Well, I'm really bad about this blogging business. Good thing it isn't my job.
Z has been working hard at all of her level 7 skills. She had her back walkover-back handspring series on beam, but now is struggling with it. Giants on bars used to be no problem, but again, she is struggling. Floor, luckily remains her passion and her coach choreographed a beautiful routine.
This year our team has grown. We actually have six level 7 girls--so it will be fun at competition and we can qualify for team awards. I think Z is probably one of the top two or three in the level and everyone seems to be struggling with something. It is going to be an interesting year to say the least.
Like last year, we did an in-house meet on November 30th. We had the same judge come and it was a lot of fun with all of the girls (11 competing optionals this year). Vault was good with a 9.350. Bars, where she has been struggling was decent with a 9.050. I was happy with her beam score of 9.250. She has some bobbles, but she is the only one doing a switch leap and hopefully by January will have her series back. Floor was great with a 9.550. I'm hoping that this will be representative of her scores for the season, but I'm still concerned with bars and beam. I think she will get it, it is just a matter of working--and maybe a couple of privates. ;)
The season doesn't actually start for our team until the first week in January, however, on December 10th, four of the level 7 girls competed in the Level 7 Judge's Cup Qualifier. At stake was the possibility of being selected to the "state" team to compete at the National Judge's Cup meet in Portland. We had considered that as one of our meets this year, but is 8 hours away and we opted against it. There were 64 girls competing in the Qualifier portion of the meet--no age groups, just everyone competing together. There were girls who are new to level 7 (our whole team) and some that are repeating the level. There were girls from some very good clubs, including one that won the gym of the year award. Competition was going to be fierce--the top 6 and one alternate would be selected for the state team, and medals were only given out to the top 10 places. While I knew competition was going to be hard and it might be a stretch, I still was hopeful. I did tell her coach that I'd be happy with one medal!
The biggest issue for Z at this meet, other than the series and giants, was that it was at a gym where she typically has not performed well. Her worst meets ever were at this gym, the last one being in level 4 where she fell twice on bars and scored a 6.800. She wasn't particularly excited about returning. ;)
We drove down the day before, after having an early morning practice and ended up staying at the same hotel at most of the girls and having a team dinner. We woke up in the morning, got showered and hair done-I forgot how long that actually takes--and headed to the gym.
Warm up seemed to go well, and there were a LOT of girls. Our first event was bars. Z looked good on warm-ups. Not always hitting vertical on the handstands, but made a few of her giants. She was the first of her team to go. On her cast to handstand, she was slightly over vertical and couldn't pull it back and fell. When she tried again, it was great and did her free hip to handstand and again fell. She then got up and had a strong finish, decent giant and perfect stuck landing. But, she fell twice on bars, again. This time though her score was an 8.050. So definitely would have been a decent score without the falls. Her coach texted later and said she had moved on and was actually happy with the score. But, this meant there was no way she was going to qualify as the top 7, maybe that took some pressure off.
Beam was next--no falls, but quite a few bobbles. Her score was an 8.650, which wasn't bad all things considered.
Floor was up third. The funny thing was that while Z was on bars, another girl was on floor with her music. The coach and I were watching and both felt that our choreography was better. Z got up and she looked great! She didn't quite complete her double turn and her leap/jump pass was a little off--not quite even on the straddle jump, but man her smile was beaming throughout the routine. She looked happy and strong. Her score came up with a 9.550. It looked amazing to me, but I'm biased. There was another girl later who also had her music, but scored a 9.050--the choreography wasn't quite as dynamic.
Vault was last and she finished strong with a 9.425 (although there were a lot of higher scores since that ultimately tied for 26th place!).
Normally by the time awards come around I already know how Z has done and what she has placed, but the computer system wasn't working so I had no idea. I was just hopeful that her score on floor was enough for a medal. One of the dads said he had seen a couple of 9.7s, so I just wasn't sure.
When it came time for the awards for floor, the announcer said that first place was a 9.550, and I knew it was her. I was shocked and gave a little shriek (ok, maybe more than a little since a lot of people turned to look at me). She was thrilled. One of her teammates tied for 9th place. And those were the only medals that our team took home that day. I don't think I've been more proud of her--she started hard, but she finished well and was happy.
Now we have the official start of the season for the whole team coming up on January 6th. It is at a gym where Z enjoys competing and then two weeks later we will head back to Reno!
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
Level 6 State Championships
This was really weird since we had four weeks between the last season meet and the State Championships. Obviously this allows lots of time for practice, but also allows for time to stress out. While I felt confident that Z would do well, she waffled back in forth between believing in herself and not. We did have a private lesson the Wednesday before the meet since she wanted to work on her layout for floor--she had told me two weeks earlier that she was going to do the layout at States, but then became insecure over it. The next day (Thursday), she came home from practice clearly upset. Apparently the girls had been "goofing off" and doing their floor routines to different music or sped up music. She was wanting a serious practice and was afraid that by goofing off and laughing, she might do the same thing at the meet. The coach promised, and delivered, a serious practice on Friday. We then had Saturday free because we didn't compete until Sunday.
Sunday was an interesting day--or at least the morning was. All four of Z's teammates were competing at 8:00am, but Z didn't compete until 5:00pm. So, we had plenty of time to get ready, do hair and drive the 2 1/2 hours to the meet. While we were waiting, I was able to watch Z's teammates scores. There were definitely some good points, but it looked like each of the girls had struggled on something. Since Z never asked, I didn't tell her and I told her coach the same thing.
We did something a little different with her hair, and while we were waiting to leave, she was complaining that it hurt. Part way down to the meet, we pulled over and I started to partially undo her hair, which helped. We also played a game and took her mind off things. We were able to make it work that her dad got to come watch as well, which I think helped keep her mind off things.
When we got to the meet location, we went in to change and finish her hair. As we were coming out of the bathroom, we saw the dad of one of her teammates. It turns out they decided to stay and watch and cheer on Z since she would be competing alone. It was really sweet, especially since this girl and Z were the only level 5 girls that competed last season. Two other rec coaches from the gym had also come to see what a girls meet was like--so Z had a little bit of a cheering section, in addition to me and her dad.
Just before the meet started, he coach let me know that Z would be starting on vault and was in the first rotation. This meant that she was doing the traditional rotation and would be done a bit earlier than everyone else. Since it was going to be a late night anyway, this made me happy. And I know Z was happy because she prefers to start on vault.
The vault was literally right in front of our seats. If I wanted to I could have reached out and touched Z as she walked by. Her warm up looked really good and I was impressed. I was more impressed with the fact that she stuck her first landing--she has never done that in competition before. Her second vault had a small little step, but she wound up scoring a 9.300.
Bars looked good during warm up. She did go over once on her cast to handstand, but I was more worried that Z might be watching the other girls in her rotation because they were almost all struggling. She was the last to go on bars and several of the girls either fell or made major mistakes in their routines. Luckily, it didn't seem to phase Z at all and she scored a 9.325.
Beam was next and her warm up looked pretty good. She has struggled a bit in the past and at the last meet the judges commented that her split leap and split jump needed work. She did work on them during her private and during her routine it showed. They were split nicely and fairly high. She still had some wobbles, but scored a 9.150.
Her last event was floor. She is normally strong on floor and I expected it to go well. The main question was whether she would do her layout or keep the tuck. She ended up doing the tuck--she said she wanted to make sure that she had a good landing--and scored a 9.450. This gave her an all-around score of 37.225, her highest of the season and her second highest overall.
During awards, she placed in every event. The funny thing was that she tied for everything except all-around. She was 7th on vault, 5th on bars, 6th on beam and 2nd on floor, with a fourth place finish in all-around, and only a tenth of a point away from second. Overall this was a great showing for her. She was competing against girls from the Bay Area and she placed higher than several who have beat her during the season. I'm very proud of her for all of her hard work and effort.
Sunday was an interesting day--or at least the morning was. All four of Z's teammates were competing at 8:00am, but Z didn't compete until 5:00pm. So, we had plenty of time to get ready, do hair and drive the 2 1/2 hours to the meet. While we were waiting, I was able to watch Z's teammates scores. There were definitely some good points, but it looked like each of the girls had struggled on something. Since Z never asked, I didn't tell her and I told her coach the same thing.
We did something a little different with her hair, and while we were waiting to leave, she was complaining that it hurt. Part way down to the meet, we pulled over and I started to partially undo her hair, which helped. We also played a game and took her mind off things. We were able to make it work that her dad got to come watch as well, which I think helped keep her mind off things.
When we got to the meet location, we went in to change and finish her hair. As we were coming out of the bathroom, we saw the dad of one of her teammates. It turns out they decided to stay and watch and cheer on Z since she would be competing alone. It was really sweet, especially since this girl and Z were the only level 5 girls that competed last season. Two other rec coaches from the gym had also come to see what a girls meet was like--so Z had a little bit of a cheering section, in addition to me and her dad.
Just before the meet started, he coach let me know that Z would be starting on vault and was in the first rotation. This meant that she was doing the traditional rotation and would be done a bit earlier than everyone else. Since it was going to be a late night anyway, this made me happy. And I know Z was happy because she prefers to start on vault.
The vault was literally right in front of our seats. If I wanted to I could have reached out and touched Z as she walked by. Her warm up looked really good and I was impressed. I was more impressed with the fact that she stuck her first landing--she has never done that in competition before. Her second vault had a small little step, but she wound up scoring a 9.300.
Bars looked good during warm up. She did go over once on her cast to handstand, but I was more worried that Z might be watching the other girls in her rotation because they were almost all struggling. She was the last to go on bars and several of the girls either fell or made major mistakes in their routines. Luckily, it didn't seem to phase Z at all and she scored a 9.325.
Beam was next and her warm up looked pretty good. She has struggled a bit in the past and at the last meet the judges commented that her split leap and split jump needed work. She did work on them during her private and during her routine it showed. They were split nicely and fairly high. She still had some wobbles, but scored a 9.150.
Her last event was floor. She is normally strong on floor and I expected it to go well. The main question was whether she would do her layout or keep the tuck. She ended up doing the tuck--she said she wanted to make sure that she had a good landing--and scored a 9.450. This gave her an all-around score of 37.225, her highest of the season and her second highest overall.
During awards, she placed in every event. The funny thing was that she tied for everything except all-around. She was 7th on vault, 5th on bars, 6th on beam and 2nd on floor, with a fourth place finish in all-around, and only a tenth of a point away from second. Overall this was a great showing for her. She was competing against girls from the Bay Area and she placed higher than several who have beat her during the season. I'm very proud of her for all of her hard work and effort.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Elevate Gym Fest
This was the last regular meet of the season. Not only was it 2 1/2 hours away, it was on a Friday and we had to be there at 7:30am. That meant staying down near the venue--after all it takes time to do hair for competition and someone needed sleep. Our first task was to find somewhere that we could stay that wasn't going to charge an arm and a leg--we found one, it looked good online, so we booked her coach there too.
Z had practice until 7:00 the night before the meet and we drove down right after. Upon checking into the hotel, I immediately regretted our choice. When Z went into the bathroom, I noticed only one pillow, then heard, "um, mom, is this blood on the floor?" It was, and the bathtub was pink (either from cleaning blood or mildew, but in any event, EWWW), plus there were no towels. A call down to the front desk and they assured us they would find us a new room (even though they were sold out for the night--thank goodness I checked the coach in earlier). The new room wasn't much better, but it was a bed and we were able to sleep.
The meet was at the same venue that we had been at a few weeks earlier. The events were laid out a bit differently, but at least we were in a familiar place. For the first time this season, we were going to have vault as our first rotation. Although there were two flights (and two vaults), there seemed to be a delay in the meet starting. Turns out a vault was broken and two flights for vault essentially became one. Z had one of her best vaults of the season, scoring a 9.400. It was pretty funny because all of the girls on the team did well, scoring over a 9.000, but each score was progressively higher with Z being right in the middle of her team.
Bars was next. The warm-up looked good and Z has been fairly solid in practice. She got up and did what I thought was a beautiful routine. She scored a 9.175, but the coach said we had national judges who specialize in bars, so the scores were rough. In fact, Z was the only one on the team who scored a 9.000.
On to beam--I definitely noticed some wobbles and she wasn't as tight as she could have been, but she still scored a 9.000. Perfectly acceptable for me.
Floor was last--I love when they are on floor last. All of our girls do well on floor. This was no exception--she scored a 9.425, giving an all-around score of 37.000, her highest of the season.
This was a rough meet in that we had two teams from the Bay Area and one from Southern California, so there was definitely some stiff competition. Z still wound up getting four medals--5th on vault, 4th on bars and floor and 6th all around. Overall, she was very pleased with her performance.
Unfortunately, on Saturday night, she woke up sick--strep throat, which two girls on her team have had in the last month. She missed two days of school, but only one day of practice. Luckily we have until April 2nd before States, so time to recover.
Z had practice until 7:00 the night before the meet and we drove down right after. Upon checking into the hotel, I immediately regretted our choice. When Z went into the bathroom, I noticed only one pillow, then heard, "um, mom, is this blood on the floor?" It was, and the bathtub was pink (either from cleaning blood or mildew, but in any event, EWWW), plus there were no towels. A call down to the front desk and they assured us they would find us a new room (even though they were sold out for the night--thank goodness I checked the coach in earlier). The new room wasn't much better, but it was a bed and we were able to sleep.
The meet was at the same venue that we had been at a few weeks earlier. The events were laid out a bit differently, but at least we were in a familiar place. For the first time this season, we were going to have vault as our first rotation. Although there were two flights (and two vaults), there seemed to be a delay in the meet starting. Turns out a vault was broken and two flights for vault essentially became one. Z had one of her best vaults of the season, scoring a 9.400. It was pretty funny because all of the girls on the team did well, scoring over a 9.000, but each score was progressively higher with Z being right in the middle of her team.
Bars was next. The warm-up looked good and Z has been fairly solid in practice. She got up and did what I thought was a beautiful routine. She scored a 9.175, but the coach said we had national judges who specialize in bars, so the scores were rough. In fact, Z was the only one on the team who scored a 9.000.
On to beam--I definitely noticed some wobbles and she wasn't as tight as she could have been, but she still scored a 9.000. Perfectly acceptable for me.
Floor was last--I love when they are on floor last. All of our girls do well on floor. This was no exception--she scored a 9.425, giving an all-around score of 37.000, her highest of the season.
This was a rough meet in that we had two teams from the Bay Area and one from Southern California, so there was definitely some stiff competition. Z still wound up getting four medals--5th on vault, 4th on bars and floor and 6th all around. Overall, she was very pleased with her performance.
Unfortunately, on Saturday night, she woke up sick--strep throat, which two girls on her team have had in the last month. She missed two days of school, but only one day of practice. Luckily we have until April 2nd before States, so time to recover.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Spirit of the Flame . . .
This is the meet that Zi has been waiting all season for--of course the main reason was because they give leos instead of t-shirts!
Spirit was definitely a different experience--the meet was huge, essentially running three sessions all at the same time in the same room. It was also a bit further away than most of our meets and involved teams from out-of-state and a team from Canada. :)
Due to some flooding and road closures earlier in the week, we left about an hour earlier than originally planned. Luckily the extra time wasn't needed and the drive went well. While normally we would find a Starbucks to use as a changing room, I knew the local Starbucks did not have a bathroom (or easy parking) and wasn't sure where to change. Thanks to my very tinted windows, Zi suggested changing in the car--which she did. :) We were able to get into the venue a little early, look around and stake out good seating for our session. I'm glad I did (and saved seats) because some of the other parents had found seats that would not have provided a good vantage point.
For the first time this season, we didn't start on beam! Instead it was floor, one of Zi's best events. I think because of the size of the building and that there were three sessions happening, I almost couldn't hear Zi's music. She was able to, however, and her routine looked good. A wobble after her 1 1/2 turn and her leap was a bit low, but otherwise it looked good. She scored a 9.325--which earned her 5th place.
Vault was next. She's been a little off on vault the last couple of meets. After warm-up, her coach texted me and said that she's doing better and looking good again. I thought she looked great other than a step on her landing, and she scored a 9.075, much better than her last two meets where she didn't get a 9. This gave her 9th place, which was below the medal rankings.
Bars--I was so nervous. The last two meets she has fallen and I wasn't sure how it was going to go. During warm-up, she went over on her cast to handstand and that made me wonder really how she was going to do. I shouldn't have worried, she had her best score of the season, 9.400 and tied for first place!
Final event was beam--weird that we have normally started on beam and now we ended on it. This is definitely Zi's weakest event, but she has been getting stronger. I noticed that her split jump was low and barely split--luckily it was split enough to count, but barely. She scored a 9.175, which gave her 7th place.
Her All-Around score was 36.975, her highest yet and she got a third place finish! The girl who took first place was from Canada, so not someone that she will compete against at States.
The team did well and took third place--without one of our girls competing. This is their third team award this season. So proud of all of them.
Our next meet is on Friday--another day missing from school. We will be leaving right after practice on Thursday night and sleeping near the venue. Wish us luck!
Spirit was definitely a different experience--the meet was huge, essentially running three sessions all at the same time in the same room. It was also a bit further away than most of our meets and involved teams from out-of-state and a team from Canada. :)
Due to some flooding and road closures earlier in the week, we left about an hour earlier than originally planned. Luckily the extra time wasn't needed and the drive went well. While normally we would find a Starbucks to use as a changing room, I knew the local Starbucks did not have a bathroom (or easy parking) and wasn't sure where to change. Thanks to my very tinted windows, Zi suggested changing in the car--which she did. :) We were able to get into the venue a little early, look around and stake out good seating for our session. I'm glad I did (and saved seats) because some of the other parents had found seats that would not have provided a good vantage point.
For the first time this season, we didn't start on beam! Instead it was floor, one of Zi's best events. I think because of the size of the building and that there were three sessions happening, I almost couldn't hear Zi's music. She was able to, however, and her routine looked good. A wobble after her 1 1/2 turn and her leap was a bit low, but otherwise it looked good. She scored a 9.325--which earned her 5th place.
Vault was next. She's been a little off on vault the last couple of meets. After warm-up, her coach texted me and said that she's doing better and looking good again. I thought she looked great other than a step on her landing, and she scored a 9.075, much better than her last two meets where she didn't get a 9. This gave her 9th place, which was below the medal rankings.
Bars--I was so nervous. The last two meets she has fallen and I wasn't sure how it was going to go. During warm-up, she went over on her cast to handstand and that made me wonder really how she was going to do. I shouldn't have worried, she had her best score of the season, 9.400 and tied for first place!
Final event was beam--weird that we have normally started on beam and now we ended on it. This is definitely Zi's weakest event, but she has been getting stronger. I noticed that her split jump was low and barely split--luckily it was split enough to count, but barely. She scored a 9.175, which gave her 7th place.
Her All-Around score was 36.975, her highest yet and she got a third place finish! The girl who took first place was from Canada, so not someone that she will compete against at States.
The team did well and took third place--without one of our girls competing. This is their third team award this season. So proud of all of them.
Our next meet is on Friday--another day missing from school. We will be leaving right after practice on Thursday night and sleeping near the venue. Wish us luck!
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Roseville Invitational
I feel like I'm always writing the same things here. We practice, go to a meet, do well and practice again. I can only use the same modifiers so many times without sounding like a broken record, but here goes! 😉
The Roseville Invitational was held on Saturday for our Level 6 girls. We had to be there by 1:00 and the entire drive I was thinking that we were late, that I was going to get a call from the coach asking where we were, but luckily that didn't happen. It did happen to a girl on another team, but she was delayed due to traffic and weather--arriving just as warm-up ended.
Again our girls started on beam. That has been their starting event at every meet so far this season. Z did well, a few wobbles, but no falls and scored a 9.100. Not a bad score, and a 7th place finish.
On floor, Z had a pretty big step after her 1 1/2 turn, but still earned a 9.350. It was funny because we had the same judges on floor as at Sweetheart and Z scored 0.050 higher, but she thought her routine was much better. She was a bit frustrated, but in the end took first place!
Vault was fine. Nothing exciting, a step at the end on both. During warm-up she stuck a landing, but not during the competition. She wound up with a 9.050 and third place.
Bars was last. Her warm-up looked great and after the last meet we were hoping for a clean routine. Unfortunately, she didn't quite get her squat on, did a monkey swing and unfortunately missed the high bar--her fingers hit, but she wasn't quite tall enough to reach. The rest of the routine was good and she scored an 8.850. Better than last time, but still a big deduction--although it was the 2nd highest score on her team. She finished in 7th place even with the fall.
Her all-around score was 36.350, 0.400 higher than the last meet. She tied for 4th place, but there was also a tie for 2nd place, so she really had the third highest all around score. She was very happy with the additional 5 medals to add to her collection.
The team took third place and received a nice trophy instead of the traditional banner.
This was a weird meet for me--the only score board was on the far side of the gym, near the floor and was difficult to read and blurry. Also, most of the time you couldn't see it because girls were standing in front of it. Normally I can check the scores on meetscoresonline.com, however, for some reason after our third girl was on bars, it stopped working/updating. I never saw Z's bar score and ultimately had to ask her coach what it was. Also, I normally know what places Z gets before awards, but again, because it hadn't updated, I didn't find out until she did. Fun in some ways, but also frustrating.
We have another meet this Saturday--Spirit of the Flame. It is a very big meet held at the San Jose Convention Center. While it is a bit of a drive, it shouldn't be too bad. Z is happy because this meet gives out leos instead of t-shirts! (Roseville gave out sling-bags instead of t-shirts.)
The Roseville Invitational was held on Saturday for our Level 6 girls. We had to be there by 1:00 and the entire drive I was thinking that we were late, that I was going to get a call from the coach asking where we were, but luckily that didn't happen. It did happen to a girl on another team, but she was delayed due to traffic and weather--arriving just as warm-up ended.
Again our girls started on beam. That has been their starting event at every meet so far this season. Z did well, a few wobbles, but no falls and scored a 9.100. Not a bad score, and a 7th place finish.
On floor, Z had a pretty big step after her 1 1/2 turn, but still earned a 9.350. It was funny because we had the same judges on floor as at Sweetheart and Z scored 0.050 higher, but she thought her routine was much better. She was a bit frustrated, but in the end took first place!
Vault was fine. Nothing exciting, a step at the end on both. During warm-up she stuck a landing, but not during the competition. She wound up with a 9.050 and third place.
Bars was last. Her warm-up looked great and after the last meet we were hoping for a clean routine. Unfortunately, she didn't quite get her squat on, did a monkey swing and unfortunately missed the high bar--her fingers hit, but she wasn't quite tall enough to reach. The rest of the routine was good and she scored an 8.850. Better than last time, but still a big deduction--although it was the 2nd highest score on her team. She finished in 7th place even with the fall.
Her all-around score was 36.350, 0.400 higher than the last meet. She tied for 4th place, but there was also a tie for 2nd place, so she really had the third highest all around score. She was very happy with the additional 5 medals to add to her collection.
The team took third place and received a nice trophy instead of the traditional banner.
This was a weird meet for me--the only score board was on the far side of the gym, near the floor and was difficult to read and blurry. Also, most of the time you couldn't see it because girls were standing in front of it. Normally I can check the scores on meetscoresonline.com, however, for some reason after our third girl was on bars, it stopped working/updating. I never saw Z's bar score and ultimately had to ask her coach what it was. Also, I normally know what places Z gets before awards, but again, because it hadn't updated, I didn't find out until she did. Fun in some ways, but also frustrating.
We have another meet this Saturday--Spirit of the Flame. It is a very big meet held at the San Jose Convention Center. While it is a bit of a drive, it shouldn't be too bad. Z is happy because this meet gives out leos instead of t-shirts! (Roseville gave out sling-bags instead of t-shirts.)
Monday, February 6, 2017
Sweetheart Invitational
Well, we have our second official optional meet under our belts. There were highs and there were lows, but we definitely know where we are going.
This week was a bit odd because Z had a week-long science camp with her school to attend. As such, she missed three days of practice this week. It would have been four, but I picked her up on Thursday from camp, took her to practice and then back to camp in time for bed. I could tell watching her practice both Thursday and Friday that she was tired and tired quickly during practices. In hindsight, her father thinks we shouldn't have let her go to camp, but I was not about to take that opportunity away from her.
While we were getting ready on Saturday morning, I asked Z what event she wanted to start on and she said beam. I figured it was because it is her weakest event and she wanted to get it out of the way. Well, she got her wish--beam was up first. Her warm up looked good and so did her routine. We were more than excited when her score flashed as a 9.425. This is her highest beam score ever--she had only scored a 9 twice before, a 9.100 at level 3 and a 9.000 at level 5 states--so this was a big deal. Although this was the highest score for quite a while, she wound up in 3rd place.
Floor was up next and I did see a few bobbles, but her score was still a 9.300, which is good in my book. This wound up as 5th place.
Vault is normally a no-brainer for Z and she almost always scores over a 9.000. But not this time. Her score was an 8.675, which I was confused about but her coach indicated that he agreed with the score. I'm not going to question him since he is a level 9 judge.
Bars was last--what has become one of her best events. Warm-up looked really good, although she was not really making her monkey swing, so it looked like she was just going to do a squat-on. I watched her start her routine and she looked amazing. After the squat on and jump to high bar, she did her kip and then a really large cast to do her lay-out fly-away dismount. Unfortunately, she went big and completely over-rotated her fly-away and landed on her back. This caused a reduction in her start value, along with the fall and other deductions. She scored an 8.550, but her coach said she had 1.300 in deductions, which means she would have potentially had a 9.850.
Her all-around score was a 35.950, enough for 8th place, with no medals on vault or bars. She was very upset and frustrated at herself, but I was able to remind her that even her "bad" day, gave her an all around score that is in the top half of those she had gotten in the past, and was better than some girls on a "good" day.
We know she has the potential to do really well, she has shown it in the past and I know she will do well this weekend. We have a full week of practice and a private on Wednesday. I'm thinking things will be just fine.
This week was a bit odd because Z had a week-long science camp with her school to attend. As such, she missed three days of practice this week. It would have been four, but I picked her up on Thursday from camp, took her to practice and then back to camp in time for bed. I could tell watching her practice both Thursday and Friday that she was tired and tired quickly during practices. In hindsight, her father thinks we shouldn't have let her go to camp, but I was not about to take that opportunity away from her.
While we were getting ready on Saturday morning, I asked Z what event she wanted to start on and she said beam. I figured it was because it is her weakest event and she wanted to get it out of the way. Well, she got her wish--beam was up first. Her warm up looked good and so did her routine. We were more than excited when her score flashed as a 9.425. This is her highest beam score ever--she had only scored a 9 twice before, a 9.100 at level 3 and a 9.000 at level 5 states--so this was a big deal. Although this was the highest score for quite a while, she wound up in 3rd place.
Floor was up next and I did see a few bobbles, but her score was still a 9.300, which is good in my book. This wound up as 5th place.
Vault is normally a no-brainer for Z and she almost always scores over a 9.000. But not this time. Her score was an 8.675, which I was confused about but her coach indicated that he agreed with the score. I'm not going to question him since he is a level 9 judge.
Bars was last--what has become one of her best events. Warm-up looked really good, although she was not really making her monkey swing, so it looked like she was just going to do a squat-on. I watched her start her routine and she looked amazing. After the squat on and jump to high bar, she did her kip and then a really large cast to do her lay-out fly-away dismount. Unfortunately, she went big and completely over-rotated her fly-away and landed on her back. This caused a reduction in her start value, along with the fall and other deductions. She scored an 8.550, but her coach said she had 1.300 in deductions, which means she would have potentially had a 9.850.
Her all-around score was a 35.950, enough for 8th place, with no medals on vault or bars. She was very upset and frustrated at herself, but I was able to remind her that even her "bad" day, gave her an all around score that is in the top half of those she had gotten in the past, and was better than some girls on a "good" day.
We know she has the potential to do really well, she has shown it in the past and I know she will do well this weekend. We have a full week of practice and a private on Wednesday. I'm thinking things will be just fine.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Flips Invitational
Well, the first official Level 6 meet is in the books! While this meet does not qualify Z for States, because it is an out-of-state meet, it does give her an idea of what she can do and whether she might qualify at her next meet on February 4th.
Not only was this an out-of-state meet, it was one that occurred on a Friday, which meant taking a day off school. We did advise Z's teachers before hand and since a test was scheduled for Friday, Z went in early on Thursday to take the test. Due to stupid rules/laws, even though we were taking her out for a reason, it is deemed an unexcused absence--I guess sports don't count as excused unless they are school related.
The other problem that we were having was getting to the meet. Normally it is about a 3 1/2 hour drive, but we are dealing with some extreme weather and getting to Reno, over mountain roads, involves snow and possibly chains. While we had agreed to carpool with another teammate and her coach, with the other father driving, he was unable to find chains for his car, so I ended up driving. Luckily, although we did buy chains, we found out that our AWD vehicle has tires rated for snow and mud and we ended up not needing the chains. The drive took about 4 1/2 hours, with some of that spent behind snow plows, but really wasn't too bad. I was actually glad that we were carpooling or else Z would have become very bored and it would have been a miserable trip.
Once we got to the venue, we checked into our hotel room and set about getting prepared. I had done the front of Z's hair the night before, so all that was left was the braid bun and getting dressed. We had about two hours, but finished early and headed down to the area where the meet was being held.
This place was HUGE! All of the equipment looked new and there really wasn't a bad viewing area in the place. As parents, we all staked out our seats and then ushered the girls to the coach. Unfortunately, we only had three of our five level 6 girls--one had been really sick and one couldn't make it as her father didn't have chains. In hindsight, I should have offered to let her come with us.
Our first event was beam. Since it is Z's weakest event, I'm always happy when they do beam first as it gets it out of the way. Although she had a huge bobble at one point, and I honestly thought she might fall, she scored an 8.950. Considering her best beam score in Level 5 was a 9.000, I was happy. It did ultimately get her 5th place on the event.
Floor was next. This has always been one of Z's favorite events and I love her routine. Her warm-up seemed to go well, although during open warm up she fell on her front tuck. I shouldn't have worried, however, as she performed beautifully. Unfortunately, I hit the wrong button on my phone and instead of video, I have a great shot of her walking off the floor when her routine was over. :( She did score a 9.500, which not only was first place in her age group, but was the highest score of all the Level 6 competitors.
Vault was fairly typical. Her warm up was so-so, but when she actually performed she did great. On her second vault, which was probably her best one, it looked like she was really going to stick her landing, but she ended up taking a step back. It looked unnecessary, and her coach teased her about it when she was done. She scored a 9.250, earning a third place medal.
Bars was last. Bars has quickly become one of Z's strongest events. She now has her cast to handstand and her routine at the in-house meet was great. During warm-up she over-shot the handstand and fell forward, but did another one and was fine. When she was competing, she did a monkey-swing after her squat on, something she doesn't normally do, but she didn't fall and other than a small step on her landing, her routine looked clean. She scored a 9.175, which was second place.
Z's all around score was a 36.875, which earned her second place in her age group. It was also the third highest score of the Level 6 session. I was so proud of her. This was definitely a strong start to her season.
After the meet, her coach told us that the judge who was on floor was very critical and being able to get a 9.500 from her really meant something. He also indicated that all of the judges at the meet were the highest ranking judges, so they have been doing this for a LONG time.
When we got home, we also found out that Z now has her team record for the highest bar score in Level 6. And she is only off the top floor score by 0.025. I can only see these getting better as she moves on this season.
Next week will be interesting. It is the week before a competition, but her class has science camp all week. I think we are going to bring her home on Thursday afternoon so that she can get two nights of practice in before her meet.
Not only was this an out-of-state meet, it was one that occurred on a Friday, which meant taking a day off school. We did advise Z's teachers before hand and since a test was scheduled for Friday, Z went in early on Thursday to take the test. Due to stupid rules/laws, even though we were taking her out for a reason, it is deemed an unexcused absence--I guess sports don't count as excused unless they are school related.
The other problem that we were having was getting to the meet. Normally it is about a 3 1/2 hour drive, but we are dealing with some extreme weather and getting to Reno, over mountain roads, involves snow and possibly chains. While we had agreed to carpool with another teammate and her coach, with the other father driving, he was unable to find chains for his car, so I ended up driving. Luckily, although we did buy chains, we found out that our AWD vehicle has tires rated for snow and mud and we ended up not needing the chains. The drive took about 4 1/2 hours, with some of that spent behind snow plows, but really wasn't too bad. I was actually glad that we were carpooling or else Z would have become very bored and it would have been a miserable trip.
Once we got to the venue, we checked into our hotel room and set about getting prepared. I had done the front of Z's hair the night before, so all that was left was the braid bun and getting dressed. We had about two hours, but finished early and headed down to the area where the meet was being held.
This place was HUGE! All of the equipment looked new and there really wasn't a bad viewing area in the place. As parents, we all staked out our seats and then ushered the girls to the coach. Unfortunately, we only had three of our five level 6 girls--one had been really sick and one couldn't make it as her father didn't have chains. In hindsight, I should have offered to let her come with us.
Our first event was beam. Since it is Z's weakest event, I'm always happy when they do beam first as it gets it out of the way. Although she had a huge bobble at one point, and I honestly thought she might fall, she scored an 8.950. Considering her best beam score in Level 5 was a 9.000, I was happy. It did ultimately get her 5th place on the event.
Floor was next. This has always been one of Z's favorite events and I love her routine. Her warm-up seemed to go well, although during open warm up she fell on her front tuck. I shouldn't have worried, however, as she performed beautifully. Unfortunately, I hit the wrong button on my phone and instead of video, I have a great shot of her walking off the floor when her routine was over. :( She did score a 9.500, which not only was first place in her age group, but was the highest score of all the Level 6 competitors.
Vault was fairly typical. Her warm up was so-so, but when she actually performed she did great. On her second vault, which was probably her best one, it looked like she was really going to stick her landing, but she ended up taking a step back. It looked unnecessary, and her coach teased her about it when she was done. She scored a 9.250, earning a third place medal.
Bars was last. Bars has quickly become one of Z's strongest events. She now has her cast to handstand and her routine at the in-house meet was great. During warm-up she over-shot the handstand and fell forward, but did another one and was fine. When she was competing, she did a monkey-swing after her squat on, something she doesn't normally do, but she didn't fall and other than a small step on her landing, her routine looked clean. She scored a 9.175, which was second place.
Z's all around score was a 36.875, which earned her second place in her age group. It was also the third highest score of the Level 6 session. I was so proud of her. This was definitely a strong start to her season.
After the meet, her coach told us that the judge who was on floor was very critical and being able to get a 9.500 from her really meant something. He also indicated that all of the judges at the meet were the highest ranking judges, so they have been doing this for a LONG time.
When we got home, we also found out that Z now has her team record for the highest bar score in Level 6. And she is only off the top floor score by 0.025. I can only see these getting better as she moves on this season.
Next week will be interesting. It is the week before a competition, but her class has science camp all week. I think we are going to bring her home on Thursday afternoon so that she can get two nights of practice in before her meet.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Optional Season Begins . . .
Z's first official optional meet is this weekend. We are travelling out of state and she gets to miss a day of school since she competes on Friday. I'm not worried since she is a straight-A student and gets all her homework done ahead of time.
The past couple of months (since States) have been a little strange. Our team has grown tremendously due to the closing of another local team. As a result, we have now been carpooling a couple of nights a week and I don't get to watch Z practice as often as I used to. That means there are times when I come to watch and she is doing skills that I didn't know that she could do!
Last week we had an in-house meet with a judge to allow the girls who have never competed optionals a chance to see what it is like. The judge who came was the bars judge at the Level 5 State meet in November, plus we have seen her at other meets. The benefit to having a coach who is also a judge is the connections to bring someone like this to the gym for us. The nice thing about this being an in-house meet was the judge gave a lot of feedback following each event. The girls were not given their score cards until after the judge left, but Z did really well.
The meet was held as an official meet would be. The girls wore their competition leos and warm ups. We started on vault, as we decided to do the traditional Olympic rotation--it also made it easier since there was still practice for the compulsory girls and recreation classes going on. Z has been fairly consistent on vault and this proved no different. The Level 6 vault is the same as the Level 5 vault, so nothing had changed. She scored a 9.35.
On bars, the routines are all different. Each girl doing her own routine with some similar skills. This was the first time that I had seen Z's full routine. To say I was impressed that she is now doing a kip, cast to handstand is an understatement. Her routine was clean and she scored a 9.40.
Beam was next. I was nervous about beam because this has always been her weakest event. Although she has been working on her back handspring, her coach has her doing a cartwheel instead. She is more consistent and normally doesn't fall. Her routine is cute and she smiled a lot. She scored a 9.10
Finally we had floor. This has normally been a strong event for Z. Her routine is great, although to me there are some slow spots. But she loves her music and has been working hard on this. Her coach did the choreography over a couple of weeks of privates, but hers was one of the first one finished. As such, she has had more time to perfect her routine. And, it showed. She was given a 9.60 on floor.
Her all-around score was a 37.45. This is the highest she has scored at any meet. Although she seems to think it isn't as important since the meet was at home, I did remind her that this was a "real" judge who was watching and giving the scores. The judge told her that her choreography is good, and that she is great with the emotion and smiling. She does need to work on her toe point and her split leaps, but she is doing well.
After practice was over, the other girls (compulsory team) were coming off the floor and as Z gave me her score card they were saying that "Z won." Apparently she had the highest all around score of the Level 6 girls. Although she will never compete directly against them since they are all at least 3 years older, it was still nice to see.
Fingers crossed that she keeps her momentum and does well on Friday. :)
The past couple of months (since States) have been a little strange. Our team has grown tremendously due to the closing of another local team. As a result, we have now been carpooling a couple of nights a week and I don't get to watch Z practice as often as I used to. That means there are times when I come to watch and she is doing skills that I didn't know that she could do!
Last week we had an in-house meet with a judge to allow the girls who have never competed optionals a chance to see what it is like. The judge who came was the bars judge at the Level 5 State meet in November, plus we have seen her at other meets. The benefit to having a coach who is also a judge is the connections to bring someone like this to the gym for us. The nice thing about this being an in-house meet was the judge gave a lot of feedback following each event. The girls were not given their score cards until after the judge left, but Z did really well.
The meet was held as an official meet would be. The girls wore their competition leos and warm ups. We started on vault, as we decided to do the traditional Olympic rotation--it also made it easier since there was still practice for the compulsory girls and recreation classes going on. Z has been fairly consistent on vault and this proved no different. The Level 6 vault is the same as the Level 5 vault, so nothing had changed. She scored a 9.35.
On bars, the routines are all different. Each girl doing her own routine with some similar skills. This was the first time that I had seen Z's full routine. To say I was impressed that she is now doing a kip, cast to handstand is an understatement. Her routine was clean and she scored a 9.40.
Beam was next. I was nervous about beam because this has always been her weakest event. Although she has been working on her back handspring, her coach has her doing a cartwheel instead. She is more consistent and normally doesn't fall. Her routine is cute and she smiled a lot. She scored a 9.10
Finally we had floor. This has normally been a strong event for Z. Her routine is great, although to me there are some slow spots. But she loves her music and has been working hard on this. Her coach did the choreography over a couple of weeks of privates, but hers was one of the first one finished. As such, she has had more time to perfect her routine. And, it showed. She was given a 9.60 on floor.
Her all-around score was a 37.45. This is the highest she has scored at any meet. Although she seems to think it isn't as important since the meet was at home, I did remind her that this was a "real" judge who was watching and giving the scores. The judge told her that her choreography is good, and that she is great with the emotion and smiling. She does need to work on her toe point and her split leaps, but she is doing well.
After practice was over, the other girls (compulsory team) were coming off the floor and as Z gave me her score card they were saying that "Z won." Apparently she had the highest all around score of the Level 6 girls. Although she will never compete directly against them since they are all at least 3 years older, it was still nice to see.
Fingers crossed that she keeps her momentum and does well on Friday. :)
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