Boo's Gymnastics

The End

2011-09-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

I am sad to report that Boo has decided to quit gymnastics. The stress and frustration have gotten to be too intense for her to bear and she tells me that her body hurts all the time. As you know, she has suffered several injuries already during her time in this sport and she has far too many aches and pains for one so young. Her six years in the sport has been a wild ride to be sure but now she is ready to move on. Thank you all for your support over the years. We have enjoyed sharing her journey with you and we wish you and yours the very best.

Beam Routine and Level Determination

2011-09-25T14:34:00.000-04:00

Boo had a private lesson with her beam coach today to learn her new routine. It is so cute! She is doing a straddle mount, split leap-split jump, and a tuck jump-sissone. Her series is a back walkover- back handspring. Her favorite part is a squat pivot turn.

That said, her coaches have decided to keep her at level 7 for this season. She needs more time to get her Yurchenko vault and she’s still got some work to do on tumbling on floor. She’s a tiny bit disappointed at not moving up but she’s also happy because she knows she’ll have a chance at a really great season of level 7. She’s excited about that. As her mom, I agree with her. I’m also relieved because the stress she puts on herself to hurry up and get the next skills is heavy. I’m glad she can relax and enjoy herself now and know that she has more time for those bigger skills.

And the training goes on...

2011-09-02T19:43:00.001-04:00

There is new training video up now. Boo has come a really long way in such a short time. All of her skills are very much improved. She is now doing a kip cast handstand, free hip handstand, giant, giant, flyaway on the high bar and it looks really good! She is doing her back tucks and layouts on floor up onto a 3’ mat to work on getting more height and she’s starting to work a few front layouts on the trampoline, too. She is doing Yurchenko timers (round off to springboard, back handspring onto table) over the vault table now, but she’s not flipping yet. She has the back handspring series on a medium beam now (no more high beam; still working on that one) and she is doing back handspring to two feet on the high beam. She is also working on a hurdle-cartwheel-back tuck dismount in anticipation of a round off-back tuck.

Summer Training

2011-07-26T15:44:00.002-04:00

There has not been too much to report this summer. Boo is finally starting to win the battle of the knee. She is now able to do most of practice on most days without the knee brace and without any ibuprofen, either. She says it still twinges sometimes and some days are better than others but all in all she’s on the mend.

She got her new floor routine last week and she loves it. The music is much faster than she’s had before and there’s a lot more to the routine (it has more dance and is longer) but she’s having lots of fun with it.

She is also going back to basics and really working hard to fix her form and improve her strength and power. She has worked her way back up to doing two back handsprings on the high beam and has even connected her front walkover- back handspring. Bars has been all about cast handstands with straight legs and giants with no arch. She’s doing her giant-giant-flyaway again now and is working on getting the flyaway nice and high. On floor she is working on getting her tumbling higher and hopes to start working on front handspring-front pike soon. Vault is all about the round off to the spring board in preparation for the Yurchenko. We don’t know yet whether she’ll compete level 7 or level 8 next season but she is doing great and is very happy at gym and that’s what matter most.

Again with the knee

2011-06-23T18:45:00.000-04:00

Boo’s knee has been bothering her a lot these last couple of weeks. So, today we went back to the doctor. The good news is that the ligaments and tendons all look good. Her knee is “structurally sound,” according to the doctor. But, the kneecap is still not tracking quite straight in the joint, which is what’s causing her pain. So, it’s back to the physical therapy exercise with the goal of strengthening her quad muscles enough that she won’t need to wear the knee braces. We’re happy that it isn’t “injured” and it’s something that can be fixed, or at least controlled. Good news.

Flip Fest and Summer Practice

2011-06-13T16:30:00.000-04:00

Boo went to Flip Fest camp in TN and had an awesome time. I am so proud of her because she tried lots of new “camp” things this time, including tubing (which she absolutely loved), the giant rope swing that flies out over the lake, and the “mile high balance beam”- a log suspended way up above the ropes course. For gym time, she was in training group 1, which is the highest level training group at camp. She got to practice with girls in levels 9 and 10! She thinks she was the only level 8 in the group and she was, of course, the youngest, too. But, she loved it and even got a new skill, a cartwheel back tuck dismount on beam. She had so much fun she’s already talking about going again next summer!

Back in the gym, today was the first day of summer practice and Boo had a great time. She really likes her new training group. Her hours are increasing, as is the intensity of the training, but she loved it today. I imagine she’s going to be sore and tired by week’s end but for now she’s very happy and that’s what we love to see.

Quick Update

2011-05-14T11:02:00.001-04:00

There’s not really much to report right now. Boo has been working hard on her skills for level 8. She got her full on the floor (yay!) and is working on her pirouette and free hip-giant on bars. She is still having some knee pain so we’ve decided to have her take a couple of weeks off of practice to try to let it heal. She has Flip Fest at the end of this month and hopes to be in good shape for that. Cross your fingers!

Knee All Better!

2011-04-04T13:57:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update: Boo went back to the doctor for a follow up on her knee. He said everything is looking just fine! She has two more physical therapy appointments this week and then she’s good to go! Yay!

NGC and State

2011-03-21T08:29:00.000-04:00

Boo had two meets over back to back weekends. First up was the National Gymnastics Challenge in Athens, GA. That was a huge meet with almost 1500 gymnasts from nine states. We were the last session of the meet, which ran pretty late into the evening, and there were a couple of really outstanding teams there. But, Boo held her own and did okay, though she didn’t place on anything except all around.

Vault: 9.00 (first nine on vault for level 7! Yay!)
Bars: 8.975
Beam: 8.60 (no falls but some pretty big wobbles)
Floor: 8.95
All Around: 35.525 (16th place)

Then yesterday, Boo competed at the Level 7 State Meet. Again, she held her own and did pretty well, though she didn’t make her season goal of hitting 36 all around. But, she had her highest score of the season on vault AND….. she placed 6th on bars!!! Woo hoo!!!!

Vault: 9.05
Bars: 8.725 (6th place!)
Beam: 8.700 (again no falls but big wobbles)
Floor: 9.10 (yay!)
All Around: 35.575

All in all, it was a good season for Boo. Her scores came up by two full points over last season and she increased her difficulty significantly on two events. We are absolutely, incredibly proud of her. You ROCK, Boo!!!!! We love you!!!! :-)

Knee Pain

2011-03-04T18:22:00.000-05:00

Boo has been having knee pain off and on for a couple of months now. Usually it was managed by wrapping, icing, and ibuprofen and it hasn’t slowed her down a bit. But last night at practice, it got considerably worse. She couldn’t hardly tumble at all. So, we left practice early and today I took her to see the sports medicine doctor. Boo was really afraid that her season was over.

But, we got good news! The problem with her knee is very common, especially among young girls, and it isn’t even really sports related. Basically her kneecap is slightly off-center from where it should be. The doctor said it is easily fixed with physical therapy to stretch and strengthen the muscles and ligaments on both sides of her knee so that they can hold the kneecap in its proper place better. She shouldn’t even need to wear a brace or anything, though he did recommend some pain medication, especially during therapy. She started the medication today and said that her knee is already feeling better. And physical therapy will start next week. Moreover, for Boo, the best news was that she can continue to train and to compete and she’ll be just fine. Yay!

Smoky Mountain Vacation Classic

2011-03-01T12:20:00.001-05:00

This was our second travel meet in as many weeks, which, while fun, was definitely tiring. Boo did well at the meet. Her scores were a bit lower than last week but her placements were higher.

She started on beam and did great. No falls again this week. Yay! She had a wobble on her full turn and her knees were bent on the back handspring series, but the rest of the routine looked really good. 8.775, 4th place.

Floor was really good. She stayed on time with her music much better and her tumbling looked nice and clean. 8.90, no place.

Vault was up next and looked so good! She didn’t bend her arms (or if she did, I didn’t see it!) and on the first one, she stuck the landing beautifully! 8.90, 3rd place.

Bars was last and she did a great routine. She hit her handstand nicely on low bar and did a very pretty free hip. Nice and high. She was a little short on her high bar handstand and the giants are still archy but they are definitely improving. She had a step on the landing (though she tried hard to cover it!) but all in all it was a clean routine. 8.775, 3rd place.

Her all around score was 35.350 and she placed 4th. Woo hoo! Now she has two weeks before her next meet and the weekend after that is State. Go Boo!

Edgewater Classic

2011-02-21T20:36:00.000-05:00

Yay! All the good luck wishes worked! Boo had a great meet! First up was floor. She didn’t have a great warm up but she did a pretty good routine. She got off of her music some and then messed up part of the routine towards the end. She covered well, though she did finish just a little ahead of her music. All in all, it wasn’t too bad. She scored an 8.975. Good start to the meet.

Vault was next. She is still having some trouble getting a good block off the table and keeping her arms straight. A good effort though. 8.875.

Bars was GREAT! She hit a nice handstand on the low bar followed by a really pretty free hip. Even her giants are improving and she totally stuck the landing! 9.20, highest bars score so far, and 7th place! Yay!

Beam was last and the event of the day. She’s been working so hard in practice trying to connect and land her back handspring- back handspring series as well as cleaning up her full turns and front walkovers. And it paid off! No falls AND a connected series! 8.85, highest beam score so far, and 4th place! What a great finish!

She ended up with a 35.90 all around score, good for 8th place and her highest all around score this season! The real kicker for the meet was that her team of just three girls won 3rd place! The team score is calculated using the highest three scores for each event. In our case, because we only have three girls on the team, every score on every event counted. And they placed 3rd! We were all so excited! Great job girls!

Competition Weekend!

2011-02-18T11:49:00.001-05:00

Boo has been working really hard to get ready for her meet this weekend. Bars has improved, especially her handstand and free hip on the low bar. She’s still working on her giants, though. Floor is going well. Her skills are solid. Now she needs to get more energy and “oomph” into the routine. Beam has proven itself difficult (again!) but she’s working through it. She has started connecting her back handspring series with some regularity this week and intends to compete it this weekend. Ya’ll cross your fingers for her!

Atlanta Crown Invitational

2011-01-23T19:55:00.000-05:00

Boo had a pretty good meet today. She started on bars. Excellent! Her low bar has improved so much in just four short days. She was almost to vertical on her handstand and her clear hip was to 3/4. Even her giants, while still archy, were a little bit better. 8.925 and 3rd place!

Next up, beam. Warm ups looked good. She was thinking about going for the back handspring- back handspring connection but the coach told her not to if she wasn't "feeling it" (she only got it at practice for the first time Thursday). She started off great, hit her full turn, and then fell on the front walkover. Darn! She was really surprised because she almost never falls on that skill. But, she hopped back up, did her two back handsprings (not connected) and finished fairly well. 8.10, no place (but still not bad given the 9.5 SV and the fall). It's going to be a great routine when it all finally comes together.

On to floor. The music was not nearly loud enough (there was another session going on in the same room!) and it seemed like she was a little off of the music. I don't know how she could hear it at all. Otherwise the routine looked pretty good to me. She didn't land her layout pass as cleanly as she usually does but it was a good routine. 9.175 and 7th place.

Last up was vault. Did not block off the table and still had a bend in the arms. Not her best, but then again, vault never is. LOL 8.60

All around was 34.80, not great but up almost a full point from the meet last weekend. She has four weeks until the next meet. If she fixes beam (she's already connecting the series, she just has to get comfortable with it) and cleans up those giants, she should be able to get that desirable 36 all around.

Spiveys Star Invitational

2011-01-17T19:18:00.001-05:00

This was a rough meet. There were lots of falls and mistakes for many of the girls and scores were very low.

Boo started on vault and did very well. She scored an 8.95, which is a slight improvement over the last meet. No place.

On bars, warm ups looked okay except she didn’t hit any of her giants. But, she pulled them out when it mattered most and did a decent routine. She was still archy and she didn’t hit her cast handstand or free hip on the low bar but she did make the complete routine. 8.35 for 3rd place.

Beam was really rough. Warm ups looked pretty good but that series is still a problem for her. Sure enough, during her routine she fell on both her series and on her full turn. 7.90 and 5th place.

Last up was floor and I thought her routine was excellent. She hit both her tumbling passes really well and looked like she was having a great time out there. Her coach said she was still too loose, though. 8.35, no place.

All around was 33.90 and 6th place. Definitely not a stellar meet for her but she had fun and she’s looking forward to competing again next weekend! Goooo, Boo!

Winter Wonderland

2011-01-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

The snow has wreaked havoc all over the Southeast. We were stuck at home for two and a half days. Practices were canceled as nobody could get anywhere. They were finally able to have a short practice yesterday and a full practice today. We’re glad we could manage that given that many of the roads are still a mess. It’s a drag that this happened right before a competition weekend but there’s nothing to be done except chalk it up to experience and an exercise in character-building. Boo competes on Sunday afternoon. Wish her luck!

Getting Ready for the Season

2010-12-29T14:17:00.002-05:00

Boy, is gymnastics ever a tough sport! As soon as something goes great, something else seems to go wrong. Boo has been struggling with her giants on bars since the last meet. She’s been trying to fix the “archiness” but in doing so has managed to lose them altogether. But, she’s working hard to get through it and get them back again. She feels confident about it and her coach isn’t worried. I just hope they come back soon!

On the plus side, Boo is changing up her beam routine a little bit. That jump 3/4 turn that she fell on at the last meet is now out. She’s going to do a front walkover instead. That’s a nice skill because not too many level 7s are doing them and Boo’s is particularly pretty because she’s so flexible.

First meet of the season in just over two weeks!

Peppermint Twist Invitational

2010-12-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

Good meet!!!!! This was a small, pre-season meet but it was perfect for getting back into the swing of competition. Boo’s score on every event was higher than at any meet last season.

Bars was first. Boo hit her whole routine with a few mistakes. 8.600, 2nd place

Beam went okay. She had a big wobble on the full turn and on her series and fell on the jump 3/4. But it was still better than last season! 8.500, 2nd place

Floor went BEAUTIFULLY!!! She stuck her first tumbling pass like there was glue on her feet!. Her second pass was good with a lunge step on the landing. There were a couple tiny wobbles but even her switch leap looked much improved. 9.200, 4th place

Vault was good. She had nice form but took a step on the landing. 8.900, 4th place

2nd place all around with a 35.200!!! Woo hoo!!!!! She brought her AA score up 1.5 points over state meet last season! She really did a totally amazing job! We are so proud of her!

Flip Fest Fall Camp

2010-11-08T14:44:00.000-05:00

Boo went to Flip Fest Fall Adventure Camp in Tennessee this past weekend. She went with two coaches and about eight girls from her gym and they all had a great time. It was her second time at the camp (first time for the fall weekend, though) and she really enjoyed being back there. She is already talking about going again next summer.

Now the countdown is on until meet season. She has to quit arching her giants on bars, straighten her legs on her back handspring on beam and control all the extra steps on floor. Less than four weeks until the first meet!

Major Road Block

2010-10-12T15:43:00.000-04:00

Boo has set up a major road block for herself this week. She is still struggling with confidence on beam. She can do her series and it looks beautiful and solid yet mentally she is still afraid of it. As a result, she has gotten to where she will only do the series on a particular beam at the gym. She and her coach have locked horns over this the last two days with the coach insisting that she needs to be able to perform her skills and routines on any equipment and Boo refusing to throw the skills at all.

This along with Boo’s tendency to need a dozen warm ups before doing any given skill and her reluctance with several areas of her training have caused us to reach the decision to not only slow her down (though she’s pretty much doing that herself) but also to step way back. There will be no more talk about elite or any “higher” goals beyond what she needs to do for right now. The coach thinks what is happening is that she is trying to jump ahead and focus on becoming an elite rather than slowing down and focusing on more immediate needs and goals.

So, the solution is that we are cutting her training hours back down to 16 and the coach is going to focus solely on step by step progressions for level 7 and maybe level 8, when Boo is ready. She will try to avoid pointing out skills that are necessary for elite compulsories and the like. She’s not going to stop working in that direction with Boo but she is going to keep it very low-key. This is not to say that elite gymnastics can’t still be in Boo’s future. No one is giving up on her. But we are trying to prevent her from giving up on herself.

Ankle Issues and Level Determination

2010-09-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

Well, it was an informative afternoon. Boo has been having trouble with pain in her left ankle. It hasn't improved much over the last two weeks (although it hasn't been too terrible, either) so I decided to take her to the doctor just to make sure everything is okay. The sports doctor said there is no break, that it's a sprain. He said it could even have been a series of small sprains, since Boo can't really pinpoint an "injury." He gave her a lace-up bootie-style brace to wear for the next 4-6 week. No big deal. It's lightweight and he said she can still tumble and do all her usual workout with it on. He said to wear it all day for the first 2-3 weeks or so then just for gym for another 3-4 weeks after that to support it while it strengthens and heals. At least there’s no activity restriction. Yay!

We also had a chat with Boo’s coach about her progress. She said she would still like to see her do L8 this season but more importantly, she wants her to have an outstanding season and frankly, they just need more time. She's just not ready yet. We talked pros and cons for awhile and came to the decision that she will continue all her current training but will compete L7 this season instead of pushing so hard for level 8.

Boo is okay with this decision. She is looking forward to feeling comfortable and confident while competing and hopes to maybe even win a medal or two this time around. I am happy that she is happy. This season is going to ROCK!

A Good Day

2010-09-20T15:53:00.001-04:00

Boo had a good day in the gym today. She hit five beam routines including all skills and the dismount. She also worked on her round off- back tuck dismount from the floor beam onto a mat on the pit. She was landing those by the end of practice and feels confident that she’ll be ready to put them on the regular beam soon. On floor, she was landing some pretty nice fulls on the mat on the pit and her front handspring- front pike is looking better and better. Then, she worked her back tumbling pass and was finally able to get through the whole pass complete with two saltos! So now her double salto pass will be RO-layout (or whip)-BHS-BHS-BT, although she hopes to get it down to just one BHS. And to celebrate her good day at the gym, she got to do double front tucks into the pit! She said those were “really fun!”

What's going on now...

2010-09-05T22:27:00.002-04:00

Things are going well for Boo. She’s getting some things better and backing off on training other things. I’ve uploaded some new training video to You Tube. I guess the biggest recent news is that she’s gotten really good with her giants. She even landed her giant-giant- layout flyaway by herself last week. Her cast handstands are looking better and are much more consistent. She’s hitting her pirouette, too, although she needs to tighten up a lot to make it “presentable.” Her biggest problem with bars now is stamina. It’s a big routine with a lot of skills and she needs more endurance to pull it off.

On beam, her coach backed off on doing the front walkover- back handspring- back handspring series, for now. Instead, she’s going to do the front walkover, pose, pose, then back walkover- back handspring. She will, of course, continue working the two back handspring series but it’s on the back burner for right now. She’ll compete the back walkover series instead.

Boo also got her floor routine! It is so beautiful! It’s graceful and pretty and really suits her. Coach still hasn’t decided exactly which tumbling pass she’ll do for her two salto series. It will either be FT step out-ROBHS-BT or RO-whip-BHS-BT, whichever looks better by competition season. Right now, the FT step out pass is looking better. The whip back is too “pikey.”

Vault is coming along. She did about 20 Yurchenko timers over the table last week but the plan is still to do a FHS vault. She’s not ready to flip the yurchenko yet and the coach doesn’t want to rush it.

All in all, she’s doing really well. She has her full routines and now needs to focus on cleaning everything up, making it all sharp and precise, and building her strength and endurance to get through it all. She’ll likely go to a “warm up” meet in December and the season officially begins mid-January. So, she has about four months to get it all together. Go, Boo!

End of Summer Training Update

2010-08-17T19:27:00.000-04:00

Training has been slow but steady these last few weeks. Boo is finally working on full beam routines. She is doing a full turn, split jump-straight jump ¾ combination, and her series will be a front walkover- back handspring- back handspring. She will do her front tuck dismount (or maybe a front pike) again this season because her coach said its really good and looks pretty. She has all her skills but she isn’t quite making all the connections yet. It’s coming along, though.

She doesn’t have a floor routine yet, although she has selected her music (a very cool piece by Bond). With no routine, we don’t know exactly what her tumbling passes will be yet. She has been working on her layout full, switch leap-wolf jump, double turn, front handspring- front pike and a round off- back handspring- back tuck- front tuck pass. She may change that up and put the front tuck at the beginning of the series rather than at the end. It will just depend on what looks the best and is the most solid come competition season.

Bars, surprisingly, is giving her some trouble. Bars has always been Boo’s best event but for whatever reason she’s struggling with it a bit right now. Giants are hit or miss and more often than not she doesn’t make it over the bar. She’s also having trouble controlling her flyaway when it is preceded by a giant (she over rotates in a big way). And those darned cast handstands are still wildly unpredictable. She did have a breakthrough at practice yesterday and figured out how to kip- cast with “really straight arms” which enabled her to hit her handstands more consistently. Consistently enough, in fact, to make two half pirouettes, one of which she connected to another kip. Since the low bar portion of her routine is kip, cast handstand, half pirouette, kip, cast squat on, that’s a good thing. Now if she can just get that smoother and more consistent, and hit those giants, and get her free hip up to handstand on the high bar and land her flyaway, she’ll be in good shape! Ah, it’s a long and winding road this gymnastics thing. :-)

Bars News and Update

2010-07-16T07:57:00.002-04:00

Boo got her giant on the bars by herself last night!!! She actually did two in a row! But the really big news is the connections. She connected a kip cast handstand (completely vertical and solid- really pretty), giant, layout flyaway!! It was huge! We were all so excited.

She’s doing well on the other events, too. She’s doing her back walkover back handspring series on beam, although she still doesn’t like it. Therefore, she’s even more motivated and is working hard on her double back handspring series on the low beam. She’s hoping to do that series instead. She might even try adding her front walkover, too.

On floor, she’s working on her back layout full into the pit and her front handspring front pike on the floor. And she’s doing a lot of work on her vault. Her coach measured out her run and helped her count her steps for the Yurchenko. What a difference! It’s coming along so nicely! Boo is having a great summer!

Giants!!!

2010-07-01T14:59:00.001-04:00

Already there’s more gym news. Boo did her giant on the pit bar today without a spot! Yay! Coach said she had really good form and everything. Boo is so excited. She can’t wait to get back to the gym tomorrow to do it some more.

Training Video

2010-06-30T18:17:00.000-04:00

I was finally able to get some practice video of Boo today and what a banner day it was! She started off big by doing her Yurchenko over the vault table (with a spot) for the first time! Woo hoo! She was very excited about that! Then on bars she worked giants on the pit bar and kip cast handstand flyaways on the high bar. On to beam, where she did her back walkover- back handspring series on the high beam for the first time! And finally, as if that weren’t enough, she started learning whip backs on the floor and even tried one in combination (round off, whip back, back handspring). Wow! What a great practice she had today. The video is up on You Tube if you’d like to see her. :-)

Summer Training

2010-06-16T08:41:00.001-04:00

There’s not been a whole lot to report on Boo’s gymnastics. She’s working very, very hard and having a good time. Starting in July, she will start having some “open gym” time on each event during practice so she can begin experimenting with different combinations and new skills that she’d like to learn. She’s very excited about that and is making some big plans.

On beam, she has been perfecting her back walkover- back handspring series. She has a nice solid connection and it going to start moving it up to the high beam. She is also training a back tuck dismount and might even go for a back walkover-back tuck dismount. She also wants to get back to working on her front walkover and maybe adding it in combination with the back walkovers.

On bars, she is very, very close to hitting her free hip handstand. She can do multiple pirouettes on the floor bar and will start working those on the low bar once she is hitting handstand again. She is also still working on her giants on the pit bar.

On vault, she’s gone back to working front handsprings in an effort to improve her block off the table. She adjusted her run distance and is now vaulting on a 4 or 5 (as opposed to a 2 from a couple months ago). She is just about ready to start the half-on again and has still been flipping her tsuk into the pit. She has about three vaults that she’d like to work on so hopefully she’ll be able to do that soon.

Lastly, on floor, she’s doing the front handspring-front pike, a front tuck-front tuck and punch front layouts. For back tumbling, she’s trying to get more power out of her layout and to add the half twist. She will start building longer tumbling passes adding more skills to each, too.

All in all, it is shaping up to be a wonderful summer of exciting new skills for Boo. I’m hoping to get some training video in the next few weeks, too.

Giants and Vault!

2010-05-18T10:07:00.000-04:00

Boo is really training hard on two new vaults. She is working on Yurchenko drills (round off onto the spring board and then layout around to land on her back on an 8” mat) and doing half-ons over the vault table. She is also using a wedge mat to flip her Tsuks into the pit (half on onto the wedge mat then back tuck into the pit). She says the Tusks are her favorite.

Boo also took a big step toward getting her giant last week. She did her first giant (with a spot) on the pit bar! Yay!

Gymnast for Charity

2010-05-07T09:40:00.002-04:00

This is off-topic but I just had to share. Boo decided to get her hair cut because it was starting to get in the way at practice (dragging the floor during handstands, wrapping around the bar during giants, etc.). She was going to have six or seven inches cut off when I told her about Locks of Love. For those who don’t know, Locks of Love is a charity that takes donated human hair and creates wigs and hairpieces for sick children who have lost their hair to diseases like cancer and alopecia. The minimum length requirement to donate, however, is ten inches. It took Boo about half a second to say “I’ll do it!” It was a beautiful, special gesture and now some child out there will get to have a nice new hairpiece of lovely blonde hair. I am so proud of my baby girl.

Training Update

2010-05-01T19:26:00.001-04:00

First week of the new training schedule went well! Boo was very, very sore after the first day but she has been getting used to the new workouts throughout the week and is doing fine now. She’s having a lot of fun with the TOPs skills and is “soooooo close” to getting her press handstand.

She has been working on a few new skills, too. She’s doing tsuk timers over the vault table and is still working Yurchenko drills. They are hitting hard on the cast handstands on bars (a TOPs requirement) as well as lots of giants on the strap bar. She is very close to having her giant on the pit bar, too. On floor she’s working on front handspring-front pikes and front handspring-front bounder combinations as well as really improving her back layouts and starting to work a layout half. On beam she’s working on her back walkover-back handspring combination. Lastly, they have incorporated a weekly dance lesson that started today. Lots going on and Boo is loving every minute of it!

TOPs Training

2010-04-20T15:32:00.001-04:00

Boo is getting ready to start a new training regimen next week that will include new training hours and lots of conditioning in preparation for TOPs. She is very excited about it. She has been wanting to do TOPs for a long time so we’re happy this opportunity has come available. TOPs is a tough program but very helpful with building strength in preparation for higher-level skills. It is also an early introduction to the elite program, which is still her ultimate goal. We’ll see if she still feels the same way after a few weeks of intense conditioning. :-)

Three New Skills!

2010-04-03T14:26:00.001-04:00

Boo had a big week of up-training this week. She’s having such fun learning new skills. This week she got her front walkover on the beam and her layout flyaway and free hip handstand on bars! Woo hoo! She’s also working on switch leaps and a back tuck dismount on beam, layout half and front tuck-front tuck on floor, Yurchenko timers on vault, and half pirouettes on bars. Such an exciting time! Go, Boo!

Level 7 State Meet

2010-03-28T14:46:00.001-04:00

The season is over. At long last. The state meet went okay, though not as well as we’d hoped.

Boo started on floor and was very happy about that. She was also the first one up so she opened the session. No pressure! LOL Anyway, she did a very nice routine and her score came up a tenth from the last meet for a season-high 8.75

Vault was next. She looked good to me but she did bend her arms on both vaults and bent way over at the waist. She was fighting for the stuck landing but the huge bend at the waist and still having a small step did her in, I think. But she got another 8.35. Same score as last meet.

Her bars looked much better but she still didn't hit her handstands. Just two days ago at the gym she was hitting gorgeous handstands and lovely, high free hips. But she played it safe for the meet and ended up with a 9.7 start value as a result. She did get another season-high score, though. 8.4 (up two tenths from the last meet).

Last up was her nemesis... the dreaded beam. She looked nervous and was doing handstand after handstand on the floor in back while waiting for her turn. So, she gets up there, does a beautiful handstand, held it great, nice split down, good back handspring.... and crooked hips and she fell. But, at least that was the only fall this time. She managed to stick her full turn and did a pretty nice dismount. Another season high score of 8.2 (up a full point from the last meet two weeks ago).

Her all around score was 33.7, not great but still up 1.4 from the last meet. A pretty healthy increase in only two weeks, I'd say. And that's up 2.6 points from her first meet only six weeks ago (it seems so much longer than that!) and she was out for three weeks of that with the foot thing. So I'd say that's a pretty successful end to a short, hard season. We're all looking forward to a nice, long off-season. :-)

National Gymnastics Challenge

2010-03-14T19:40:00.001-04:00

This was definitely not a great meet, but Boo did okay, managed to bring up almost all of her scores from Gatlinburg and did qualify for States.

They started off on beam, which has been Boo’s nemesis this season. She looked good but then held her handstand a little too long end ended up going over and falling. She got back up, redid the handstand, into the back handspring, but couldn’t quite hold it. Fall number 2. The rest of the routine looked good but she only ended up with a 7.20.

Floor was next and it looked really good. She scored an 8.65 but that’s not enough to place.

Vault next and definitely not her favorite event. The first one looked pretty good. On the second one, she felt a little rushed, got the wrong footing somehow, landed on the spring board with the wrong foot forward and ended up sort of cartwheeling over the board. Luckily the first vault was okay. 8.35, no place.

Last up was bars. She still isn’t hitting her handstands (although she’s been doing them beautifully at practice) and her free hips were a little low. But, this score came up a full point from Gatlinburg. 8.20, no place.

The goal of this meet was to qualify to state. For that she needed a 32 all-around, which she got. 32.40 all around, 12th place. With two weeks left to prepare, it’s on to States.

She's Baaaaaack!!!

2010-03-05T15:17:00.001-05:00

Boo went to the doctor today and he gave her the all-clear to go back to practice. He said she’s completely healed like it never happened! Woo hoo! She’s dancing around the house now, itching to get back to practice tonight. The last qualifying meet of the season is a week from Sunday. She has this one chance to get her qualifying score for state. Go, Boo, go!

Not Good News

2010-02-23T16:29:00.001-05:00

The doctor said that Boo’s foot is not healed enough to get back to training. The pain has been much better but it still hurt when he pressed on the top and bottom of her foot. So, she cannot participate in the Gym Dogs exhibition on Friday, she can’t compete on Sunday and worst of all, she’s out of the gym completely for the next ten days. No gym, no PE, no conditioning, nothing until we go back a week from Friday. She is not a happy little girl right now. But, she understands that she has another ten years of gymnastics before she even gets to college. Missing a few weeks of practice now is nothing in the grand scheme of things. It’s still disappointing for her, though.

Foot Update

2010-02-21T12:05:00.000-05:00

Wow. Resting is not an easy proposition for a gymnast. I do believe that resting is harder on Boo than training and competing with a chipped bone. She ended up “misbehaving” at practice on Wednesday, doing side handstands on beam, kip casts on bars and even trying some press handstands and pirouettes on the floor bar, all while wearing the boot. So much for resting! The doctor’s office said to keep her home from practice on Friday and Saturday and encourage very strict rest through the weekend. If she can do that, she can go back to practice tomorrow night with light workouts. He did say that she can do conditioning (off the foot), handstands and some bars stuff (low bar only) if she rests her foot until then.

So far she’s been very good. She’s rested her foot, kept it elevated and, for the most part, has stayed off of it whenever possible. And most wonderfully, she’s not in any pain anymore! She says the foot doesn’t hurt at all! Yay! She says it feels “great!” So, we’ll let her go to practice tomorrow, still wearing the boot, and we head back to the doctor on Tuesday. Hopefully he’ll say that she’s healed enough to do the Gym Dogs exhibition on Friday and to compete on Sunday. Cross your fingers!

"I'm not a stingray, I'm a shark!"

2010-02-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

Boo’s foot has been hurting more and more since coming back from the meet last weekend. This morning I took her to see a sports medicine doctor, and I’m glad I did. Turns out that she has a chipped bone in her foot from the smack on beam!! She’s now wearing a boot (Robo-Foot!) and will be in it for the next week at least. The doctor knows about the UGA exhibition in 10 days and a meet that same weekend so he has prescribed "aggressively resting" the foot. She's to wear the boot for a week and stay off the foot as much as possible. The doctor said she can and should still go to practice because it will keep her involved and motivated. However, she can only stretch while at the gym. No conditioning, no swinging bars, no doing anything but stretching.

We go back next Tuesday to see if there's been any improvement and for him to decide if she'll be able to compete or not. He said that it certainly won't be healed but it might be better. Boo absolutely does NOT want to miss that exhibition or the meet so I'm hoping she'll do as he says and rest. But, she did complain, telling me "Mom, I'm not a stingray, I'm a shark!" (We visited the aquarium in Gatlinburg over the weekend and she learned that while stingrays can lay on the bottom of the ocean to rest, the majority of sharks must stay in constant motion to survive. LOL)

Gatlinburg Gymnastics Classic

2010-02-14T17:30:00.001-05:00

We just got back from the Gatlinburg Classic and our mini-vacation in Gatlinburg. This trip/meet definitely had its highs and lows. The drive up should have been an indication of the adventures to come.

We were on the only road that runs through the Smoky Mountain National Park between Cherokee, NC and Gatlinburg, TN on our way up to the meet when we came across a very recent (as in maybe a few seconds!) accident. A truck coming down the mountain slid and hit the driver’s side of the sedan in front of them, breaking out both driver’s side windows and rolling the sedan up onto the passenger side in the ditch. It looked terrifying, but luckily everyone was okay. Boo’s dad climbed in the broken windows to help pull the driver out of the totaled sedan. One of the driver’s who stopped was a nurse, thank goodness. The man seemed to only have a few cuts but said his chest was sore from the air bag. There was no cell-phone service on the mountain but one of the driver’s heading back down said he would call as soon as his phone worked. As we continued on up the mountain, we passed a DOT truck and a police vehicle with lights on headed down toward the accident. Shortly after we passed through, they closed the road due to slick conditions and the approach of another snow storm. Unfortunately, this closure turned back one of Boo’s teammates who was subsequently unable to get through to the meet.

The meet itself was a rough one. Boo was the youngest level 7 competitor and there were only four girls in her age division, all from her team. She was definitely not “on” and did not have her best performance.

They started on bars and Boo was the second to compete. She missed both of her handstands and fell on the squat on. 7.10 and 3rd place. On to beam next.

Warm ups were looking a little rough and Boo was limping, favoring her right foot again. This is the foot that she injured on a beam fall a while back and she aggravated it again with a fall a couple weeks ago. It started bothering her during warm up and plagued her for the rest of the meet. Her routine started off okay, she looked fairly steady. Nice solid handstand but her legs were bent on the back handspring, causing her to go a off center, resulting in a fall. She got back up and went into the full turn, over-rotated and fell again. That seemed to drain her energy so her split leap and split jump didn’t have the amplitude they should have, either. On the plus side, she stuck the front tuck dismount beautifully. 7.625 and tied for 3rd.

Floor was next and she seemed to pull it together somehow for that. She still didn’t look happy and she was still limping. But somehow when she got to floor, she got into the spirit of her routine. Her leap pass is still not great and coach is going to try a few different leaps with her to see if they can change it to something that works better. But for yesterday, she did alright. She had fun with the routine and scored an 8.50, no place though.

Last up was vault, which is not her favorite. As we say, vault is vault. 7.875 and no place.

She didn’t get the scores she had aimed for but all in all, she had a good time and she got to bring home some bling. And the best part for her was that her level 7 team won 1st place! Good job, girls! Also on a positive note, our level 8s won 3rd place, our level 9s won 2nd place and our sole level 10 won 1st all around. Woo hoo!!!

We enjoyed the rest of our vacation and headed out for home this morning. The mountain pass was still closed so we called Boo’s grandpa, who looked up several alternate routes for us to get home. Unfortunately, all the routes he found involved I-40, which we found out later (too late) was closed due to a rock slide last week. We ended up taking a detour through the mountains and coming out on I-26 north of Asheville. So we came home from TN via North and South Carolina instead. Our 3 ½ hour drive up was a 6 hour drive home. Boy are we glad to finally be back.

On the way home, though, we got a text message from one of Boo’s coaches. Our head coach, who was at the meet Saturday, had her baby in TN this morning! She wasn’t due for another two weeks but apparently this little one had other plans, like becoming a Valentine’s Day baby instead! Happy Birthday, little one, and a big congratulations to Coach and family!

Ten days to go!

2010-02-02T08:17:00.001-05:00

Time is just flying by at the gym. There are ten days left until Gatlinburg. Boo is working very hard to polish her routines, as well as doing a little uptraining.

The coach took the back walkover- back walkover series out of most of the team’s beam routines because even the slightest wiggle of the foot can cost them the connection at a meet, a deduction of five tenths off the start value of the routine. Boo is so very excited that her beam series is now a handstand- back handspring! She was able to do it beautifully on the high beam right away and will be allowed to compete it next weekend. She was so very proud of herself and is really excited about her beam routine. She loves it!

As for the other events, things are going well. Her floor routine looks good, although she still needs more height and a bigger split on her switch leap and a little more control on her tumbling. She has been working on her straight cast handstand on bars (as opposed to doing a straddle handstand). Coach says she’s strong enough to do it and the straight handstand actually looks better than her straddle. She’s still not quite hitting full vertical but she’s getting close and is connecting the whole routine smoothly.

Vault is pretty good and they’ve actually started uptraining there. She’s working Yurchenko drills and timers, which is very exciting. Last night she was doing roundoffs onto the spring board with the coach catching her in front the vault table. They were also using a mini-tramp to work back handsprings over a big mat into the pit. She had such fun! Gatlinburg, here we come!

Atlanta Crown Invitational

2010-01-17T14:57:00.002-05:00

Boo and I went to watch the team compete at the Atlanta Crown this morning. What a good meet this was! The venue was really nice with great seating for parents and lots of room for the competitors. It looked like everyone was having fun and our girls did great! I think getting to watch a meet at the optional level was a good experience for Boo. It seemed to remind her what she’s working for and really seemed to motivate her. She knows what she has to do now and I think she’ll kick it into high gear at practice. Four weeks to go until Gatlinburg!

Doc Ali

2010-01-12T09:23:00.001-05:00

I have to send a huge shout out to Doc Ali, a sports psychologist who specializes in gymnastics and has worked with national elites as well as college gymnasts. Even though Boo has her back handspring on beam, she still really struggles with fear of the skill and doesn’t really “own” it yet. As a result, she is very inconsistent. Sometimes she can do it fine but then she’ll go days without doing one at all. Last week, she fell and hit her leg doing a full turn on beam, resulting in a minor fear of full turns, of all things, too. She was frustrated, her coaches were frustrated, and truthfully, her parents were frustrated, too. Her coach said that she has the skills and she performs them beautifully. She has nothing to be afraid of and these problems are all in her mind.

In an effort to help Boo, I turned to Doc Ali. On her website, www.Headgames.ws, she has several articles available to help gymnasts and coaches deal with fear issues. One article, “Beating the Fear Beast” was particularly good. The article offers a step-by-step method for turning those negative thoughts into positive ones. I printed it out and gave it to Boo to read.

So last night at practice, I reminded Boo “S-B-V-GO!” (from the article) and sent her off to practice. When her dad picked her up at the end, she was doing full routines on beam, including back handsprings and full turns, and absolutely glowing from her success. She was so proud of herself and so happy. The coaches were impressed and even asked her to bring in the article to share with the rest of the team at the next practice. As her mom, I am not only relieved that Boo was able to get through her fear (though I’m sure this will be an ongoing process, she has made huge strides), but I am also so impressed that she was able to read the article, understand it, and apply the advice in a positive and effective manner. Thank you, Doc Ali! You really made a difference for my daughter!

Cast Flyaway

2010-01-07T06:50:00.001-05:00

It’s been a few weeks since I last updated. Hope everyone had wonderful holidays. Boo worked out on a shorter, modified schedule over the Christmas break but still managed to put in some good work. She’s overcoming her fear of the back handspring on beam very well and is doing them completely on her own now, though she does still hesitate a bit too long before it in her routine. Otherwise, her beam routine is coming along nicely. She’s taken a couple of things out that weren’t working well and is tightening up the rest. Floor is going well, too. She says she’s “very bouncy.” ha ha

Last night was a big night on bars. Boo finally connected her kip-cast-flyaway dismount and got to ring the skill bell for it. She’s doing so much better with the flyaway. It’s finally looking nice and “floaty” and she’s sticking the landing, too. We’re very proud of her!

Christmas Party

2009-12-17T10:15:00.001-05:00

The gym hosted an in-gym Christmas party for the girls at the end of practice last night. They made cards for our soldiers, had a gift exchange and danced til they dropped. They had so much fun! Boo got to dance with her very pregnant head coach (quite cute to watch!) and came home with a singing reindeer. She was just bubbling over with excitement. What a wonderful time! Merry Christmas, everyone!

She did it!!!

2009-12-12T14:28:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-11T11:01:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-24T11:08:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-15T13:23:00.001-05:00

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!!!

2009-11-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-10T06:38:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

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!!!!

Level 6 South State Championships

2009-11-01T19:17:00.001-05:00

Boo did a great job! She started on vault. Looked good to me! 8.60. No place but her personal best for the season.

Next was bars. Finally, a clean routine with no real problems! Woo hoo! She scored an 8.70 (another season high) and got 7th place. Yay!

Beam looked nice and clean. A few wobbles but nothing major. 8.85 (second highest score of the season) and 8th place.

Floor was not good. From where I was sitting (and admitted, I couldn’t see very well), I thought she looked great. Hardly any bobbles and only maybe a step on the tumbling passes. I was so excited because I thought she was going to have a great score. And then.... 7.75. I was shocked and, for the first time ever, mad. It really looked to me like she was totally robbed! Afterward, I spoke to her coach and the coach said no, the score was justified. Apparently there were some problems with her front tumbling pass (she lost .8 on that alone) and she straddled her legs during her back handspring. It’s a drag, but I do understand. Needless to say, no place.

But, she ended the meet with a season-high all-around score of 33.90 and earned 12th place. The top ten qualified to State but she was named the 2nd alternate, which was nice. The most important thing is that she is very happy, thoroughly enjoyed herself and is ready to move on. Level 7, here she comes!!!!

Last Practice

2009-10-30T21:44:00.001-04:00

Tonight was Boo’s last practice before we go back to Georgia. It was so sweet! The girls on her team gave her a going away present (a monkey Webkin- her favorite!) and the moms brought in a giant cookie-cake to stay goodbye. The head coach gave her hugs and his wife hugged her til I thought she wasn’t going to let her go. They both told me goodbye, too, and head coach said we are welcome back any time we want. He said he is very impressed with her improvement just in the short time we’ve been here and he thinks her old gym is going be really surprised when she gets back because she is so much stronger now. Quite a compliment and a very, very nice send off. What a great gym!

The Next Level

2009-10-26T12:10:00.000-04:00

I just got an email from Boo’s Georgia head coach. Boo will not be competing prep op in the spring. Instead, she will be focusing on training for level 7 and will begin competing that as soon as she is ready. As the registrations are already due for the first meet in mid-January, it is not likely that she’ll compete in that meet but she should be ready for a few meets later in the season. So exciting!!!

District Championships

2009-10-18T20:26:00.000-04:00

This was not Boo’s best meet. She’s been getting over a cold all week and just didn’t quite look like herself out there.

First up was vault. She did well except for the bent arms. She’s been working on that at practice, though, and is definitely improving. 8.40 (2nd highest score of the season).

Next came bars, which is usually her strongest event, but she just hasn’t been able to pull it all together for a meet yet. She came on strong and was getting nice casts. The clear hip looked good but she missed the squat on out of the kip. Trooper that she is, though, she hung on and I don’t think her feet touched the floor. She finished strong and scored a disappointing 7.90.

Beam was weird. Her teammate that went right before Boo was actually stung by a bee in the middle of her routine! That resulted in a lapse while the judges conferred and talked with the gymnast and coaches. I think that was a distraction for Boo and she seemed to start her routine without quite knowing what was going on (her teammate did get to repeat her routine at the end of the rotation, which was good). I’m glad to say, Boo got through it and did okay. A few wobbles and a major save on the full turn (those monkey toes come to the rescue again!). 8.60 (2nd highest score of the season here, too).

Floor looked pretty good but there was some problem with her hitch kick. She came down badly and rolled her ankle. It looks ugly on the video and the coach actually thought she had broken the ankle. She finished the routine and he immediately sat her down to check it out. She is fine and said it didn’t even hurt. Coach seemed pretty freaked out, though, and even asked Boo’s dad if he could see the video of it. In any case, she is just fine and didn’t think twice about it. 8.25.

In spite of it all, Boo qualified to South States, which is over Halloween weekend. That will be her last level 6 meet. Then it’s back to Georgia and on to optionals!

Yet Another Move

2009-10-17T00:25:00.000-04:00

It’s a good thing children are so incredibly resilient because this economy is making gypsies out of us. We are moving back to Georgia. This is a good thing because we miss our house and our wonderful little town and Boo really loved her old gym there. The gym here has been fantastic but we really haven’t settled into life in Texas. I think we’re just Georgia people. In any case, we’re going home.

Boo will finish competing level 6 here in Texas. She has District Championships tomorrow and South State Championships on Halloween weekend. After that, it’s back Georgia way, where she’ll rejoin her former team and train for level 7. She will compete this spring season but we don’t know yet whether she’ll do level 7 or USAG prep op. It will depend on how quickly she gets the skills she needs for level 7. In any case, she feels good about going back and can’t wait to see her old coaches and teammates. It’s going to be great!

Judges' Cup

2009-10-05T13:03:00.001-04:00

Boo competed yesterday in the Judges’ Cup invitational. She did great, in spite of a mishap on bars.

First up was vault. It wasn’t her best and she was having trouble with bent arms during warm ups. But, she competed okay; the second vault was better than her first. 8.20 and 9th place.

Bars was looking absolutely beautiful during warm ups. Her casts were high and her clear hip was amazing! She played it a little safe when she actually competed, though, and kept the clear hip on the low side. Still, it was a gorgeous routine. Her form was beautiful and everything looked great. And then, the layout flyaway dismount. When she released the bar, she pulled down too much, causing her to release into the bar rather than getting the distance away. She hit her toes on the bar and fell straight down, face first. It was terrifying to watch. Her coach was stunned, I think. But, she got up, saluted, and continued on like a real champion. 7.85 and 8th place.

Next up was beam. Showing true mental toughness, Boo put the bars mishap behind her and put up a beautiful beam routine. 9.025 and 9th place. Her first 9 at level 6!

Last up was floor. Boo has really been improving her floor routines, especially her tumbling. She looked great but the scores seemed a little low this time around. 8.25 and 9th place.

While she had some challenges this meet, she improved her all around score by three tenths in only one week! 33.325 (9th place) She is a true champion to us. Go Boo!

Happy Birthday, Boo!

2009-10-05T13:02:00.001-04:00

Today is Boo’s 8th birthday! Happy Birthday, my beautiful baby girl! We love you!!!

First Level 6 Meet

2009-09-26T18:44:00.001-04:00

Boo did great! The team started on beam, always a tough way to begin. Boo did pretty well but she had a couple major bobbles and almost lost it on the side handstand dismount. No falls, though, and the full turn that’s been giving her trouble looked good. 8.15, no place.

Next up was floor. She did a nice, clean routine, no major problems but there were a few bobbles here and there. Not Boo’s favorite even but today it was her highest score. 8.50, no place.

Vault was actually really good today! She had a good run and has really been improving her block off the table. A great score of 8.45, no place.

Last up was bars, Boo’s favorite, and strongest event. Warm ups were iffy; she kept falling on the squat on. But, when it came time to compete, she looked strong and confident. The first cast was great, followed by a clean clear hip. But, she missed the connection from the kip to the squat on and added an extra cast in between. The good news is she made the squat on and her high bar looked great, including the flyaway dismount. She had a big step on the landing but it really was a good routine. I thought the judging was pretty harsh. 7.95 but that was enough for 8th place.

All around was 33.05, 12th place.

She definitely did not score and place as well as she’s used to. It was a little hard for her to understand how she placed with such a low bars score but not on her higher vault and floor scores. But, she came away with two medals and a great experience so she’s happy. Go, Boo!

San Antonio is on again!

2009-09-21T19:06:00.001-04:00

Boo’s coach just called to tell me she was able to get Boo added to the roster for the October 4th meet after all. Yay! So now Boo is competing this weekend (September 26th) and the next weekend (October 4th). The championship meets come after those. Should be a fun season!

Layout Flyaway!

2009-09-15T22:30:00.001-04:00

Woo hoo! Boo did her layout flyaway completely on her own today! No spot, no coach standing nearby “just in case.” Yea!!! She said she did it twice. She fell on the first landing but she totally rocked the second one! Go, Boo!!!

One Chance

2009-09-15T07:28:00.001-04:00

We found out yesterday that Boo won’t be able to compete at the October meet as we missed the registration deadline. That means that she has only one meet in which to qualify to district championships. Cross your fingers that her level 6 season doesn’t begin and end with this one meet.

Level 6 Mock Meet

2009-09-07T20:59:00.000-04:00

Things went pretty well! Bars was first, Boo’s favorite event. She did a great job on the first half but fell on the squat on. She saved it nicely and made it the second try. The high bar portion was good but the big news is that she made her layout flyaway without a spot! The coach was right there and was ready to spot her but she was going strong and he never actually had to touch her at all! That’s the first time she’s done it on her own! It was awesome!

Next up was beam. She looked beautiful, in spite of a few wobbles and some trouble on the full turn. There were a few form issues but all in all, it looked really good.

Floor was excellent! Boo’s tumbling has gotten much stronger and she’s definitely gained confidence. There were a couple of small wobbles and she stumbled on her full turn (wasn’t the day for full turns, apparently). The rest of it looked good!
Vault was vault. It looked good to me but I can never really tell.

I think she did an excellent job, especially considering the short amount of time she’s had to train. And with three more weeks until her first meet, she’s going to totally rock! (Video is up on You Tube for those who are interested.)

Wait! Which meet?

2009-09-01T22:42:00.001-04:00

We’re back to competing the meet at the end of September as well as the October meet. Both coaches think Boo is really stepping up and has made excellent progress in a very short amount of time. Their main concern is her emotional well-being if she competes in September and doesn’t do as well as she’d like. They don’t want her to feel disappointed or get down on herself because she truly is working very hard and making great improvements.

However, Boo is a very smart kid who knows how things are. She knows there are good meets and bad meets just like there are good days and bad days. She feels ready to compete and says she’ll be just fine, even if she doesn’t score as well as she’s used to. Of course, she has a few skills she’s concerned about but with three more weeks of practice, I think she’ll be ready. This wouldn’t be the first time she has surprised everybody. And even if she doesn’t do well, it will be good experience for her and just make her that much more motivated for the next one. So, three and a half weeks and counting!

When's that meet?

2009-08-31T22:43:00.000-04:00

Which meet will be Boo’s first meet? That is the question. Originally the plan was to have her compete at the end of September. But now coach is thinking it would be better to wait and compete the first weekend in October instead. He said she is learning really fast and working very hard and could even today easily qualify for district championships. But, he wants her to do more than just qualify. He wants her to be competitive and really ready to hold her own and do well. The end of September may not be enough time to make that happen. Of course, there’s the details to deal with, registration deadlines and the like. It may be too late to get her in the October meet, in which case she’ll have to compete at the end of September in order to be eligible for districts. But if they’re not too late to get her in the October meet, we’ll most likely wait for that one. Hopefully we’ll know something for sure this week.

End of the First Week

2009-08-21T20:03:00.000-04:00

Boo’s first week at the new gym went well. She likes the gym, the girls and coaches are nice and she’s working really, really hard. They are cleaning up some of her basics and perfecting her technique on some things. There is a lot of work to be done to get ready for meet season (coming up fast!) but the coaches say she is a very hard worker and she’ll get there. She is still very young (she’s the youngest on this team, too) and now is the time to work out the kinks and get the details perfect. Five weeks until her first level 6 meet!

Welcome to Texas!

2009-08-17T21:40:00.000-04:00

Boo had her try out at the new gym today. It went really well. She will be joining the team as a level 6 and will compete this season, although she’ll sit out the first meet. The coach wants her to watch that meet to get a handle on how gymnastics works in TX (it’s much more competitive than she’s used to). Her first meet will be at the end of September.

After this season, she’ll most likely take a year to train optionals before competing level 7. They want to take some time, slow her down a bit and work on perfecting some of her techniques, particularly given her young age.

They also have a home school training group for the optionals through elites. That’s an invitation-only group but since she home schools already and has elite goals, it might be a possibility after this season. The owner said they’ll work with her this season, see how she trains and decide if that group would be a good fit for her, though they’re definitely interested in that option.

All in all, it went really well. Boo seems pleased with everything, albeit pretty tired. Today’s was a long practice. I imagine she’ll sleep well tonight.

Big Changes Coming

2009-08-07T18:52:00.002-04:00

I’m sorry I have been so remiss on updating the blog. Boo is having a good summer and working hard to get her level 6 routines competition-ready. But, the current economy is throwing a monkey wrench into the plans. Due to a job change, we are relocating to Texas next week. Boo is very sad to be leaving her current gym, which she absolutely loves. And her coaches are very sad to be losing her. But, we’re trying to look on the bright side. Gymnastics in Texas is awesome and she is going to learn so much there. Not to mention that her new gym has outstanding upper level gymnasts and even has one elite.

The catch is that we don’t know if she will get to compete this season or not. The Texas meet season is starting now and she will have to train with her new team for several weeks before the coaches would be comfortable taking her to competitions. They want to get to know her and see where she is skill-wise and such first. It doesn’t leave much time and they may decide that she’s not ready yet. We’re just going to have to wait and see when we get there. I’ll be sure to post another update once she’s started at her new gym (which should be week after next) and let you all know how it’s going.

Update

2009-07-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

Boo is have lots of fun at gym these days. She has all of her level 6 skills now and is working on perfecting everything and putting the routines all together. The first meet, for those who are ready, is in mid-September so she’s working toward competing for mobility then. If she’s not ready by then, she’ll compete at the next meet in October.

Once she’s finished with level 6, she’ll be able to start on level 7 immediately. She’s already working on several level 7 skills and just got her standing back tuck on floor and back tuck dismount on beam last week. She is now working on connecting the cartwheel back tuck beam dismount and several other beam skills including back handsprings, back walkover-back walkover combination and front walkovers. On bars, she is working cast handstands (she can do them but needs to fix her form), kip cast handstands and layout flyaways. And on floor she is cleaning up her front handspring front tuck and working on switch leaps, switch leap sides and several turns and jumps (including wolf half, straddle half and tuck half).

Woo hoo!! YEA!!!!

2009-07-06T14:37:00.001-04:00

Boo got her back walkover on the high beam today. No spots, no pads! Yea!!! Her coach said she landed about twenty of them before I got there to pick her up. Woo hoo!!! Also, she got “floor bling” for her outstanding back tuck series. Coach said she set it up really well and got nice and high before she tucked and flipped. And lastly, Boo got her cast handstand on bars!!! Talk about your banner day! Coach said she was locking them and everything! Right on!!!! We just love days like today!

Back Walkovers..... Again

2009-06-30T16:34:00.000-04:00

Boo’s coach told me today that she had an outstanding practice. They “fixed” her handspring vault and now it’s fantastic. And she worked on front handspring step outs on the floor and improved them a ton. She also got her punch front tuck much higher and worked standing back tucks off a panel mat. But the really big news today is the back walkover on beam. She did a private lesson after practice and within twenty minutes the coach had her doing the back walkover all by herself on the high beam with only the wrap around pad. Boo was grinning ear to ear! I think she finally rounded a corner with this skill today. She’ll have one more private lesson on Thursday that will hopefully “seal the deal.”

Flip Fest 2009- Handstand Contest

2009-06-21T01:36:00.002-04:00

I forgot to mention one of the "best parts" of camp. Boo won the handstand contest for her age group (there were fifteen or twenty 7-year-olds)! Her prize was a t-shirt. She thought that was really cool.

Flip Fest 2009

2009-06-19T22:02:00.000-04:00

Boo had a fantastic time! She talked on and on about all the fun wonderful things she did: the ropes course, the campfires, the fireworks, s’mores, swimming in the lake, Dance Night, Skit Night, singing “God Bless America” at karaoke, and on and on and on. And that doesn’t even touch on all the great gymnastics this week!

She worked on a ton of new skills including tsuks on a cheese mat into the pit (she even flipped them!) for vault and standing back tucks into the pit for floor. She also worked on front handspring- front tucks on floor and clear hips and baby giants on bars. On the low beam, she worked the back walkover-back walkover combination and even did some back handsprings (with plenty of mats stacked on both sides of the beam). But the big news is that she got her front walkover on the low beam! The coolest thing ever was watching her work with Nastia Liukin on the front walkover on beam and seeing Nastia cheer and give her high fives when she got it! It was amazing! Boo was grinning from ear to ear. She had an absolutely wonderful week and is already looking forward to next year. Thanks, Flip Fest! You guys ROCK!

One more...

2009-06-11T14:37:00.001-04:00

Boo got her back tuck at practice today! Yet another new skill! This child just continues to amaze and impress me. This new gym was a great move. She is improving by leaps and bounds and really loving it. It’s so wonderful to see her so excited and happy. Practice tomorrow and then on to camp next week. Fun stuff!

Fly Away!!!

2009-06-09T15:33:00.001-04:00

Boo had a good day at the gym today. She got her fly away dismount on bars! Woo hoo!!! She’s only been at the new gym (and thus only been working on the fly away) for six days! Needless to say, she is very excited. She also did her clear hip-drop kip-cast squat on-jump to high bar connection for the first part of the bar routine. Big day today! So now there’s just the back tuck on floor and the back walkover on beam and she’ll have all her level 6 skills (although they still need polishing). She’s hoping to have everything by the time she comes back from camp at the end of next week. So far she’s been focusing on level 6 but she does have a couple of level 7 skills, too: the front tuck beam dismount and the front handspring-front tuck combination on floor. She’s also working on the front walkover on beam.

On an interesting side note: I think Boo may be one of the youngest level 6s in our state. The only other two 7-year-olds I know of are both about a month older than her. Pretty cool but will also make for some stiff competition come meet season!

First Day

2009-06-01T20:13:00.000-04:00

Boo started her new gym today and she really, really liked it. She’s already made friends with the other 7-year-old in the group. The two of them are the youngest by about a year and a half but even the older girls were nice. She said the coaches were great and helped her a lot. They even spotted her on several flyaways! She did a bunch on the low bar and then did three on the high bar. She says that was the best part of the whole practice.

Of course, we can’t seem to have a day without drama around here. At home this afternoon, Boo was walking from the front yard to the patio and missed the step up. She smashed her shin on the edge of the concrete patio and ended up with a huge goose egg. The real problem was the amount of pain and the fact that she couldn’t put any weight on it. So, off we went for x-rays. Luckily, the doctor said it’s just a really deep bruise but no fracture. Whew! Motrin, rest and ice and she’ll be good as new. As for practice tomorrow, the doctor said to see how she’s feeling in the morning. She, of course, is saying that it feels much better and she’ll be fine to go to practice. LOL. Guess we’ll see in the morning.

3rd Time is the Charm

2009-05-31T15:53:00.001-04:00

We were happy.... and now we’re not. So we’re going for lucky number three. Boo will start her new gym on Monday and we’re very excited. She will be joining a team that is training levels 6 and 7 and, though Boo will still be the youngest, there is one girl who is only a month older than Boo in this group, too. The owner is a former UGA Gym Dog and all of the coaches are really great with the kids. They seem to truly love what they do and while they certainly make the girls work, there is a lot of praise to go around, too. I think this is going to be a great fit for Boo.

New Video

2009-05-20T20:42:00.003-04:00

Just wanted everyone to know that there is some new video of Boo on You Tube. The video is some practice footage of some of the new skills she is working on now. There is a link to all the You Tube videos at the top right of this blog page. Enjoy!

Front Tucks

2009-05-13T18:56:00.001-04:00

Boo has been working on her front handspring-front tuck combination on floor and today she was able to connect it consistently. She’s still doing them on the resi mats but feels confident that she’ll be doing them on the floor soon. She also worked on back walkovers on beam and did several on both the low and medium beams. As a reward, her coach let her jump off the end of the beam into the pit. By the end of practice, Boo was doing front tucks off the beam into the pit and the coach had her preparing to do them onto the resi. And on bars, she worked her clear hips on the high strap bar and was able to push off cleanly and connect the clear hip into a nice tap swing. Go, Boo! She is just rocking these new skills and having so much fun doing it.

Clear Hip!

2009-05-08T18:55:00.000-04:00

Boo got her clear hip on bars today! Woo hoo!! And, she connected it to the drop kip for part of the level 6 bars routine! She has decided that she is going for level 6 this fall and her goal is to have all of the level 6 skills plus a giant on bars by July. Her coach must think she can make it, too, because today she gave all the girls the skills requirements for their new levels and Boo’s list is for level 7. Exciting times ahead!

Next Season

2009-05-05T19:14:00.002-04:00

I spoke with Boo’s Head Coach today about next season. She basically said it’s up to Boo which level she competes. If she gets all of her skills for level 6, she can compete level 6 for mobility and then do prep-op or level 7 in the spring. If she does level 5 again, “she’ll win.... a lot.” Or she could do level 5 most of the season and do one mobility meet for level 6 toward the end. She could even do prep-op or level 7 next spring as a double season. But, I’m afraid competing three levels back to back like that might be too much for Boo. She is still just 7 years old, after all. Either way, if she gets her skills, she should be able to compete optionals (or prep-op) by next spring. The goal is really to get Boo through the compulsories and on to optionals as quickly as possible.

The coach also said she is “waiting for her to get her press handstand and her cast handstand” so she can do TOPs testing. Boo will start dedicated TOPs training as part of the summer schedule at the end of this month so that should help her. And Boo is really motivated by all of this. She is so excited about TOPs and level 6 that she was planning all kinds of conditioning that she can work on at home to help her. I love seeing her so happy and motivated and excited.

Back Tuck and Banquet

2009-04-30T07:49:00.001-04:00

Now that Regionals are over (our gym had nine girls make Regionals, including two state team members!), practices are getting back to normal. Boo is working on several new skills but the big news from yesterday’s practice is that she got her round off, back handspring, back tuck series! Woo hoo! She is working it on the resi mat but I’m sure she’ll move it to the floor before too long. She is also working on her front handspring, front tuck on the resi. And she is still working on that ever-elusive back walkover on beam. She’s gone back to the beginning and is working it slowly on the floor beam, concentrating on having really good form (starting with the front leg up and keeping both legs straight all the way through). I think when she’s ready to move it to the high beam, it’s going to be beautiful.

We’re also still waiting to find out if she’s going to repeat level 5 or move on to level 6/7. We should know something soon. The gym hosted a season-end banquet for all the team girls last night. I think they had a great time. The coaches got up on stage and presented each team and then spoke about each girl individually. Boo’s coach talked about what a great bars swinger she is and how she expects Boo will have a great gymnastics career. It was very nice.

Back Walkover? Gone!

2009-04-15T20:52:00.001-04:00

Tough practice today. Boo is really struggling with that darned back walkover on beam again. She does it beautifully on the floor beam and on the low beam but it remains ever elusive on the high beam. She just can’t quite make herself do it anymore. No idea what’s gone wrong. She hasn’t had any falls or anything to make her nervous. The only thing different is that she’s been working on starting them with her front leg raised (which is the proper way to do it) and I think maybe starting on one foot is what’s bothering her when it comes to the high beam. That’s just a guess, though. And her coach really had no patience with it today. She told Boo that she could forget about optionals and just stay in level 5 forever if she wasn’t going to do the back walkover. Boo was really upset by that and now she’s at war with herself, nerves and fear vs. indomitable determination. Who will win? Stay tuned...

Back Walkover on Beam- CHECK!

2009-04-08T16:18:00.001-04:00

Big day at practice today! Boo got her back walkover on the high beam! Yea!!! She hasn’t worked on them much in the last few weeks but she did do some on the floor beam at home. Well today she did a few on the floor beam at the gym, then moved them to the low beam. After doing two or three on the low beam, the coach moved her to the high beam. And she did it! She managed to land several of them beautifully! It was like she’d known how to do them all along, no worries. It was great! Needless to say, she’s very proud of herself.

New Skills Galore!

2009-04-02T14:27:00.001-04:00

The weeks after the end of the season are so much fun for Boo! She is loving all the new skills she is learning. She’s working on front and back tucks and is starting to add those to her tumbling passes (round-off, back handspring, back tuck and front handspring, front tuck). She’s doing the combinations on the tumble track and onto a resi mat (not ready for the floor just yet) and is have a great time with it.

Boo has also been working some more on her giants on the strap bar. Yesterday, she was able to do 8 giants without stopping (she was going around sooo fast)! She also is getting to where she can do a giant with only one tap swing to start. The next step is to be able to cast straight into a giant and then to do them without the straps.

She tried doing her clear hip on the regular bars the other day but that turned out to be a little tricky. It’s hard to get the timing just right without the straps to help hold her on the bar. She’s still doing well with them on the strap bar so it’s just going to take a little more time and practice. Luckily, it’s all great fun for Boo!

Flyaway Timers

2009-03-25T20:38:00.001-04:00

Boo got to work another new skill today- flyaway timers on bars! They were jumping to the high bar, doing a couple of tap swings, and then letting go and falling straight onto their backs onto the mats below. She said it was lots of fun but she really wants to try them into the pit, maybe when she’s ready to flip them.

Working Hard

2009-03-19T18:16:00.001-04:00

There’s not a whole lot to report this week. Boo is still working hard at practice. They did some more TOPs training, worked on back handsprings and back tucks, and did lots of bar work. She is getting pretty good at drop kips, though she still hits her feet on the floor some. Whenever the coach catches her doing that she gets sent to do leg lifts!

Today she also got to work one-on-one with one of her coaches for about 45 minutes. They worked on front handsprings and then did a lot of conditioning and strength training with wrist and leg weights. I thought it was great that the coach took such an interest in Boo and worked with her so much today. Boo, however, is now exhausted and soaking in the bath tub. It was a good day.

Practice

2009-03-10T18:53:00.000-04:00

Practice after the end of meet season is always so much fun for Boo. Today they got to work on clear hip circles on the bars and she was doing great! She’s not getting much height pushing off the bar yet but she’s getting around the bar nicely. She was also working on drop kips and if she can keep from hitting her feet on the floor, they will be really good.

The head coach also spent a lot of time with Boo and one other teammate working on TOPs training. They worked hard on press handstands, cast handstands, handstand holds, sprints and over-splits. It was tough but Boo enjoyed it. She’s hoping to be ready to test this summer. Keep your fingers crossed for her!

Last Meet of the Season

2009-03-09T14:49:00.001-04:00

Boo competed in her last meet of the Spring season yesterday. She did great and even got three season-high scores.

Vault was fantastic! She has really improved a lot here and yesterday she totally stuck both her landings! 8.25- 1st place and a season best.

Bars was excellent, though not quite as solid as the last meet. Still, she scored an 8.95 and got 1st place.

Beam was good. She had some trouble on the split leap and had a few bobbles. She also went over on the time (which seems to happen to her a lot). But, her handstand is much improved and she scored a season-high 8.675 for 2nd place.

Floor was much, much better this time. Her ROBHSBHS series is getting cleaner and her dance is much tighter. She also stayed on the music better this time. 8.45 and 2nd place.

All-around was another season-high score, 34.325 and 1st place! Woo hoo!!!

Back Walkovers on Beam

2009-03-03T10:19:00.001-05:00

Boo is absolutely determined to get her back walkover on the beam. They haven’t worked them at the gym at all since meet season started (they’re working on their routines, instead, understandably) but Boo has still been very nervous about them. Over the weekend, she has been working them on her beam in the basement. She put it on the floor and alternated between doing the back walkovers on the floor tape line and then on the beam. When she got comfortable with that, she moved the beam up to the lowest setting and put her big mat underneath it. It’s up about 8 inches off the ground but with a 6” mat under it, it looks basically the same as on the floor. She’s been working on that since yesterday. I asked her if four days in the gym wasn’t enough since she was doing gymnastics at home on her day off. She said, “Nope!” LOL Needless to say, I am so very proud of her determination and work ethic and her desire to fight through being nervous and accomplish her goal. She is already such a champion in my book.

Centennial Classic Meet Report

2009-02-21T12:35:00.001-05:00

She did it!!! Boo got her mobility score! This meet was the only USAG meet for her team this season so it was her only chance to get the necessary score to move to the next level and she made it!

First up was beam. I thought the routine looked good, no major mishaps, but her score was a little lower than the last meet. She got an 8.15, which tied for 1st place. Next was floor. I thought it looked really good but she only scored 7.90. I didn’t see any huge mistakes so I’m not sure why the score was so low (she had an 8.50 last meet). But, she still placed 3rd. Then was vault. It looked great! She stuck her landing almost perfectly! 8.20 and 2nd place.

The big news was bars. Amazing!!! She scored a 9.35, her first “9” for level 5 and good enough for 1st place. That was also the highest bars score for all the level 5s. Woo hoo!!! Go, Boo!

Finally, her all-around score… this is the one that counts. Her coach said she needed a 31.00 to qualify to move up to level 6. Boo scored….. a 33.60!!! Yea!!!! And she placed 2nd all-around. What a great meet!!!

Video is up on You Tube (link at top right) if you want to watch.

Preparing for the next meet- tomorrow!

2009-02-19T10:12:00.000-05:00

Boo has been working really hard to get ready for her next meet, which is tomorrow! She’s doing a lot better on smoothing out her floor routine. On bars, she is connecting the kip to front hip circle much better, though she still has some trouble keeping those legs together on the dismount. Vault is… well… vault. And on beam she has been working on getting her handstand vertical and holding it. She’s also trying to get steadier landing the cartwheel.

Boo will compete USAG at this meet and it is an important one. It is the only USAG meet this season and she needs to make her minimum mobility score to advance to level 6/7. (Our gym doesn’t maintain a level 6 team so she would train levels 6 and 7 over the summer and then try to score out of level 6 in the fall.) I know she can do it but I’m really nervous for her just the same. She, as always, is as cool as the other side of the pillow (I just love that expression).

First Level 5 Meet Report

2009-02-08T19:30:00.001-05:00

Boo had a great meet! She did not score as high as she is used to but she did a fantastic job, especially considering that she has only been training level 5 since November. She also managed a miraculous save on beam- almost fell on her cartwheel but somehow pulled it out and stayed on. The girl must have monkey toes!

Vault: 8.100 (2nd place)
Bars: 8.900 (1st place)
Beam: 8.250 (1st place)
Floor: 8.500 (1st place)

AA: 33.750 (1st place)

Great job, Boo!! We’re so very, very proud of you!!!

Last Practice Before the Meet!

2009-02-05T19:32:00.001-05:00

Today was the last practice before Sunday’s meet. Boo said it went well. She stuck her bars and beam routines, and while she hit the vault, she said she hopped on the landing. And she’s still having some trouble with the front handspring on floor but the rest of it looked good. They did a neat exercise where the girls all spread out around the perimeters of the floor. One girl would do her routine and try to make eye contact and/or smile at every other girl all the way around the floor. When she did make eye contact/smile, the girl would sit down. The goal was to have all the girls sitting down by the end of the routine. Boo said she was able to get everybody to sit down, which is really good as she doesn’t really play to the crowd just yet. In any case, she’s very excited to be competing again (finally!). And I can’t wait to watch her! I’ll be sure to post a meet report here and videos on You Tube so stay tuned!

HUGE Day at Practice!

2009-01-24T20:15:00.000-05:00

Boo had an amazing day at practice yesterday! She did a lot of work on the strap bar and it paid off big time! She got her giants!!!!! She didn’t even plan on doing them but she was getting such huge tap swings. She said when she almost hit a handstand, she knew she was going to be able to go over. And she did! Three consecutive giants!!! Woo hoo!!!! There is video posted on You Tube, although it’s terrible quality. Watch at your own risk. ;-)

And to follow that, coach had her working on clear hip circles by jumping from a block to the low strap bar, going around and pushing off to land back on the block. And she did it! She did about four of those. Yea! She had a fantastic day!!!

This comes at a great time, too. While she can do the back walkover on the floor beam, she is very nervous about trying to move it up to the low beam. She really wants to get that because then the coach will let her try front tucks off the beam into the pit and she’s confident that she can do those. But she’s got to get past her fear of the back walkovers on beam first. Cross your fingers and send her good back walkover vibes.

Two weeks to go until the first official level 5 meet….

Front Tucks and Back Walkovers

2009-01-20T18:58:00.000-05:00

Boo had a big day at practice today. She got her back walkover on the floor beam!!! She’s so excited and proud of herself. Since they started working on them last week, she’s been really nervous about them. But, she seems to have conquered her fear and it paid off today!

Boo has also been working her front tucks and can now do them on the floor! She says she’s still landing them in a deep squat so they need work but she’s doing it just the same. Woo hoo! Three weeks until her first level 5 meet and she’s already starting to get some of her level 6 skills! I am, as always, highly impressed and so very, very proud.

First Gym Dogs Meet

2009-01-10T10:17:00.001-05:00

We went to the Gym Dogs first meet of the season last night. It was tons of fun! Our seats were great and the gymnasts were awesome. Marcia Newby’s floor routine was outstanding, as was Abby Stack’s. It was fantastic to see Courtney Kupets back again after last year’s injury. She scored one of the top scores on several events, too, including a 9.975 on bars and a 9.95 on floor. All in all, the performances were not as tight and the scores were not as high as we’re used to seeing from the Gym Dogs. But, they did win against W. Virginia 195.425 - 194.075 and we had a wonderful time watching it.

Boo has been working hard in the gym getting ready for her first meet in a few weeks. She is trying to clean up her tumbling and her vault. But she has also been working on some new skills, including huge tap swings on the strap bar (working toward giants), cast handstands and clear hip circles. She also tells me she’s about ready to move her front tuck onto the floor. (She’s been working it on the tumble track and resi mats until now). As always, she continues to amaze me. Just a couple of months ago, she was working to add a second back handspring and now she’s moving into front tucks!

Gym Kids Work Out With The Gym Dogs

2008-12-28T16:30:00.005-05:00

Boo went to the Gym Dogs pizza party and work out for the Gym Kids today. It was really nice and she had a great time. All the Gym Dogs and the coaches worked with the girls on all four events. As usual, bars was Boo’s favorite. She worked on kips with Courtney Kupets, did beam with Grace Taylor and vaulted with Marcia Newby. It was a really special, memorable event.

Critique / Mock Meet

2008-12-20T18:49:00.000-05:00

I just have to say WOW! Boo has really impressed us. She was absolutely AMAZING today! You’d never tell that she has only been training level 5 for six weeks. She was outstanding.

She started on floor and was the first up. There was a little trouble getting the music going so she had to step back off the floor and wait until they could get it going. She started off pretty well except she hit the floor hard with her feet out of the dive roll, which broke her momentum and she had to put her hand down to stand up. Then on the full turn, she tried to go too fast and lost her balance a little. The end of the routine was not as smooth and rhythmic as it could have been but all in all, she did well.

Next up was bars. Of the nine girls on her team, only three competed their full bars routines, including Boo. She totally NAILED it! She was spot on with every skill, including straight legs on her front hip circle (just a little leg separation) and almost straight arms on both of her kips. AWESOME!

Then it was on to beam. I was a little concerned during the warm up because it seemed like she was falling off on everything! But when it came time to compete, she rocked it. She only had a couple of little bobbles and she put her foot down too quickly on her half turn. She also didn’t get quite vertical in her handstand but everything else was fantastic!

Vault was great, especially considering last Tuesday was the first time she’d ever done it without a spot. She stuck the first one with just a tiny hop on the landing. The second one wasn’t as good as she sat down on the landing.

All in all, she did an incredible job today and we’re very, very proud of her. Of the nine girls on her team, only three competed all-around. Not only that, but Boo competed all-around as the newest team member and after only six weeks of level 5 training. Go Boo!!!

Oh, and for anyone interested, the video is up on YouTube (link at the top of the blog).