So, it's been awhile, but I want to get back and try to "recreate" what I should have been blogging about last year.
Z's second competition was a lot different from her first. It was in a larger Bay Area gym, with bigger teams competing. My sister-in-law came to meet us and watch. The environment was even a bit different. Z immediately started looking at the leos that were for sale and asked if she could get one (not "meet" leos, just regular ones). I said if she did well, we could ask her dad. Once again, we did her hair and sent her on her way with her team.
Her first event this time was vault. Unfortunately, on her first vault she got stuck in her handstand and fell. Even though I was a lot farther away, I could see that she was upset. She went back and did her second vault and scored an 8.750. Definitely not the score she was wanting.
As they walked to the bars, I could see that she was feeling dejected. Unfortunately, I couldn't talk to her and couldn't get to her coaches to try to talk to her. She normally loves bars, but again, she just had some small issues and scored an 8.825. Not that much lower than the meet before, but again she didn't seem happy. The rest of her team were all talking together and she was just sitting, hugging her knees.
Beam was the next event. She had fallen at the last meet and I know she was afraid that she would fall again. Unfortunately, I think she jinxed herself. She decided to go big on her split leap and just completely lost her balance and fell. At least it was not on the same element that she had fallen on before, but still, you could see it in her eyes. Her score was an 8.150, which was exactly the same as the last meet.
Finally on floor she seemed to get her groove back. She scored a 9.400, less than one of her teammates, but still really good. Her all around score was a 35.125, just 0.150 less than the last meet.
But . . . unlike the last meet, while her AA score qualified for State, she was competing against girls who were just a bit better. She placed in three events--4th on floor, 7th on bars and 6th for the all around. You could see in her body that she was truly upset with her results.
After her aunt left and we started to the car, she started crying. At first I thought it was because we didn't buy a leo, but then she said it was because she felt she didn't do well. I asked if she had tried her best and she said yes, and I said that was all I could ask. I told her that her all around score still would have qualified for State and that seemed to make her feel a bit better, but she cried for about 45 minutes until we got to where we were stopping for dinner. I had already planned a Build-a-Bear stop (I had some free coupons that would cover a bear), and that cheered her up a bit.
I did have to worry a bit that this was going to affect her for the rest of her competitions. I didn't want her to be completely demoralized, but I also felt that it was good for her to not win all the time. She needed to learn about defeat as well as victory since she wouldn't always be at the top of the podium.
I think that's a hard lesson for an 8-year old.
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