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NGL780309
I have to say that I couldn't sleep last night and was a nervous wreck just thinking about her competing. She on the other hand woke up bright and early at 5am and was ready to go with tons of energy. I felt sick to my stomach the whole time we drove over there and while we were waiting. Please tell me this will get better. I don't think I'm cut out to be a gym mom. Once the meet got started I calmed down a bit. I think what helped me was watching her looking so relaxed and having fun just like it was another day at the gym. It helped that the meet was set up poorly and you really couldn't see floor or vault all that well so watching warm-ups was difficult. She was so adorable marching it that I felt a little lump in my throat.
Her first event was floor which made me happy. It's not a nervous event to watch because her problems are details which I know will come with time and age. When the girls gathered around the judges before starting she was actually hiding behind one of her teammates and I had a fear at that moment that she wasn't going to be able to do it. Watching your child take the floor for the very first time ever was so scary. My stomach was just in knots but she did a really nice floor routine with just her usual mistakes. She lets her knees come apart just a tiny bit on her handstand forward roll, her back leg is a little low on her leap, she lacks a little tightness in the section on the floor and on her ROBHS she didn't control her rebound very well. She bounced up and kicked one leg up. It's a new problem that has just popped up. It was pretty much a carbon copy of what she's been doing in practice. Score:8.7 I think it will be pretty easy for her to get in the 9.0 range soon with a little more work. She's only been at her new gym about 2 months and they have cleaned up her floor routine considerably.
On to vault where she was first up. I was pretty relaxed for vault because you get 2 tries and it's pretty hard to fall off vault at this level. She pretty much did the best vault she's capable of at this point. She just this week corrected the pike she had on her preflight and it looked very nice. She doesn't block and fly like some of her teammates, but it looks nice. Score 9.0
On to bars next. She did a beautiful routine in warm-ups. I was a little nervous because anything can happen. She looked great to start with a really good FHC with a cast to horizontal, nice shoot thru and then she doesn't make it all the way around on her mill circle! I have never seen her do that. If she has a problem she falls forward, but she was just a little short today. She got back up like a pro and finished strong with a really good dismount. Score: 8.8 I knew she would still get a high score because her bars are really nice and clean. That would have been a very nice score otherwise.
Beam was up last and I was absolutely sure she was going to fall like 12 times. She had a very shakey, bad warm-up. Our seats were also like 2 feet in front of the beam. I had planned on moving when she got to beam. You could see the girls shaking and it was making me nervous. At the last minute I decided to stay. She'll have to learn to deal with people sitting so close for future meets and focus on what she's doing so she might as well start now. She did a really nice mount and I could see she was trying very hard to keep her legs perfectly straight. She had a small wobble on her heel snap and stepped back a bit too quick to cover it. Her handstand was just a tiny bit shy of vertical, though I know that's not required in L4. Everything else looked really solid. She could have held her dismount a bit longer, but she had great form and remembered not to pike down. It was a nice routine. Score: 9.1 That was the highest beam score we had seen so I was thrilled. Her teammate came up later and topped it with a 9.2, but hey she was the state champ on beam this past fall so being in her league was nice.
AA was a 35.6. That is way better than I expected her to do honestly. She ended up taking 4th AA. She was 2nd on beam which was very exciting. Vault was 6th place and floor was 4th place. She didn't place on bars, but the winning bars score was just a 9.050. I know you can't play what ifs in gymnastics, but she could have totally won bars if she hadn't fallen. Her team also took first place.
Overall it was an exhausting and stressful experience for me, but she had blast. I was so proud of her and so happy to hear her say she couldn't wait until the next meet. I wanted her to have fun and enjoy herself and she did. Let's just hope mom can chill out next time.
I would have been proud of her no matter what she scored or did skillwise, but she completely exceeded my expectations. She looked confident and except for the weird fall on bars she competed just like she practices and maybe even a little better. She was bit tighter and sharper than in practice. She completely held her own with her teammates who have all competed 1 or 2 years of level 4. She will be so ready by next fall when her first Level 4 season starts. I couldn't have asked for a better start for her (well, I'd like those bars back) and it was a great learning experience. She's such a shy child that I really wondered if she be able to compete and she completely surprised me.
I did not video because the set-up was pretty bad. Another parent filmed all of DD's team from the balcony and always gives each parent a copy. I don't know if I'll be able to figure out how to post it because it will have everyone on it from her team. I don't know how to post a video much less edit one. Hopefully I'll get a video of just her next time.
Thanks for reading and giving me someplace to get all this out.
Her first event was floor which made me happy. It's not a nervous event to watch because her problems are details which I know will come with time and age. When the girls gathered around the judges before starting she was actually hiding behind one of her teammates and I had a fear at that moment that she wasn't going to be able to do it. Watching your child take the floor for the very first time ever was so scary. My stomach was just in knots but she did a really nice floor routine with just her usual mistakes. She lets her knees come apart just a tiny bit on her handstand forward roll, her back leg is a little low on her leap, she lacks a little tightness in the section on the floor and on her ROBHS she didn't control her rebound very well. She bounced up and kicked one leg up. It's a new problem that has just popped up. It was pretty much a carbon copy of what she's been doing in practice. Score:8.7 I think it will be pretty easy for her to get in the 9.0 range soon with a little more work. She's only been at her new gym about 2 months and they have cleaned up her floor routine considerably.
On to vault where she was first up. I was pretty relaxed for vault because you get 2 tries and it's pretty hard to fall off vault at this level. She pretty much did the best vault she's capable of at this point. She just this week corrected the pike she had on her preflight and it looked very nice. She doesn't block and fly like some of her teammates, but it looks nice. Score 9.0
On to bars next. She did a beautiful routine in warm-ups. I was a little nervous because anything can happen. She looked great to start with a really good FHC with a cast to horizontal, nice shoot thru and then she doesn't make it all the way around on her mill circle! I have never seen her do that. If she has a problem she falls forward, but she was just a little short today. She got back up like a pro and finished strong with a really good dismount. Score: 8.8 I knew she would still get a high score because her bars are really nice and clean. That would have been a very nice score otherwise.
Beam was up last and I was absolutely sure she was going to fall like 12 times. She had a very shakey, bad warm-up. Our seats were also like 2 feet in front of the beam. I had planned on moving when she got to beam. You could see the girls shaking and it was making me nervous. At the last minute I decided to stay. She'll have to learn to deal with people sitting so close for future meets and focus on what she's doing so she might as well start now. She did a really nice mount and I could see she was trying very hard to keep her legs perfectly straight. She had a small wobble on her heel snap and stepped back a bit too quick to cover it. Her handstand was just a tiny bit shy of vertical, though I know that's not required in L4. Everything else looked really solid. She could have held her dismount a bit longer, but she had great form and remembered not to pike down. It was a nice routine. Score: 9.1 That was the highest beam score we had seen so I was thrilled. Her teammate came up later and topped it with a 9.2, but hey she was the state champ on beam this past fall so being in her league was nice.
AA was a 35.6. That is way better than I expected her to do honestly. She ended up taking 4th AA. She was 2nd on beam which was very exciting. Vault was 6th place and floor was 4th place. She didn't place on bars, but the winning bars score was just a 9.050. I know you can't play what ifs in gymnastics, but she could have totally won bars if she hadn't fallen. Her team also took first place.
Overall it was an exhausting and stressful experience for me, but she had blast. I was so proud of her and so happy to hear her say she couldn't wait until the next meet. I wanted her to have fun and enjoy herself and she did. Let's just hope mom can chill out next time.
I would have been proud of her no matter what she scored or did skillwise, but she completely exceeded my expectations. She looked confident and except for the weird fall on bars she competed just like she practices and maybe even a little better. She was bit tighter and sharper than in practice. She completely held her own with her teammates who have all competed 1 or 2 years of level 4. She will be so ready by next fall when her first Level 4 season starts. I couldn't have asked for a better start for her (well, I'd like those bars back) and it was a great learning experience. She's such a shy child that I really wondered if she be able to compete and she completely surprised me.
I did not video because the set-up was pretty bad. Another parent filmed all of DD's team from the balcony and always gives each parent a copy. I don't know if I'll be able to figure out how to post it because it will have everyone on it from her team. I don't know how to post a video much less edit one. Hopefully I'll get a video of just her next time.
Thanks for reading and giving me someplace to get all this out.
Hope we get to see video!
