault and moving on to the next event well composed. I am so happy that she is able to let go of things like that and move on. I guess in a sport like gymnastics (and in life) that can be the key to success.
Here is the video:
YouTube - MDL Gymnastics Meet #4 - "Flower Power 2010"
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