Finally the world of gymnastics takes a back seat to Christmas. With the snow outside it's nice to just sit back, not drive anywhere and do something different!
Emily starts the school program in January. She can't wait. I can. I frankly needed this break. Merry Christmas all!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Saturday morning workouts and dance, is she up to it?
Last night was the Christmas dinner for the Gymnastika students. It was so very nice, with great food, good company and great entertainment. The Gymnastika girls performed Christmas dance routines and they all did such a wonderful job! Emily seems to be fitting in rather well. The atmosphere seems much more relaxed, something that I in particular needed.
Our prayers go out to the DeYoung family.
When we were at a large gymnastics facility with more families/team members it seems that there's always someone talking smack about someone else and the rumor mill runs rampant. There's always someone vying for top placement of their child. (The kid needs to do the work, girls. It ain't your ride.) My kid wants to do this and it really helps keep her in check, that's the only reason why I pay for it, not to try to gain some upper-societal standing. I could care less about things of that nature. I can spot a manipulator at 25 paces, and those that wish to throw the fecal matter at the fan, soon realize that I possess a bigger fan and can cover a wider area with far less effort, so please don't ever threaten me, you'll just never know what side of the table I might be on when next we meet. My most favorite movie quote of all time comes from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/quotes?qt=qt0443462 "Face it girls, I am older and have more insurance."
This morning, Emily balked at getting up and going. She wanted to stay home and sleep. I think it's the transition to early morning practices. So, I made her get up and go anyway. In the car, on the way to the gym we stopped at McD's for breakfast. As soon as she got a an Egg McMuffin into her, Emily started to look forward to getting in the gym. By the time we got there she was jumping out of the car to run into class. I sat there for a short while drinking my steaming hot McD coffee to watch Emily's first dance class. She's with the "big girls" now, and is picking up the choreography very quickly. I sat back and watched for about 1/2 an hour, now it's time for me to get crackin' on finishing up Christmas, so I'd better get a move on.
2:00 pm
Well, must have been a good day. By the time we got home, Emily was fast asleep in the back seat. This just might work out rather well! She's TIRED. This kid's NEVER TIRED. Maybe I can finally get her internal clock set to a more normalized time.
Today Emily was with the Level 7's and worked with both Alexei and Gay. She worked on her front-hand-spring front-tuck, one handed back walkover, standing-front-handspring-stepout and her dance routine. So far it's been a good day...
Our prayers go out to the DeYoung family.
When we were at a large gymnastics facility with more families/team members it seems that there's always someone talking smack about someone else and the rumor mill runs rampant. There's always someone vying for top placement of their child. (The kid needs to do the work, girls. It ain't your ride.) My kid wants to do this and it really helps keep her in check, that's the only reason why I pay for it, not to try to gain some upper-societal standing. I could care less about things of that nature. I can spot a manipulator at 25 paces, and those that wish to throw the fecal matter at the fan, soon realize that I possess a bigger fan and can cover a wider area with far less effort, so please don't ever threaten me, you'll just never know what side of the table I might be on when next we meet. My most favorite movie quote of all time comes from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/quotes?qt=qt0443462 "Face it girls, I am older and have more insurance."
This morning, Emily balked at getting up and going. She wanted to stay home and sleep. I think it's the transition to early morning practices. So, I made her get up and go anyway. In the car, on the way to the gym we stopped at McD's for breakfast. As soon as she got a an Egg McMuffin into her, Emily started to look forward to getting in the gym. By the time we got there she was jumping out of the car to run into class. I sat there for a short while drinking my steaming hot McD coffee to watch Emily's first dance class. She's with the "big girls" now, and is picking up the choreography very quickly. I sat back and watched for about 1/2 an hour, now it's time for me to get crackin' on finishing up Christmas, so I'd better get a move on.
2:00 pm
Well, must have been a good day. By the time we got home, Emily was fast asleep in the back seat. This just might work out rather well! She's TIRED. This kid's NEVER TIRED. Maybe I can finally get her internal clock set to a more normalized time.
Today Emily was with the Level 7's and worked with both Alexei and Gay. She worked on her front-hand-spring front-tuck, one handed back walkover, standing-front-handspring-stepout and her dance routine. So far it's been a good day...
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Starting Level 6, new skills, new coaches, new gym.
After Emily's dismal State meet, we both decided that if Emily wishes to continue this quest, she needed a smaller class size, more time with the coach and more conditioning. The size of the team alone at TIGAR was reason enough to realize that the afternoon girls would be lost in the mix. The quality of training that the school program girls received during the morning practices put that squad at a definite advantage over the girls in the afternoon program, and since Beth, the owner told me the week before that there was no room in the school program for Emily, 4 days a week, we bid TIGAR Gymnastics farewell on Monday night.
After interviewing several gyms in the area, the concensus was that we needed to find a medium to small sized gym that offered a school program. We researched and found Gymnastika, which is owned and operated by Gay Lindsay and Alexei Kodria. Upon meeting with them, I feel that Gay and Alexei are more concerned with the quality of coaching and reinforcing the love of this sport. They stress the necessity for proper conditioning techniques to avoid injury. My gut told me this is a good move for Emily.
Emily has now moved to Gymnastika's smaller but much higher quality bar and vault program with Grigoriy Buchkovskiy and Alexei Koudria. Grigoriy moved to Colorado in 2010 to be closer to his family, and started with TIGAR Gymnastics. That is when Emily and I originally met him. He moved to Gymnastika during this past summer. Emily worked well with him and his son Yevgen while they were at TIGAR. Emily was heartbroken when Yevgen left suddenly just as the Level 5 season began. The girls had to adjust to a new bar and beam coach at the beginning of the season.
Even though Emily is leaving Svetlana behind at the moment and will miss her very much, Svetlana gave her a solid foundation in gymnastics that will benefit Emily's future training. Emily knows in order to reach her goal, she'll need more intensive training and conditioning with a smaller class size to improve her bar and vault routines, or face additional struggles at her next meet.
Emily knows this is the best move for her to reach the goals that she is setting for herself and she is comfortable with it. Emily has been very fortunate in her 10 years. She has been coached by some amazing people. Not only has she received some fabulous hands on training from the best in the world at TIGAR, including Svetlana Boguinskaya, now she's learning vault from Alexei Koudria, who was the senior trainer of the Belarussian National Gymnastic team which produced the great Vitaly Scherbo! Alexei has trained several Colorado Gymnasts that have reached the Olympic level. Wow, I don't know how God keeps this child on this road to glory to receive such blessings, but hey, I'll enjoy the ride... Alexei told me tonight that Emily listens to him and he likes working with her. Thank God. She's high maintenance, just like her old man was. We wish TIGAR much success, and I am sure we will meet with all of them again in the near future. I will be continuing to follow all of the girls' progress - after all, our little Utopia created at TIGAR will continue to evolve and the friendships made while there will not be broken.
Emily's been at Gymnastika for the last two days and will start in their school program after the winter break, but for now she's there for the afternoon session and truly having a blast. She's relaxed, happy and has a renewed outlook on the sport after such a dismal State meet. On Tuesday we tried her on the school schedule for just that one day. I did it to see if she wanted it bad enough to adjust her schedule. Well, she was ready and out the door on Tuesday morning at 6:50am. I couldn't get her up for regular school without being late 4 out of 5 days... I guess she's truly fixated on her goal.
More to come.. Emily's determined to succeed.
After interviewing several gyms in the area, the concensus was that we needed to find a medium to small sized gym that offered a school program. We researched and found Gymnastika, which is owned and operated by Gay Lindsay and Alexei Kodria. Upon meeting with them, I feel that Gay and Alexei are more concerned with the quality of coaching and reinforcing the love of this sport. They stress the necessity for proper conditioning techniques to avoid injury. My gut told me this is a good move for Emily.
Emily has now moved to Gymnastika's smaller but much higher quality bar and vault program with Grigoriy Buchkovskiy and Alexei Koudria. Grigoriy moved to Colorado in 2010 to be closer to his family, and started with TIGAR Gymnastics. That is when Emily and I originally met him. He moved to Gymnastika during this past summer. Emily worked well with him and his son Yevgen while they were at TIGAR. Emily was heartbroken when Yevgen left suddenly just as the Level 5 season began. The girls had to adjust to a new bar and beam coach at the beginning of the season.
Even though Emily is leaving Svetlana behind at the moment and will miss her very much, Svetlana gave her a solid foundation in gymnastics that will benefit Emily's future training. Emily knows in order to reach her goal, she'll need more intensive training and conditioning with a smaller class size to improve her bar and vault routines, or face additional struggles at her next meet.
Emily knows this is the best move for her to reach the goals that she is setting for herself and she is comfortable with it. Emily has been very fortunate in her 10 years. She has been coached by some amazing people. Not only has she received some fabulous hands on training from the best in the world at TIGAR, including Svetlana Boguinskaya, now she's learning vault from Alexei Koudria, who was the senior trainer of the Belarussian National Gymnastic team which produced the great Vitaly Scherbo! Alexei has trained several Colorado Gymnasts that have reached the Olympic level. Wow, I don't know how God keeps this child on this road to glory to receive such blessings, but hey, I'll enjoy the ride... Alexei told me tonight that Emily listens to him and he likes working with her. Thank God. She's high maintenance, just like her old man was. We wish TIGAR much success, and I am sure we will meet with all of them again in the near future. I will be continuing to follow all of the girls' progress - after all, our little Utopia created at TIGAR will continue to evolve and the friendships made while there will not be broken.
Emily's been at Gymnastika for the last two days and will start in their school program after the winter break, but for now she's there for the afternoon session and truly having a blast. She's relaxed, happy and has a renewed outlook on the sport after such a dismal State meet. On Tuesday we tried her on the school schedule for just that one day. I did it to see if she wanted it bad enough to adjust her schedule. Well, she was ready and out the door on Tuesday morning at 6:50am. I couldn't get her up for regular school without being late 4 out of 5 days... I guess she's truly fixated on her goal.
More to come.. Emily's determined to succeed.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Level 5 is DONE!
Well, Emily had her absolute worst meet of the season at State. She hit the vault table with her chest because she jumped too soon for the springboard (there was a line on the floor that threw ALOT of the girls off) Her second vault looked pretty good (what do I know?), her score was 8.25.
On to bars. After the meet Emily tells me her coach Mac, set the bars farther apart than Emily would work in practice. (Again, what do I know?) When she grabbed for the high bar, she only caught it with her fingertips, which threw off her entire routine, but hey, she finished it without a crash and burn. Score 8.25 She is now 0 and 2.
Luck of the draw, she starts the Beam rotation which is her best event. After two falls and an over time, she scored a 8.25. At this point, she can no longer keep herself composed. Svetlana tells her "just think Emily, you had a beautiful routine! I am so proud of you! If you had not fallen twice and did not go over time, you would have scored a 9.75!" Well, those words of encouragement did nothing to ease Emily's troubled soul. She continued to cry until the next rotation.
Floor Rotation: by this time Emily had just given up. She was deflated. Her score 8.95. She was done. So between the tears and regrets we decided to go to IHOP and drown her sorrows in pancakes. With the support of her two big sisters Kathleen and Annie, she made it through this dark period and realized the agony of defeat. Her team mates fared somewhat better, though I don't believe any TIGAR won an All-Around Medal for Level 5 in any division this year at State. The team itself won 3rd place when all was said and done.
Emily had a dismal State meet - it happens. Level 5 is finally behind her! Now we have a chance to evaluate our direction and move on. Emily still loves Gymnastics and still dreams of that Gold Medal, it looks like she'll continue to drag me behind her in this personal quest... God help me!
On to bars. After the meet Emily tells me her coach Mac, set the bars farther apart than Emily would work in practice. (Again, what do I know?) When she grabbed for the high bar, she only caught it with her fingertips, which threw off her entire routine, but hey, she finished it without a crash and burn. Score 8.25 She is now 0 and 2.
Luck of the draw, she starts the Beam rotation which is her best event. After two falls and an over time, she scored a 8.25. At this point, she can no longer keep herself composed. Svetlana tells her "just think Emily, you had a beautiful routine! I am so proud of you! If you had not fallen twice and did not go over time, you would have scored a 9.75!" Well, those words of encouragement did nothing to ease Emily's troubled soul. She continued to cry until the next rotation.
Floor Rotation: by this time Emily had just given up. She was deflated. Her score 8.95. She was done. So between the tears and regrets we decided to go to IHOP and drown her sorrows in pancakes. With the support of her two big sisters Kathleen and Annie, she made it through this dark period and realized the agony of defeat. Her team mates fared somewhat better, though I don't believe any TIGAR won an All-Around Medal for Level 5 in any division this year at State. The team itself won 3rd place when all was said and done.
Emily had a dismal State meet - it happens. Level 5 is finally behind her! Now we have a chance to evaluate our direction and move on. Emily still loves Gymnastics and still dreams of that Gold Medal, it looks like she'll continue to drag me behind her in this personal quest... God help me!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Level 5 Saturday Morning, Great Job Megan!
For some time I have watched little Megan Jackson struggle through every skill, desperately trying to keep up. She's got the perfect gymnast body, but has had so many challenges to overcome in her short life. She and I are in the same club, this is what I told her when she told me her Mom had died and I knew how she felt. She only knows me as "Emily's Mother". Which is funny, I remember calling Jimmy Daly's mother "Jimmy Daly's Mother", kind of sing songy, like Megan does now to me. But it's usually when she's getting off the bus from school into the gym... "Emily's Mother... can you braid my hair?" :-) I am going to miss that... Laura, you're doing the braiding now and she looks beautiful!
Meet after meet, my heart would go out to Megan, her disappointments on not earning enough points to make it to State, not getting a "real" medal, just a "participation" medal... To see her cry into Dad's shoulder because she just couldn't reach her goal, and then I'd look at my kid who wins everything in sight, and cries when she doesn't get a "real" medal in all events... and want to stomp her guts for being so insensitive... well today was a Mastercard Moment for all.
Not only did Megan get a "real" medal in every event, she podiumed with a 2nd place win on Beam and placed 6th All Around in the Junior A Division! The look on her face was in fact "priceless"! The look on Dad's face was a Kodak moment, but for me, the best was when she ran up to jump into the arms of her "new" mom, Laura.
This was good for Emily too. She was so proud of her friend Megan. She also finally realized how much the medals really mean when you work so hard and they're just out of your grasp...
Today was a good day. Megan's hard work finally paid off. She got her chance to shine. She's such a beautiful little thing and I thank God that I have been privileged to bear witness to her success today.
Emily goes tomorrow. I pray she keeps her cool.
Meet after meet, my heart would go out to Megan, her disappointments on not earning enough points to make it to State, not getting a "real" medal, just a "participation" medal... To see her cry into Dad's shoulder because she just couldn't reach her goal, and then I'd look at my kid who wins everything in sight, and cries when she doesn't get a "real" medal in all events... and want to stomp her guts for being so insensitive... well today was a Mastercard Moment for all.
Not only did Megan get a "real" medal in every event, she podiumed with a 2nd place win on Beam and placed 6th All Around in the Junior A Division! The look on her face was in fact "priceless"! The look on Dad's face was a Kodak moment, but for me, the best was when she ran up to jump into the arms of her "new" mom, Laura.
This was good for Emily too. She was so proud of her friend Megan. She also finally realized how much the medals really mean when you work so hard and they're just out of your grasp...
Today was a good day. Megan's hard work finally paid off. She got her chance to shine. She's such a beautiful little thing and I thank God that I have been privileged to bear witness to her success today.
Emily goes tomorrow. I pray she keeps her cool.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Three Days to CO USAG State Championship for Level 5
Today is one of those days that I would like to go back to life before Gymnastics. Emily's doing just fine. She's working her bar and vault routines and is still working to improve her Beam and Floor routines. The rotation schedule is out, and Emily's on Squad A. The only thing that may bug her is that she starts the rotation on Beam. I will pray for Emily to calmly perform her beam routine.
I really can't wait until Level 5 is past us. Between growing pains at the Gym, and the strain of my business - I am really ready for a break away from all of this. White sandy beaches, warm water and a drink with a little umbrella is what I dream of every time I gaze out into the snow.
I really can't wait until Level 5 is past us. Between growing pains at the Gym, and the strain of my business - I am really ready for a break away from all of this. White sandy beaches, warm water and a drink with a little umbrella is what I dream of every time I gaze out into the snow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)