Parents First level 5 meet is over! LONG!

[UnoMas]

And I am really, really glad. Warning: drama ahead!

Older DD's first L5 meet involved a 9 hour drive. She has been having tough times at practice lately, major problems with ROBHSBHS...also had an ankle injury 10 days ago, so we were just wanting to get her through it. She was very happy that she actually was getting to compete after her injury and she was hopeful about getting a good score on bars.

Anyway we survived the drive and got to the hotel...fun times there with all her friends. She had a 9 am start time so not too bad. She started off on bars which she was happy about. It is her favorite event. She went up there and was doing the most amazing bar routine, I mean it was prettier and bigger than I have ever seen her do in practice. Beautiful!! I was videoing it and she was doing her tap swings and I was so excited to see her dismount and hopefully a big score when suddenly she drops straight to the ground vertically and lands ON HER HEAD from the high bar. She stayed in a heap on the ground for what seemed like forever. I could see her coach asking her to move parts of her body. I was absolutely about to throw up. Anyway, I guess she was not down that long because suddenly she gets up, gets back on the bar and finishes her routine! (she added in an extra FHC and kip on low bar, too...she had no idea what to do). She finishes and is bawling hysterically. I was so, so, so worried about her being injured. She cried through the entire rotation and I am thinking, how is she going to get through this meet? Oh, and by the way, she got an 8.05.

She is still sobbing as she rotates to her next event. Beam. I am sick for her. I picture her being dizzy and falling off and getting hurt. But, she got up there and did a clean routine, wobble on the cartwheel but stayed on. (thank goodness). She scored a 8.950. Amazing!

Next is floor and the dreaded ROBHSBHS. By now she has stopped crying. She again goes out and does a lovely routine and does the best ROBHSBHS I have ever seen her do. It was not perfect, but good enough for an 8.925. Again, I am amazed.

Next was vault which she really struggles with. She did 2 decent vaults but scored low, 7.85.

She finished with a 33 something AA and got 2nd on beam, 4th on floor, and 7th AA. I have to honestly say that I don't care one bit about the placements and scores. I am first very thankful that she was not seriously injured. I am absolutely amazed that she came out of that fall without being hurt. I am also the proudest mom ever to see her get back on that bar, finish her routine, and then go on to have a pretty good first L5 meet. However, she is really disappointed in herself and the fall really scared her.

I hope to get video up of floor, beam, and vault...will NOT be sharing the bars video because trust me it is horrifying!!! It was one of those things where it made it even worse looking at it through a camera lens.

Thanks for listening to all this. I am still shaken up. It is my first experience with something really scary in gymnastics. Not sure how I feel about it.

 

[gym monkeys mom]

I am so glad nothing serious happened. I have been on that camera too and it is scary.

Congrats to her on a what seems to be a great meet. you never know from one meet to the next how things will go do you.

Life as a gym mom is very stressful!!

 

[gym law mom]

She sure showed some mental toughness to do so well after the fall. Its rare to see a L5 fall on a tap swing---sounds like she just peeled off. Very scary for all I'm sure. That is one video you probably don't want to show to her.

Overall, a good meet. Bars would have been at least a 8.55 without the fall and not sure what the judges did with the extra skills on low bar. Actually, all she had to do was a pullover on the low bar--jump to the high bar and do the remaining tap swings and dismount.

Good wishes for more "normal" meets and a wonderful season.

 

[UnoMas]

She sure showed some mental toughness to do so well after the fall. Its rare to see a L5 fall on a tap swing---sounds like she just peeled off. Very scary for all I'm sure. That is one video you probably don't want to show to her.

Overall, a good meet. Bars would have been at least a 8.55 without the fall and not sure what the judges did with the extra skills on low bar. Actually, all she had to do was a pullover on the low bar--jump to the high bar and do the remaining tap swings and dismount.

Thanks. I have never, ever seen her fall like that. She said that the bar was not as chalky as the one she is used to at our gym. So yes, she must have peeled off. Thanks for the reassurance about the score. She would have been much happier with the 8.55. Poor kid! Hopefully she will douse herself in chalk at the next meet!

 

[Ingwe]

How scary, I am glad that she is okay. WTG on a great meet

 

[bogwoppit]

Oh I really feel for you, it is horrible to see your child fall badly, and even worse in a meet situation. I am very relieved that she is fine, but what a nasty shock for her to have to deal with. She is a true competitor to get back up and continue the meet. Her AA is amazing considering what she went through.

THanks for not sharing the bars, those crashes are best saved from public viewing. I have some pretty scary video of some bad crashes from older DD's meets that even she hasn't seen.

How is she doing now?

 

[UnoMas]

THanks for not sharing the bars, those crashes are best saved from public viewing. I have some pretty scary video of some bad crashes from older DD's meets that even she hasn't seen.

How is she doing now?

She is doing fine. It is amazing, I'm telling you. We drove back halfway on Sunday and the rest of the way yesterday and she went straight back to practice last night...she is there now again. Can't keep the girl out of the gym! She gets teary easily when we talk about the meet...so we are trying not to talk about it. Unfortunately we don't have another one until mid-January. I always find the best way to "forget" a bad meet is to have another one!

I am going to delete the video off the recorder. I watched it back once just to see how exactly she fell and it made me ill to watch it. Right smack on her head in a vertical fall.

 

[cathiann]

So glad she's okay! WTG to her on competing the rest of the meet and doing so well! That has to go a long way to wiping the experience from her mind. She didn't seem scared to go to practice today, did she?

 

[UnoMas]

So glad she's okay! WTG to her on competing the rest of the meet and doing so well! That has to go a long way to wiping the experience from her mind. She didn't seem scared to go to practice today, did she?

No...she didn't. In fact she came home earlier and said "bars is still my favorite event...even though I fell on my head". She amazes me.

 

[MdGymMom01]

Thankfully she is okay, but just to err on the side of caution, I would take her to the doctors for a check-up just in case. ANY fall onto the head warrants a doctor's visit in my book. Head and neck injuries (even when they seem fine afterwards) need to be checked out by a doctor.

She is one tough cookie you got there and you must be very proud of her! She is a very brave girl for toughing that out and finishing the meet.

 

[mariposa]

First of all, congrats to her for getting through her first level 5 meet, and to you, too, what an experience. She did very well, especially considering her fall off the bars.

I do have a question though, was she checked out by medical professional on site before finishing the meet? I find it very odd that they let her finish the meet after a fall straight onto her head like that.

 

[UnoMas]

I do have a question though, was she checked out by medical professional on site before finishing the meet? I find it very odd that they let her finish the meet after a fall straight onto her head like that.

Good question, and one that I had also. No. Someone (I guess it may have been a medical person?) came over to her, and our coach waved her off. We yelled out to the coach, who said that she was not hurt, just winded. Like I said, it is amazing that she was not hurt at all. DD denies having anything hurt at any time, even when she landed, she said it just scared her really bad. So, I am guessing that is why? I don't know what the procedures are for that kind of thing, I have never really seen anyone fall like that before.

 

[mariposa]

I certainly hope you NEVER see it again, either. And I don't want to either. Very scary. Glad she is okay. I just thought there might be some kind of protocol with a head/neck type injury that they would want to check her before letting her keep going. I always thought there was a medical type person at all meets, but now I am thinking maybe not. There was an ambulance outside the compulsory state meet, just waiting in case I guess.

 

[UnoMas]

I just thought there might be some kind of protocol with a head/neck type injury that they would want to check her before letting her keep going. I always thought there was a medical type person at all meets, but now I am thinking maybe not. There was an ambulance outside the compulsory state meet, just waiting in case I guess.

I would certainly love to know the answer to this, too. They did announce before the meet started that there was a medical person on-site at the meet. I am thinking that is who came over to her, but like I said our coach waved her off.

 

[gym law mom]

Tell dd that if they notice a bar is not chalky enough during warm up to tell the coach. The judges allow time to either chalk up the bar or scrape some of the built up chalk off for safety reasons.

As for the medical person, the coach should have let her check dd out. Yeah it may have meant she wouldn't have finished her bar routine, but overall thats really not the biggest priority,

 

[Azgymmiemom]

wow-how scary!!! Brings to mind all the fears I have about my kids progressing in this sport...I am sooo glad that she is okay!
Amazing that she was able to shake it off and finish. What a steel backbone she has!
I hope all her remaining meets are injury free and she has smooth sailing ahead in Jan!

 

[Empowered]

Omg how scary! I can't imagine what you were going through. There was an extremely hard fall at Zones, and it wasn't even my child and I was nearly in tears I was so scared for that girl. What a tough little thing to shake it off and finish up so strong.

A child that tough is going to push through and have a fantastic season, I know it!

 

[gymmomof1]

Glad she is not hurt --that is a gut wrenching thing!! Wow on the other events to pull it together like that and continue is amazing and she should be proud of that too!!!

 

[UnoMas]

Tell dd that if they notice a bar is not chalky enough during warm up to tell the coach. The judges allow time to either chalk up the bar or scrape some of the built up chalk off for safety reasons.

As for the medical person, the coach should have let her check dd out. Yeah it may have meant she wouldn't have finished her bar routine, but overall thats really not the biggest priority,

Thanks. And I agree with you about the bar routine.

 

[UnoMas]

Omg how scary! I can't imagine what you were going through. There was an extremely hard fall at Zones, and it wasn't even my child and I was nearly in tears I was so scared for that girl.

Several of our team parents were crying, too. I really hope none of us ever has to see another bad fall like that anytime soon.