Level 5 States!!!

I cannot believe that I forgot to post about the Level 5 State meet.  It was the week after Halloween Jamboree and so much has happened since then in our lives, that I guess it slipped my mind.

The State meet was held at the same gym as the Halloween Jamboree.  It was a little different in that they were using both sets of equipment and little Z was on the set that she did not use the week before.  The nice thing about this meet is that one of her old teammates is now at the gym where the meet was held. She ended up walking in Z's group and being able to talk to Z between events.  It was nice to see them together and for them to be able to catch up.  The other great thing about this is that Z's dad was able to come watch--it is the first State meet that he has been to.

Beam was first.  I'm always nervous with beam, but she did well.  She wound up with a 9.000.

Floor was second.  This has typically been Z's best event and she did not disappoint.  She scored a 9.375, one of her personal bests.  But there were some high scores and even with a 9.375, she wound up in 4th place.

Vault was up next.  She typically does pretty well on vault, but during warm up things just looked off.  She wasn't getting much push off the vault table and on one practice vault she actually hit her back on the edge of the table.  I was really worried about how she was going to do.  But once again, she pulled it out and scored a 9.225.  Not as high as she has done in the past, but much better than I expected based upon her warm up.  This was enough for 6th place.

Her last event was bars.  Although her year started out poorly on bars due to her dismount, she has really pulled it out after changing to a lay-out fly away.  She got up and did great--her casts were high (one so high she said that she almost scared herself) and scored a 9.300.  This was enough for 2nd place.  Her coach thought the score was a little low, but we were happy.

For All-Around she scored a 36.900--her second highest all-around score and 5th place.  It was weird to see that only one-tenth of a point separated 2nd from 5th place.  She was sooo close to second place.  And, once again, had she been competing with her older teammate, she would have placed 1st all-around since she scored higher than her teammate.

Overall, we were really happy with her results.  She scored at least a 9.000  on every event--a first for her.

Now we are on to Optionals.  Her first meet will be January 20-22, however, we are going to have an intersquad meet on January 13th.  She has all of her routines finished and it is just time to polish them and ensure that she has the skills that she needs for each event.  :)

Halloween Jamboreee

So, Halloween Jamboree was our last meet before States this year.  It's one that the girls love, especially since they get to dress in costume for the march in.   Since we only have two Level 5 girls, they went as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and their coach was Cat in the Hat.  It was really cute!

We started on vault--again I know I'm a broken record, but I love starting on vault.  Z did great scoring a 9.600--a personal best and enough for 3rd place.  Hard to believe that a 9.600 was third, but we couldn't complain at all!

Bars was just awesome.  She scored a 9.525--again another personal best and first place for the meet.  I never would have imagined at the beginning of the season that bars would end up being one of Z's best events.

Beam was good.  She scored an 8.900 and didn't fall!!!  She didn't place, but again proved that she can do the back walkover without falling.

Floor was last and she scored a 9.275, which was good enough for 3rd place.

All around she scored a 37.300--her best ever!!! And 1st place.  The best part about this meet is that her and her teammate had the two highest all around scores of the meet and both took first place in their age divisions.

This was a great last meet of the season, especially since it was at the same gym where States were going to be held.

Sometimes it is about the score, not the medal . . .

This weekend was Disco Tech.  This is a favorite meet among the girls because they march in with disco music, a dark gym, disco ball and glow in the dark necklaces.  Last year Z did really well at Disco Tech and was hoping to repeat her performance.  In my opinion she did, at least score-wise, but not medal-wise.

The girls started on bars.  If you've been reading this blog, you know that Z struggled greatly at her first two meets--hitting her feet on the bar during her dismount.  Her last meet she was finally able to complete the routine without a fall and scored an 8.950.  This meet turned out to be different--her warm up looked good to me, but I was still nervous.  At practice she still has times where the dismount doesn't really work.  Well, my goodness but it worked this time.  She looked great and her score showed.  A 9.475.  This is the highest she has ever scored on bars in three seasons of competition.  She had a huge smile and her coach gave me a two thumbs up when he saw the score.

Beam was next--Z has not been able to land her back walkover at a single meet this year.  She looks great during warm up, but something always happens.  Unfortunately, it happened again.  This time though, she was able to stay strong and had few wobbles and bobbles because she still scored an 8.800.  This is her highest score this season and if she hadn't had the fall, it would have been at least a 9.300.  Not too bad.

On to floor.  I love floor, Z loves floor and this season she has always scored in the 9s.  During warm up, I saw her practicing her switch-leap.  This is an option for the dance pass--either a split leap or a switch leap.  She has never done the switch-leap in competition, but her coach told her that she would get less deductions by doing so.  Her routine looked good, other than an extra hop after the back tuck--and she scored a 9.200.

Finally she had vault.  She's been doing fairly well on vault this season, especially at the last two meets.  Her first vault looked good, but she tucked her legs on the second.  She wound up with a 9.150.  Not too bad.

Overall, she scored a 36.625 all around.  This is her best all around score ever--for any level.  She never reached a 36.000 all around in Level 4, so I was thrilled for her.  She always says that her goal is to hit a 36.000 all around, which is essentially getting at least a 9.000 on each event.  She did it and surpassed it.

The problem with this meet was that we were competing against several teams from the Bay Area.  And they were good--even though Z had her best meet ever, she only got three medals-- 2nd place on bars, 5th place on floor and 6th place in all around.   While I don't think she would have been that upset, to know that she outscored her team mate in bars, vault, floor and all around, didn't help.  They put the girls in groups based on ages.  If she was in the "older" age group like her team mate, she would have wound up with 2nd on vault, 1st on bars, 5th on beam, 1st on floor and 1st all around.  Even if we had competed on Saturday in another session, she would have wound up with five medals, including 3rd all around.

I had to explain to her that it isn't always about the medal, it's about the score.  She scored a personal best on bars (over three seasons), beam (this season) and all around (over three seasons).  There is nothing to complain about there.  The age thing will get her for awhile--she competes against younger girls (she is 10) and by the time the girls get older (her team mate is 13), a lot drop out of gymnastics if they haven't hit the optional levels.  So, the younger girls tend to be good and at least in the Bay Area there are a lot of them.  The older girls were mainly from smaller gyms that are not in the Bay Area.

We have another competition this weekend, then on to States!

Optional Season is becoming a reality . . .

Well, we ordered optional leos today.  And we are getting ready to register for our first meet in January.  Last week, Z's coach started working on her optional beam routine.  Just two passes, but it's a start.  We are going to hold off doing more until after States in three weeks.  He has also picked out her floor music and is going to start choreographing that routine.  So surreal that this is happening.

We also found out two weeks ago that our team is going to be growing.  The other local gym has decided to not have an optional team, and initially indicated they weren't going to have a team at all.  Based on the initial notice, four girls decided to move to our gym after States, including one who is one of Z's best friends.  Then, last week, one of the girls who left our gym to go over there decided to come back.  She will be back in three weeks as she also wants to compete optionals starting in January.

It's going to be fun to have a large team again, and to get some girls back.  :)

And Competition Season Begins . . .

I have been so bad about posting--life just seems to get away from me.  This one will be a long one since we have already had three meets this season.  Whew--where does the time go???

So our first meet of the season was Judge's Cup.  We've never done this competition before, but it is at a gym where we have competed before, so the girls were comfortable with where we were going.  For the most part Z has been doing well with practices.  She is just having problems with her fly-away dismount on bars.  She has worked on it a lot, but wasn't really comfortable.

Our first rotation was vault.  Something that Z is normally pretty good at.  But she just didn't seem ready and scored an 8.8.  She seemed nervous more than anything.  Bars was next and I was really nervous.  She had told me before the meet that she wasn't sure if she would do bars, but she did.  Her coach was on the side to spot her if necessary--and it was.  She hit her feet on the high bar during her dismount and the coach caught her.  She scored an 8.0, which isn't bad considering the fall.  Beam was next and she looked great in warm-up.  Unfortunately, she fell on her back walkover, but still scored an 8.55.  Floor was next, and as she has in the past, she shined.  She scored a 9.150, which gave her an all-around score of 34.500.  At Level 5, she only needs a 32.00 to qualify for States, so she definitely qualified.  She said that she was nervous about bars and that was why she faltered on vault.  Overall, she seemed pretty happy and her coach was happy with her performance.

Two weeks later we had the River City Classic.  We did this meet last year, but this year seemed different.  We again started on vault, which is our favorite since we end on floor.  To me (and later her coach said to him) it seemed like she vaulted better than the first meet, but she wound up with the same exact score, an 8.8.  Back to bars--and she did the exact same thing, hit her feet on the bar on the dismount and again the same score, an 8.0.  This was just weird.  Next up was beam and she fell again on her back walkover, but this time scored an 8.775.  This was better than last time, with the same fall.  Floor was last and again she nailed it with a 9.250.  All around was 34.825.

This past weekend we had the Gold Country Classic.  This was one of our favorite meets from last year because it is small and at a small gym.  I warned her coach that he had a reputation to uphold--last year it was this meet where Z finally did a clean bar routine with no falls.  Z has been working on her flyaway and doing it as a layout instead of a tuck and it seems to be going much better for her.

We started on bars--which is what we started on last year as well.  This time, Z did not hit her feet on the bar, but instead did a beautiful layout flyaway.  She scored an 8.950, which would have been a 9.250 if she had a better cast on high bar.  What a great way to start the meet.  Beam was next and darn it if Z didn't fall on the back walkover again.  She does them great in warm-up and then just can't do it during actual competition.  Unfortunately, she had a lot of wobbles and scored a 7.950, her lowest beam score.  At this point, she was more than a point behind the girl who was in first place in all around.  I thought for sure that she would not make it.  Then came floor and that girl can perform.  She got a 9.300, I was so excited for her.  Last event was vault.  I was joking with my parents that she only needed a 9.800 to score a 36.00 all around--but that would be a full point ahead of what she has done so far this year.  Well, the girl surprised us all and despite a shaky warm up, wound up with a 9.500--her highest vault score ever.  I was able to mime the score to her and she was thrilled--her coach said he got a bit teary seeing us because he knew the 9.500 was a goal of hers.  She didn't wind up with a 36, but did get a 35.700 all around.  She placed first in vault, floor and all around, second in bars and third in beam.

Now we have three weekends off before our next meet.  Then we will have three weekends in a row of competition--Disco Tech, Halloween Jamboree and Level 5 States.  We will definitely be working on the beam and bars.  I'm sure she will do fine, but it is fun to watch.

They are also starting to really work on some optional skills.  More dance and tumbling and bars.  This is going to be fun for the rest of the season--then we will see how we do with optional season starting in January.

Moving and Shaking

So much changes so quickly in the world of gymnastics.  My little one is growing in leaps and bounds thanks to her coach and his training and dedication.

Last weekend our coach went off to coaches training in Houston at the Karolyi Ranch.  He came back so energized and ready to go that it was infectious.  He learned so many new training techniques and was ready to share and implement them. And it is working.

Two weeks ago, the girls were working at new drills for dismounts off the beam.  Z was nervous and overly cautious, not wanting to do things, or being afraid.  Flash forward to Tuesday and after practice her coach said that not only was she doing the drills, it was with no hesitation and just going for it.  I saw them on bars doing new drills that I had never seen before and she seemed to be having a great time.

Last night I got to practice and they were working on vault.  Our Level 8 girls were working on new optional vaults and the two level 5 girls were doing drills for Yurchenko vaults.  What??? Are you kidding me?  And yet Z was doing great and her coach was cheering her on each time saying she was doing great!

After practice I spoke with him a bit.  He is so energized and wanting to share and it is great.  He said that Z is doing everything that he asks and doing it well.  He will keep moving them forward with each skill and drill that they get.  The more they do, the more he will give them.  He said he isn't worried about their level 5 season and is going to concentrate more on the Optional season.  The girls already know all their level 5 routines and skills and Z even did her fly away yesterday without his help (he was standing there but she did it).

I am so excited for her and all that she is doing!

Promotion Time . . .

I should have posted this in January when I first met with Z's coach about promotions, but hers really involved two things, so I didn't want to post until she knew everything that was involved.

Earlier in the season, we were told that her coach was going to wait to do promotions until April or May.  He wanted to watch all the girls and see how they were doing and whether he felt they were qualified to be moved up.  Right after Christmas, he told us that he had made his assessments and wanted to meet with each gymnast and her parents to discuss his decisions.  We scheduled our meeting for the first day possible--January 4, 2016.

Z was very nervous.  Even though she did well at Level 4, she was really concerned and was afraid he was going to give us bad news.  He did tell me, however, that it was going to be a good meeting.  That made me relax and made her feel better.

Sure enough, he made no delays and as soon as we sat down he said, "You're moving up."  She got a big grin on her face and couldn't stop smiling.  He did tell her that she had some "bad habits" that she needs to work on, but he has no doubt that she will do well as a Level 5.  The other thing about Level 5 is that it adds thirty minutes of practice every night, but she obviously doesn't care.  :)  He did tell her that she wasn't to say anything to anyone until he had a chance to meet with all of the gymnasts.

After talking with her for a few minutes, he told her that he needed to talk to me and sent her into the gym to start warming up.  She left and, of course, I got nervous.  Not because I necessarily thought anything was wrong, but still, you never know.  Well, nothing was wrong -- far from it.

The way gymnastics works at this point is that Levels 1-5 are considered compulsory.  Everyone does the same routine in the same level.  Levels 6-10 are optionals and the girls get to make up their own routines with more difficulty.  Our gym has the compulsory girls compete in the Fall and the optional girls compete in the Spring.  The problem comes when you move from Level 5 to Level 6.  There is typically not enough time to get optional routines developed and perfected between the end of the compulsory season and the beginning of the optional season.  As such, there is more than one year between competition seasons.

So what Z's coach wants to do, is take a select few (three initially) and have them train not only for Level 5, but also over the summer begin working on optional routines so that they can immediately begin competing in the Spring.  He thinks that Z is more than able to do this and is offering it to her.  He wanted me to talk to her dad and make sure that we are both on board with it. For me it was a no-brainer as I cannot imagine having to tell Z that she would be going more than a year without competing.  We told her coach yes and he again asked us to wait to say anything, even to her.

He didn't finish his meetings with all the gymnasts until the end of January. It was hard for her to keep the secret, but she did.  We had put up a Level 5 sticker on her bedroom door.  She started the extra practices in February and loved the extra time with just a few Level 5 girls.  She has been thriving at the gym and has learned to do giants on the bars (with straps at this point, but she is the only one doing them alone).  I asked if we could tell Z about the optional idea, but he said that he wanted to be able to tell all three girls together.

At the end of February and in the middle of March, we had two of the Level 5 girls leave the team and join another team.  One of them was one of the select three.  There have been rumblings of others leaving and I was starting to wonder what was going on with move ups and changes.  While I was glad I hadn't said anything to Z, I was starting to really have doubts that it was going to happen.

On Tuesday night Z's coach said that he needed to talk to me.  So I made a point of going to the gym early last night to try to meet with him.  The dad of the other Level 5 (select team) girl was also there.  As soon as practice was over, he asked if we had time to talk.  We did and he asked if we were still on board with the idea of the select team.  We said yes and he asked if we wanted to tell the girls.  I excitedly said yes, but the dad said his daughter already knew.  They did not keep it from her and had actually also talked with the other parents and told one of the girls who left (who had not been given this option).  In any event, we grabbed Z and her coach asked if she was excited for the season, to which she said yet (she had just learned the Level 5 floor routine that night).  He then asked if she would like to compete two seasons this year.  She seemed a little confused and then he explained everything to her and she became very excited!

She was upset that I had known for three months and hadn't said anything.  But now she can't wait to start learning her "own" routine and working out five days a week.  The extra day a week won't start until summer, but I think this has really given her a new look on her season.  She is concerned because now her "system" is broken--she was a Level 3 in 3rd grade, Level 4 in 4th grade and she is going to be a Level 5 in 5th grade, but now she is also going to be a Level 6 or 7 in 5th grade!

So stinkin' proud of my girl!