Another gymnastics season in the books...

This morning was Abby's Championships for this season of gymnastics!   She had a great competition, but if you'll bear with me, I'd like to give you a little background that I haven't shared before...

This has been an interesting year of gymnastics for her.  She repeated her level this year to try to really perfect her necessary skills needed, specifically her nemesis:  uneven bars.  There were some ways that this year was fun.  She worked with a very small group of girls that were also repeating (small group equals getting to know each other well!), but in some ways it was tough because they were all a couple of years younger than her because many of her friends moved up a level.  Uneven bars have continued to be really hard for her, but she seems to pull it out at most meets and complete her skills.  At our last meet, however, she had a really rough time and it was one of her worst meets.  She left not feeling good, and not liking being on competitive team at all.  -ready to quit for next year.

This didn't really come as a surprise because we've been debating what to do next year for months.  We know that gymnastics is something that Abby likes, but she isn't going to be an elite gymnast.  She is a hard worker, but she's doing it for FUN.  That all said, moving to 8 and 12 hours of practice a week just isn't something we're willing to do as a family.  There are too many other things for a 8-9 year old girl to do other than gymnastics (family, school, homework, church, friends, other sports, etc.) Not to mention, that is how you  make a little girl like Abby hate gymnastics, and that's not why we're doing it.

The first practice after that bad meet I mentioned?  Her coach approached me about a new competitive team they are creating that they think will be a good fit for Ab.  Instead of compulsory routines, it will be optionals, or what USAGym calls Xcel (Bronze level).  I researched, Matt and I talked, I met with the Head Coach.  -and we're in.  Abby is sooooo excited!  She has a renewed excitement for next year and we feel like it is an answered prayer.  The practices aren't going to be insanely long (only 4 hours a week) and she'll be with girls her age.

Sooooo, fast forward to today.  This was her last meet before her new team.  And it went awesome.  She did great.  Last year, she placed last or almost last for everything.  Not this year!

(They place you only with girls in your age group)
 (Abby's in the white jacket- she's the only one from our team in this age group)

9th on Vault

 7th on Uneven Bars!!!!!

(Abby and I kept eye contact while they were calling all the place before they got to her, and her eyes got bigger and bigger every time it wasn't her.  She thought she'd be last place!  I cried.)

8th on Balance Beam

6 on Floor Exercise

8th All Around (all four scores added up)

My gymnast

Our First College Gymnastics Meet

Last night we drove up to Ball State for our first college gymnastics meet.  Ball State is the only university in Indiana with a women's program.  Some other universities have clubs, but BSU is the only one with an actual team.  The best part is that BSU is my alma mater, so I got to show the girls where I went to school (though it has been forever since I've been back).

Last night's meet was their "Think Pink" meet, so both teams were in different leotards in support of breast cancer.  The girls also were given pink necklaces by someone from the team who came into the stands.

Some of our surprises were how packed it was.  There is no admission, so anyone can come.  The seating is limited and we were lucky to find room for all 4 of us to sit together.  Also, we were surprised how loud and spirited it was.  There was loud music the whole time and after EVERY routine, the teammates rushed the gymnast and hugged and gave high-fives.  It made it much more fun to watch.

(Abby was really not into having me take her picture)

(Lily was all for having her picture taken)

We had great seats for the bars and beam, which we wanted to see the most.  Floor (it's red, all the way to the left) was almost impossible to see.

The girls got their picture taken with Charlie Cardinal.  This is one time that Abby DID want her picture.

...and then he sat right in front of us and harassed the lady in front of Matt.

Here's another picture of the gym:

We left and drove around campus a little.  We showed the girls Benny (a BSU landmark):

The loved Ball State, which I loved.  It was a fun night.

Rips

Abby was so excited after gymnastics practice tonight.  She had to show her hands at me.

Big news.

She has rips.

You know, like "real gymnasts."  From the bars.

(and don't doubt because they aren't bleeding, her coaches confirmed)

I know you can't see them here, but we took a picture for posterity's sake.

My little gymnast.

EDITED TO ADD:

Abby started to tell Matt about her rips and I got so many  more details.  She has 3, plus blisters.  She can't wait to ride the bus tomorrow because there are 2 girls on the bus who are also in gymnastics who have rips but Abby has never had any and she can't wait to share that she now has them too.  

A Whirlwind Weekend and Beautiful Annie

We had a crazy, whirlwind weekend.  Abby had a gymnastics meet on Saturday at our home gym.  Because it was our home meet, we had to work a session.  I worked as floor timer during the same session that Abby competed so I got to be close to the action.  The team stretched right next to me, so I snuck in some pictures.  (Her team is the one with the white jackets and dark pants with TGC on them.)  Abby is the one in the front row on the far right (she has pigtails with one pink ribbon and one blue).

After the meet was over, we grabbed lunch or breakfast at Cracker Barrel (half of us had lunch, half breakfast).  Then, in the car for 3 hours to see our brand new family addition!  We went straight to the hospital to see my sister and new niece, Annabelle Jane, or Annie.

I took the chance while i was there to get her out of her hospital issued shirt and make her girlie.  She is adorable.  I could just eat her up.  It's a good thing I only have to wait until Thanksgiving to see her again.  The girls LOVED her.

On Sunday, we raced home, with me on Twitter following storm coverage the whole drive with the crazy Midwest storms.  Scary.  Here is one shot at the edge of the line.  Sun on one side and storms on the other.  Luckily the worst of the storm missed our area of the county.  Many prayers for those it did not.

Glitz and Glam Gymnastics Meet

Abby had another gymnastics meet this weekend.  This one we had to drive a bit to get to.  It was about 2 hours away.  Luckily, we didn't have the early morning session like some of the girls.  She didn't have to be there until 11:15, so we didn't have to get up super early, the flip side of that is that she didn't get to complete with some of her friends.  They split up her level (ages 7 and up were at the second session) due to space at this particular gym.

She did great, as usual.  The only slip up she had was on uneven bars.  For some reason, her hands slipped on them and she fell off (if that makes sense, because she didn't really "fall.").  So, consequently, that brought down her all-around score quite a bit.  Other than that, she did awesome.  She continues to improve on floor routine and is steady on balance beam.  We are so proud.

At this particular gym, you were able to sit very close to the gymnasts, so I used it as an opportunity to video some of the routines.  Enjoy!

Her Floor Routine:



Her Balance Beam Routine:

Snowflake Invitational

Today was Abby's second gymnastics meet ever.  This one wasn't at our home gym, so I didn't have any other responsibilities except to watch and cheer.  This gym was laid out a little differently than ours.  Some events were easier to see (and photograph), others were harder.

I should warn you that this post is very picture heavy.  You know, it is grandparent/family post for those who don't get to make it to Abby's meets.  If you aren't one of those, feel free to skip this one.  :)

Okay, so here we go....

This is the Marching in of teams.  Abby got to help lead in hers.  She is first in line on the left.

Here she is waiting to warm up on the beam.  She's second in line.  You can tell she spotted me, because I got a smile.  :)

From here on out, many of the pictures are kind of blurry because I am so not a sports photographer, but I wanted to share them anyway.  Still warming up...

Lily and her friend Logan (another Little Sibling) playing on the iPad during the meet)

Now for the judges-  She did awesome.

Floor Routine- her other strongest event

I didn't get pictures of Vault or Uneven Bars, they just weren't in locations where it was possible from where we were sitting.  But, it worked out because her best two events were Balance Beam and Floor.

We did learn from experience and talking to veteran parents not to put to much into the scores they get. Judges all judge a little differently.  For example, Abby did better on her Bars today than her last meet, but her score was lower by 1.2 points (that seems like a ton to me!).

For those of you who want to know actual scores, here they are:

Vault:  7.7, Bars:  5.2, Beam:  8.1, Floor:  8.3

She came in third on her team overall, and fifth out of all the 7 year old Level 2's at the meet.  We are so very proud of her.  She did her best and had fun.

Here she is getting her medal and doing the "salute!"