Season is Knocking on the Door

Season has almost arrived! As our first meet of the season draws near, my coach planned a real practice meet for us to show off our skills and get back into the swing of things. Unlike our other intersquads, this “meet” was at a different gym, with multiple teams from around the state, and with different judges at each event, giving us scores. Also, we got to wear our brand new, sparkly leos!

Last week, our team had a rough time working out. Everybody was on edge, including the coaches. We were yelled at every day, but that just made us do things worse. As the meet drew near, everyone was freaking out, and everyone felt like they had five tons of pressure on them.

Charity, our head coach, is very involved with gymnastics away from our gym. She is the Utah State Chair, and involved in multiple other committees as well. She wants us to look good, as much for her sake as for ours. To everyone on the team, it felt like she was putting lots and lots of pressure on us that we do well – or else!

The meet was at 8 AM on Saturday morning at the Black Diamond South Jordan gym. I was glad it was early - I could get it over with early. The whole team competed together, and as people were arriving it was obvious that we were all really nervous. My other coach, Amanda, had great ideas on how to calm us down, though, including doing yoga! It made us laugh, and that broke the tension.

The meet went well. Everybody stuck their floor routine, and we all scored in the high eights to mid nines. Vault was good for everyone who competed, but less than half of our team did. I scored a 9.1, not my best, but definitely a good score for preseason. Bars was great! There were no falls, but some things made my team and the judges laugh! Beam was what everyone was most worried for, but after such a great meet, we all had a lot more confidence.

We had a long wait before beam that we filled with yoga and telling jokes. We were all very confident going into beam, and it showed! There were only two falls, which was much better than our last practice. We impressed our coaches, and we all felt great!

Some of my teammates and I after the meet. We had lots of fun that day!

This meet reminded me just how much fun season is, even though it can be stressful at times. After the meet, three of my teammates and I went out to lunch, then went shopping together. I had a great time with my team this weekend, and I can’t wait for season to start to have even more team bonding time!

Ready or Not

Oh, the holidays! My coach was nice enough to give my team the week of thanksgiving off, giving us a total of five days off! It was wonderful! I had five days to read, hang out with my friends, and have fun! It was great to have a few days off to relax, but I knew I would regret the time off when I went back to the gym on Monday.

In most sports, having time off is not a big deal. If you have a few days off, your first day back is a little bit hard, at worst. However, in gymnastics things are very different. The more time you have off, the harder it is to get back into things, and the longer it takes for things to feel normal again. Also, it is easier for some people to get back into things than it is for others. As for me, it takes me a while, especially to get timing back.

With competition season knocking on the door, we have intersquads every few weeks. My coach decided to schedule one the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. That only gave us two days to come back from the break and be in tip-top shape.

Monday was rough. Bars and tumbling were the worst; I was falling on the simplest things. Beam had highs and lows. I couldn’t make a routine for the first half of the workout, and normally beam is my best event. I was very frustrated, so I went to talk to my coach, Amanda Johanson. She struggled with beam in her career, and she always knows what to say. She got me back on track, and I had a strong finish to beam.

Tuesday was better, but still not where I wanted to be. I still struggled to make routines on beam, but the rest of the workout was better. My vault, which I have been doing for four years, was looking as good as ever. Bars was awesome - I finished my assignment quickly and I only fell once the whole workout. I was confident, until I got to floor. 

Since I landed on my head on my front pass in the last intersquad, my coach changed my pass to what I competed last year. We had been working hard on it to fix timing and altitude, and they were much better. However, I hadn’t been able to land one the day before. I tried to put that behind me, but it didn’t work. I went to my back, my butt, my back again. I was very frustrated, and I ended practice with not a lot of confidence for the intersquad.

I was surprised. The intersquad went very well for me! I didn’t fall on any event, and everyone looked confident and strong. We had our highs and lows as a team, but we had greatly improved from a month ago. It gave me a lot of confidence, especially since I did so well after time off. It made me ready to embrace our upcoming season, and it gave me confidence to attack it with all I have!

How I felt after the intersquad - confident and ready to go!
Photo courtesy of: Que Sera Sara

Intersquad Nerves

I am part of the Black Diamond Gymnastics team. Today, we had our first intersquad, or practice meet, of the season. It was our first time being judged since March, so everyone was really nervous, including me. I am competing the same vault, the same bar routine, and the same beam routine as last year except for one skill. Floor is what I was really worried about. I have two new tumbling passes - a back full and a front handspring front layout front tuck. I have had problems with my full in the past, but they have gotten a lot better recently. What I was really nervous for was my front pass, and my nerves got the better of me today. 

During warm up, I didn’t land any of my front passes, but they were better than they normally are. I was feeling pretty confident, at the end of warm up. I was last in line to compete, and everyone ahead of me had made their routine and looked really good. So, when it was my turn, I was pretty confident.

I saluted the judge, stuck my first pass - a round off back handspring double back - and then said my key words during my dance. I stepped into the corner, took a deep breath, and then went. I ran, did a good front handspring, but then I did a bad front layout. I didn’t set it up enough, and I didn’t finish the front handspring. I barely made it around all the way, but I was determined to go for it, even though it was a poor choice. I did the front tuck, and I knew from the start that it wasn’t going to be a good one. I pulled as hard as I could, but it wasn’t hard enough. I went straight to the top of my head, then bounced to my back.

I looked similar to this after my front pass.
Image Courtesy Of: Yahoo Sports

I tried to continue my routine, like we are supposed to, but I was really dizzy. I laid down again, and the dizziness went away. My head hurt, but after a couple of deep breaths, it started to feel normal. I didn’t finish the routine, but my coach told me I had to do another full routine. I was really scared, not nervous, but plain terrified. I did my first pass, and it was pretty good, but not as good as the first time. I took a lot of deep breaths, then went for it. It was much better, but I still didn’t land it. I did the rest of my routine well, and had a great full for my last pass.

Even though I was shaken up, I finished the intersquad pretty well, all things considered. I stuck my beam routine, but it wasn’t my best. I fell once on bars, but the routine was better than normal. We didn’t have time to do vault, but I am very confident with my vault.

I learned a lot from today. I was very proud of myself for finishing well, and it gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. I think my team did really well, and I am excited to see us improve and grow as a team!

Home Sweet Homework

     As the first quarter of my ninth grade year comes to a close, I realize how different middle school is from high school. With the end of the quarter comes lots of homework, last minute tests, and quarter finals. In middle school, there was some extra homework, maybe a test in two classes, and very few quarter finals. From reading a memoir to memorizing Spanish vocabulary, I am now realizing that I really did sign up for a challenge.

     I went to a private school called The Colby School for elementary school. There, I was always challenged. If something was too easy, the teachers would make it harder. I moved to the public school system for middle school, and I haven’t been challenged a lot since then. I was even in all of the advanced classes that they offered. Some of my teachers have tried, but nothing challenged me as much as these past couple weeks have.

     This year, I signed up for all the honors and AP classes that I could, and along with that I am in the advanced math class and two years ahead in Spanish. I knew it would be hard to balance with gymnastics, but I was ready for a real challenge. Up until now, it hasn’t been that much different, except the information has been more interesting. Now, I am struggling to get my work done and get to bed at a reasonable time every night. Some nights I wonder if I made a mistake, and if I bit off more than I can chew.

My To-Do List for a typical day this week

     Since this is a gymnastics blog, you might be wondering how gymnastics ties into this. My team is about two months away from starting competition season, and we are nowhere close to being ready. Next week, we have our first practice meet, or "intersquad" of the season. If it weren't for this, I would think about leaving gym an hour early to have more time to do my work. I am only prepared for two events for the intersquad, so this is out of the question. With challenges come choices, and this is a difficult choice that I have had to make.

     Even though this week has been difficult, I have also had a lot of fun. I have learned a lot of new, very interesting information that I couldn’t have learned if I didn’t have such a difficult schedule. Because of this, doing the homework is more exciting and somewhat easier to do.

     Through these past couple of weeks, I have re-discovered what it means to be challenged. I have also learned a lot about myself - time management skills, dedication, and that I will never give up. So what if there are a couple of late nights? So what if I have sacrificed all of my free time to do homework? The benefit from this challenge is worth far more than everything the challenge sets in my way. The benefit - gaining interesting and important knowledge - is worth every stone in the road. To me, this knowledge is worth so much that I know I would make the same “mistake” again if I had the chance.

Blogging - a simple word that can bring a lot of different things to mind. When I first heard that we had to blog about something every week for the rest of the year, I didn't know what to think. I was excited, but another weekly assignment? Blogs can be about anything, from sports to cooking, from school to photography, and anything else that you can think of! All blogs are different, and they take the tone of whoever is writing them. That is what is different about blogs and articles. Blogs have a tone. The tone of the blog depends on who is writing the blog and what it is about. The tone of an Olympian's blog is going to be very different from the tone of a photography blog. Also, blogs are interactive; you can add hyperlinks to other websites or add pictures to add to the content.

     When I first learned that we had to do a blog every week for the rest of the school year, I knew that I was doing mine on gymnastics. See, I love gymnastics, but since the Olympics just ended, there isn't much gymnastics news. Instead, I will write about my life as a gymnast - the good, the bad, and the rest of my life.

     There are many blogs about gymnastics. Three of my favorites are Gymnastike, The Couch Gymnast, and Full Twist. My favorite of these blogs is Gymnastike, mainly because it is extremely interactive. There are weekly trivia questions to answer, videos to watch, recruiting tips, and, of course, news articles to read. Every time you go there, you see something new. There are posts from Olympians and gymnastics experts, but anyone who wants to can post something. Also, there is information about competitions and the athletes. One thing about this blog that I don't like is that to view the whole post, you go to a different window, and you have to back arrow to get to the main page.

     The Couch Gymnast is very different. Only the people who run the blog can post anything, other than comments. Also, it is mainly gymnastics news. One thing that I really like about this is that they give worldwide gymnastics news. A lot of blogs I read only include information for the US, their own country. It is good to know the news from other countries so you can know what to expect when competitions roll around. Also, there is at least one picture on each post. I will try to do this, too, because it really adds to the blog post.

     One thing that I really like about Full Twist is that they post weekly news about gymnastics. This gives you a little taste of everything that is happening, but there aren't many details. Another difference about Full Twist is it has a lot of interviews. I haven't found many interviews on either of the other blogs, and I think interviews are really interesting.