She did it!!!

Woo hoo! Boo made her back handspring on beam completely by herself today! Yay! She was able to do about five of them, including one in her full beam routine. And not only that, the head coach said her layouts on floor looked much better, too. She has decided that Boo is going to compete at Gatlinburg! Yay, yay, yay! Optionals, here she comes! :-D

Training Update

Boo’s coach said she still has a few things to work on before she’s ready to compete. Her layout on floor is still “low and whippy” and her front tuck is inconsistent. She’s also having some fear issues with the back handspring on beam after the fall that hurt her foot. However, Boo really wants to go to the Gatlinburg meet so she’s motivated. It’s two months away but the registration deadline is next week. She has tonight and tomorrow to show the coach that she can be ready for it. Crossing our fingers!

Foot Update

Boo was not back to normal by Wednesday last week. In fact, she couldn’t walk normally until Saturday. But, I’m happy to report that everything is fine now. She was able to vault and tumble at practice last night, including round-off, back handspring, back layouts on floor and working back up to that BHS on beam (she practiced them on the medium beam). Bars was great, though. She did giants on the strap bar and got her first straddle cast handstand! Because of the holidays, she won’t have practice again until next Monday but I think the rest will do her good. When she gets back into the gym, she’ll be refreshed and ready to rock.

(Very) Minor Setback

Boo hurt her toe/foot at practice yesterday. She was doing a back handspring on the beam, missed one hand and came down hard on the pinky toe / outside of her right foot. They iced it immediately but she still couldn’t walk or even stand on it. I brought her home and she iced it off and on the rest of the day and went to bed last night with the whole foot wrapped in an ace bandage (it hurt too much to tape the toe). This morning she still couldn’t stand on it at all so we took her for x-rays.

Luckily, nothing is broken. The doctor said she probably either jammed the toe hard or she has a slight sprain. Either way, she’s to stay off of it between now and practice tomorrow night (rest, ice, Motrin). If she can stand on it, she can go to practice tomorrow but no running, tumbling, dismounts, etc. The good news is that she should be just fine by Wednesday’s practice. Whew!

Floor Routine!!!

Boo got her very first optional floor routine today! And we both love it! It’s dramatic and showy and suits her perfectly! I’m so excited for her! And she is just beside herself. She can’t wait to practice it some more.

She also worked on her beam routine and thinks that it’s pretty well set, pending coach’s approval. She is just flying along and totally loving level 7. Yay!

Back Handspring on Beam, Pt. 2

Boo went to practice tonight saying she was going to get her back handspring on the high beam. True to form and sure enough, she did it! By the end of practice, she was doing them on the high beam with just an 8” mat underneath. Her coach was kind enough to video one of them so I could see it. Thanks, Allye! As to be expected, they aren’t pretty yet, but she’s doing them! Yay!!!!

Back Handspring on Beam

We’re back in Georgia and things are going great! Boo started back at gym last night and it was all good. The girls were happy to see her and she was able to jump right back in without missing a beat.

Today, she worked on kip cast handstands on bars. She is very, very close but is not quite getting vertical. On the plus side, already having her layout flyaway is nice as it’s one less thing she has to learn. And on floor, she started working on converting her back tuck to a back layout. She did a couple with a spot and the coach said they were actually pretty good. Then she worked them by herself on the tumble track and on the resi mat.

But the big news of the day is that Boo got her back handspring on the medium beam! Last night she was doing them on the flat floor beam and trying to get her hand position right. Today when we went to pick her up from practice, she was doing them on the medium beam with a pad. And at the very end of practice, she did them on the medium beam with a big mat and no pad!!!! Woo hoo!!!!