Surprise!

It never ends well when a coach walks in and says, “Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Yesterday, my coach did just that. Naturally, we asked for the bad news first. Who wants to end with bad news?

Her response: “The bad news is that Heather is coming in at 2:30. The good news? I told you an hour before I was going to.” Heather is the judge who judges all of our intersquads. So, basically she was giving us an hour to prepare for an intersquad when we had barely even been working on routines!

It went well, especially considering the short notice. Everyone had a lot more confidence and was looking like they normally do. I think a lot of that has come from sport psych. We have worked a lot on not letting nerves get to us and staying calm, and I think this really helped us yesterday.

We “competed” on bars, beam, and floor, and there was only one fall overall! I hadn’t done many routines since recovering from my injuries, and I was really happy with how I did! This unpleasant surprise turned into a great confidence booster for everyone going into Regionals! 

I am one of two people on my team who has been to Regionals before, so I know how  different Regionals is compared to other meets. First of all, there are so many people! Everyone in level eight or higher who gets a 34.0 all around or higher at state competes. All of these gymnasts from California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah add up to make A LOT of people! 

About a quarter of the people in my session at Regionals two years ago.
Photo Courtesy Of: Mary Antinori

Also, everyone is competing by themselves. This isn’t that big of a deal for me, since I am the only level nine, but competing by yourself is a big deal. You don’t have people cheering for you, you don’t have people to cheer for, and it is just you and your coach. 

Me, all alone, at Regionals last year. I am in the black leotard with the blue embellishment, to the left of the two girls in green with sunbursts.
Photo Courtesy Of: Mary Antinori

However, I have made friends from different teams at past Regionals! Most of my friends go to GTC in Salt Lake. Lauren and Bronte have both become good friends of mine because of Regionals! 

Even though you make friends, it is a surprise when you first get to the meet and you don’t know anyone. This is something that I know my teammates will work through as they experience this for the first time.

Two former teammates and I experiencing Regionals for the first time, three years ago.
Photo Courtesy Of: Mary Antinori

Regionals is a great experience that I can’t wait for everyone on my team to have! I’m looking forward to some great team bonding time, seeing some friends, and a great competition! And, for all my teammates and everyone else competing at Regionals, GOOD LUCK!

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!