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!
