Women First Level 5 Meet

[Deanna]

Kadee had her first Level 5 meet tonight.
She had some really rough spots and some times where she really shined.

First was floor. The ROBHSBHS looked really bad. RO was nice, first BHS was okay..legs way apart and knees bent. Second BHS was just scary to see. She is still having this block on it. (she had a beautiful ROBHSBHS 6 months ago..and "lost" it). But getting better. Score was 7.5

Second was vault. Holy crap balls. This was the other thing she has a block on. Up until about a week ago, she wouldn't even do it...period. And she had a decent one(not great by any means) 6 months ago. She got this mental block on vault the same time she got the mental block on floor. Score was 7.35. Didn't maintain/increase speed on run, bent arms and legs going over the table..legs separated going over. Tiny hop on landing.

Third was bars. Normally something she really shines on. She missed her long hang/high bar kip. Insisted on muscling it up. Took her about 3-5 seconds. Some minor leg separation, bent arms and legs. Little things here and there. Score was a 7.5. Even though she got nailed for all the "extra movements" fighting for that kip..I can't fault her for fighting for it..lol

Fourth was beam. She missed some MAJOR skills. Didn't go all the way up in her handstand..so also didn't hold handstand. Fell off at end of cartwheel (nailed it every time during warm-up). Didn't hold her scale. Went off the beam on the wrong side on her dismount. (had to repeat it) Went over time. Then some tiny balance checks. 7.2. I think a lot of it was that I was sitting at the end of the beam, and she glanced at me a couple of times. I will never sit right by an even ever again.

I really think she did pretty good for her first meet. She has improved so much in her body awareness. She is more precise. Slowed down a bit. Smoother movements. Not all the little extra steps (although she did have them..not as many..lol), wobbles, bobbles, and balance checks.
All I can say is she has "matured" a lot in her gymnastics. (she has always been "mature" in mind..took a bit for the body to catch up..lol). I think the scores reflected the maturity, compared to last year at the same meet (when she competed L4). She scored much better this year even with major mistakes. I think because she wasn't getting .10thed to death, like last year. I also think a lot of those major mistakes was just first meet jitters. They are things she normally (not always) gets.

So, that was her first L5 meet. She did qualify for State though..lol (with a 29.55, needed a 29)

I am so proud of her.

The team placed 4th. They all did so well.

 

[lovelife]

Good Job Kadee ! Mental blocks are so hard. I agree there are lots of high points from that meet - fighting for her high bar kip, qualifying for states, even going for her vault. Love that she is getting those little details down in her routines ( guess that means your baby is growing up a bit). Also, a big congrats to mom for surviving the meet, you have had a busy week.

 

[kayjaybe]

L5 is the first level our gym competes at. Our coaches say "if we can get through the meet with no tinkle, tears or throw-up, it is a good meet! Anything above a 7 is a great meet."

I love that attitude. It takes so much pressure off the girls.

Congrats to both of you for making it through! And you may be amazed at how much she improves over the season. My dd started L5 getting mostly mid-7's. By the end of the season, she was getting low 9's (on everything but vault.)

 

[gymmomtoo]

Congrats to her on getting that first meet out of the way! She will improve so much over the year that you'll be amazed.

 

[gymfun]

Congratulations! Sounds like a GREAT first level 5 meet
Can I ask where you compete at? My daughter is also a level 5 but she has to get a 32 TWICE before qualifying for state. She has gotten 2 30's and a 31 so far. She has improved at every meet. She has no dreams of being an Olympic gymnast just absolutely loves doing gymnastics

 

[gym law mom]

If she's growing and improving then the higher scores will come. Congrats to her for going out and fighting all day! My gymmies' 1st L5 meet was a total mess and she ended up in the top 10 at states/bar champ. It will come.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Congratulations! Sounds like a GREAT first level 5 meet
Can I ask where you compete at? My daughter is also a level 5 but she has to get a 32 TWICE before qualifying for state. She has gotten 2 30's and a 31 so far. She has improved at every meet. She has no dreams of being an Olympic gymnast just absolutely loves doing gymnastics

Yay!! Congrats to Kadee!! She will only get better and better, so it sounds like she is in for an awesome season!

In reply to gymfun, sometimes individual gyms will require much different things in order to take their kids to states than is actually required. (Such as hitting a score in more than one meet, etc) I know in our state, a 31 is required at L5, but our HC will only take kids who post a 34 or higher to states.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Congrats to her on her first meet . The 7.5 on bars is good w/ a long hang kip miss. Wow, in PA we need a 34AA to qualify for states in L5! (for L6 it's 32). You only need to do it once, but that's still a pretty challenging AA score to get, especially for first year L5s who are still struggling on one or two events...many girls do not make it (it is common for only half of a L5 team to go to States).

Coaches in this area will take every girl that qualifies (at least I've never heard of a coach not), and they actually will go up and argue for an extra tenth or two at late season meets to try to get borderline girls qualified. I think I would be pretty upset if my kid qualified for States and the coach just wouldn't take her because of their own gym/personal rules that were more stringent...:/...

 

[ellabella]

Wow! Here you have to score a high 36 or 37 in level 5 to qualify to state (it's a percentage not a number and you get 1 shot). Not to hijack your thread, just had no idea you could qualify with 29's, 31 etc in other places.

Congrats to her for surviving that first level 5 meet. Level 5 skills are tough and take a long time to master. Good luck to her in the rest of the season.

 

[Deanna]

Thank you all very much. Although she had some major major, just plain crazy, shouldn't have happened mistakes, I think she did well. I am the most proud of how she has really learned to slow down, and "feel" what she is doing. To follow things through. Nice fluid movements..not short choppy, cut off movements. Not her best meet score wise, but I think it was her best as far as her percision. Now she just has to put it all together and think she might be a force to be dealt with..lol

 

[Azgymmiemom]

I think I would be pretty upset if my kid qualified for States and the coach just wouldn't take her because of their own gym/personal rules that were more stringent...:/...

He does this because in our area, there are gyms that are notorious for keeping kids back just for big scores. He doesn't want to send them to states if they have no prayer at all of having at least a chance of reaching the medal stand. He wants states to be positive for them.

 

[Seeker]

I don't think that we're even going to State (our level definitely is not, but I don't think the Level 4's are either). Everyone actually qualified in their first meet of the season, but it's not high on our list of things to do this year. We all went last year and while it was a money-maker for the state association and the host gyms, we didn't actually get a lot out of it. Besides having to compete at 8am on a FRIDAY and miss school, pay for a hotel, etc., in the end, it is just another meet (until you get to the levels that have Regionals with State as the qualifier). The team did well overall, but I know that I left feeling kind of "meh" about the whole thing.

It is quite far away this year (4+ hours) and there isn't really a big boon to doing well there, except for the emotional high. We have agreed to compete through mid-March and then will turn focus back to skill development for next year. The team has competed in some big invitationals already and they have a few more good meets on the schedule, so that is enough for this season. We will have achieved our goals (getting more meet experience, achieving the mobility score, applying what has been learned in training in the competitive environment) and are actually looking forward to getting back to training skills rather than for meets. I don't know what they'll decide to do next year, but all of us parents are fine with that for this year.

 

[my4buffaloes]

It sounds like, even with the mistakes, that she has improved a lot over the past year and that is something to be proud of. And that she kept trying and finished all 4 events is big too. Hopefully now that she competed vault and the ROBHSBHS in a meet the "block" will start to go away.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Good job Kadee!

 

[LizzieLac]

Trust me, she will improve every meet as the season goes on. Good job!

 

[2littlegymnasts]

Good job Kadee!