Back at Gymnastika!

 After that horrendous knee injury, and over 4 months out of the gym and on crutches,  Emily's back with her friends over at Gymnastika!  I had her at Highland Hills and hoped she would want to stay there a little longer because it's not such a far drive, but the moment the doc released her, she begged to go back to Gay Lindsay's.  She loves her coach.  Even though the ortho doc hates girls in gymnastics, Emily has other ideas as to what she wants to do with herself.   Emily's  been working beam and bars and  working hard on conditioning.  It won't be long before she's back in competition form.

Gabby Douglas Wins the All Around Gold!

and her old gym whines about losing "their" champion...

Gabby's Mom owes Excaliber money
Gym owners are truly a strange breed.  With the money that they could reap from new clients, they really shot themselves in the foot with this whining.

I salute you Gabrielle Douglas not only for helping your team win Gold,  but for being the first African American woman to win the All-Around Gold at the Olympics!  Congratulations to Natalie Hawkins  (Gabby's Mom) and Gabby's siblings for making the sacrifices to help get her there.  Congratulations to Liang Chow , you are a great mentor.  Not only have Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas achieved their Olympic goals, but they have also been given the strength to handle themselves under the spotlight because of the confidence that you helped instill in them both.  We can't wait to see all of the champions when they come to town for the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions - 2012

Meanwhile:

Emily has been fighting through Osgood-Schlatter's disease for most of the summer, so we've opted to take a month off of hard training as she's in far too much pain to continue her 26 hour a week regimen.  It's really close to competition season, but I'd rather she made it to adulthood without tearing out both knees.  Sorry, but it's a Mom Thing.   There will be a life after Gymnastics, and I'd like to make sure she gets there without a Handicap Placard. She'll keep up her conditioning at home and we'll re-evaluate at the end of the month.  It was hard to tell Gay at Gymnastika that we were taking a break, but I feel it's the best thing that Emily can do for herself right now, and the pain is causing her to realize that it's best to take it easy for a couple of weeks until this recent growth spurt is over with. Competition can wait awhile.  It disturbs me to see so many taped ankles, knees and wrists in this sport.

2012 Olympics - Go Team USA!

Emily and I spent this morning searching for news on Team USA girls.  What a shock to find out that Jordyn Wieber did not qualify for the Individual All Around final.  More news at http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/2012/0729/Olympics-shocker-Jordyn-Wieber-US-all-around-gymnast-fails-to-qualify

Well, as Michael Phelps just discovered, 4th place is not where anyone wants to be.  My heart goes out to Jordyn, her coach and her family.  She's worked so hard, she's still the World Champion. 

We will continue to root for the ENTIRE US TEAM.  Personally I just love Ali Raisman's Floor routine and music, as for Gabby Douglas - she really can fly on the bars! It will always be a team effort and we'll be rooting for them to win gold!

Our men's favorite is John Orozco.  He's such a nice kid and has such great heart. We'll be cheering him on this evening.  Emily and I have decided that we're going to go watch the next summer Olympics in 2016.  Rio, here we come!

UPDATE ON EMILY'S STATUS
Emily's new skills are:
Kip, cast, handstand, three-in-a-row, on Uneven Bars
Front walkover, tik tok on the high beam, without a mat!
Emily's coach tells me that when she performs a twist, Emily knows exactly where her body is at all times while tumbling.  Emily's a pretty good tumbler I have to admit. The first time I saw her do a back layout, she took my breath away.  I was shocked at the air that she got. 

Secret US Classic 2012 - 5th grade continuation

Today's the day for the US Secret Classic.  Polina Shchennikova of TIGAR competed today as a Junior.  She placed 2nd on bars with a 14.4,  and finished 9th overall.  Not bad, Polina!  Here's her Uneven Bars Routine (courtesy of USA Gymnastics):



Simone Biles scored a 16.05 on the vault (Wow) and won the All Around with a score of 58.15. Here's that FABULOUS vault (courtesy of USA Gymnastics):



Polina's little sister Alyona  placed 1st on bars during the HOPES Compulsory Session at the Secret Classic. 

This evening the Senior Elite girls competed for a shot to the VISA Classic.  It was also Nastia Liukin's debut back to the sport and it was a great comeback  (courtesy of Universal Sports)



Meanwhile, Emily graduated from Elementary School on Thursday and here's the video (courtesy Aunt Jean McCawley):



Emily spent the night at her best friend Megan's house so that she could kick back and relax.  It's been alot of work in the gym lately and she really needs this break.  We're off of the gym schedule for the entire week.  I don't think I'll know what to do with myself.  I just might get my car cleaned out and my house clean for once!

While at Gymnastika yesterday, more future x-TIGARS are coming to see what Gay has to offer.  I don't know exactly what's happening over there, but obviously it was a bad business move on TIGAR's part.

Saluting all Gym Moms...

Proctor and Gamble decided to make this series of videos, to acknowledge what we as moms go through daily to support our childrens' dreams and aspirations...

I just love this line from the below video "Olympians -  they weren't born that way, they're raised that way..."




For all of those naysayers that would like to believe that what we are doing, as the mother of a dedicated child in any disclipline is living vicariously through their child...

lets not forget ...the late night hand washing of the exhibition uniforms, the waking of the athlete, preparation of the morning meal, the early morning hair braiding, stocking the snack bag with healthy food to get her through another grueling practice... the checking of the school homework... the endless daily driving... to the gym, to the school, to the gym, back to home... and before transporting to each destination, making sure to prepare a healthy "in-transit" meal, carrying their exhausted body out of the car to bed at the end of a grueling day and asking your little champion after every practice "Did you have fun today?"




So to clarify - we as mothers dedicate ourselves to our children, fear for their safety, we are there to shore them up when they feel defeated, pray to God that we have the strength to continue in their quest whatever it may be, and cry with relief and pride that we are privileged to witness their shining moments ... no matter what path we end up being dragged down by our future medalist.  As mothers we will continue to do so as long as we live and breathe. We love them and are in awe of their accomplishments, drive and dedication.

Here's a great article  The Role of the Gymnastic Parent

Here's another great article http://voices.yahoo.com/what-takes-gymnastics-parent-537025.html

Gymnastika's Spring Fling

Yesterday Gymnastika put on their Spring Fling, which is a meet for the recreational kids to show off the skills that they've learned in this past session.  Emily and her team mates got the chance to show off their stuff performing an exhibition dance routine.





The optional girls really burned up the floor performing their dance routine to Bollywood Fusion.



While at this meet, a few of us started discussing organizing a new 501(c)3 to benefit local gymnasts. I love it when a plan comes together...

It's another good day.

Today I received a call from a mom at TIGAR, apparently our ad for Emily's parade and competition Leo's from that gym was still up on the Booster Club board in the parent lounge.  

Believe me this is one good deal! 

1 blinged out custom Level 10 TIGAR Parade Leo with blk velvet shorts size 6/7 and matching scrunchy hair tie, 
1 spaghetti strap Tiger Shiny Print Parade Leo with blk velvet shorts size 6/7 and matching scrunchy hair tie,
For Competition:
a bag of custom Hair Ties (5) and hair ribbons to match
Level 4/5 Dreamlite competition Leo size 6/7 and team jacket
Black velvet warm up pants with the TIGAR paw embroidered on the waist.

AND... a TIGAR Gymnastics Team BackPack!

ENTIRE LOT  $175.00 (original price new, well over $400.00)
Moving on to Gymnastika and their gymnastics school program, PRICELESS!

While we were at TIGAR so that the new Level 4/5 could try these leos on, Beth (the owner) asked Emily if Grigory was still at Gymnastika.  Emily told her "no, he left".  Beth's answer was "I knew that was going to happen."   Beth, you really shouldn't attempt to gloat when you have no idea the circumstances of Grigory's departure. That kind of behavior does nothing to boost your likeability or credibility in this sport. You have a really nice new gym and some of the best coaches, but your Level 5,6 teams from what I recently noticed are still struggling at two of the four events. TIGAR didn't have one Level 5 All-Around last year, even though a lot of the girls did win event titles.  To get to Nationals the girls have to be good in all four disciplines. If you thought like I did about running my business, I'd be watching closer what the girls below Level 8 will achieve in the next competition season to keep abreast of the competition. I wish you well.

Gay Lindsay at Gymnastika knows this sport well,  having been a competitive gymnast herself long before opening her own gym. Her hiring and firing decisions only make me respect her even more.  She's worked wonders with my needy child and I see a vast improvement in Emily's demeanor and behavior since switching gyms.  Not only is Emily growing in her gymnastics skill set, but she's also maturing and learning good sportsmanship where she currently trains, which to me is far more important to engrain in her personality than learning how to execute a new trick.

Emily also got the chance today to see Svetlana (Stabourova) her first competitive coach, and give her a big hug, which really made Emily's day.     We also said hi to Polina and Alyona while we were there and congratulated them both on their recent successes.  Polina Shchennikova  tied for 2nd at the 2012 Nastia Liukin Cup in March and her sister Alyona Shchennikova finished 4th AA at the Hopes Qualifier at Karolyi Ranch on May 4th.  These two are having a fabulous year and we wish them many more future successes.

Meagan Groel, Emily's buddy,  is on her way down to the Karolyi Ranch this weekend.  We wish her well, safe journey and have lots of fun while you're there.

Well, 4 more days to the Gymnastika banquet and Saturday's recreational meet!  Can't wait to see the group perform!

Saturday morning practice in May

Today the girls are practicing their dance routines for the upcoming banquet this next week. We have a new coach at the gym.  Her name is Kelly and she was Emily's dance coach at TIGAR.

When Emily was at TIGAR she hated attending Kelly's class at night after practice. I think it was because there were over 25 girls in the class and it was at 7:45 at night. Now Emily couldn't be happier to learn from Kelly. This morning Emily's benefitting from actually being able to listen to Kelly without distractions. I wish she had been able to do that in the past.

With the smaller class sizes at Gymnastika Emily has really been able to improve on her skills and learn new ones.




Today I have heard that yet another girl from Emily's old gym is defecting to another local gym.  You can't win friends and influence people when your paying clients figure out that your Gym was developed for one child and one purpose only.  It's no secret that purpose does not include growing the actual business. If  that Jungle Cat continues to run at a loss I doubt seriously that the cumulative investments will continue to keep that business afloat.   Good luck with that. Tigars don't change their stripes and when they start to eat the villagers, eventually they're euthanized.


Have a great Mother's Day all!

Happy Mother's Day to YOU, the Gym Rat's Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all of my friends that I've met over the years at different Gymnastics Clubs! Thank you USA Gymnastics and Proctor and Gamble for the following  video:

 

I also believe my daughter Emily will do great things after her days of competition are behind her. 

Right now Emily is training 26 hours a week at Gymnastika, in Arvada, CO, she loves every moment and is truly dedicated to her sport.  I ask her daily if she's still up for this schedule, and the answer is always the same "I love to compete, Mom!  I want to be Elite!"  So, as long as she makes the effort, I will be there to support her, but I often remind her there's a life outside the gym, that her schoolwork  and friendships outside of the gym are just as important.

Today I finally had a little time to watch my daughter's practice.  I had not watched a practice since January as my company's busy season kept me running ragged.  When I got there, a half an hour before practice was over, my daughter and her group (Level 6's and 7's) were on the floor practicing tumbling passes.  It was Emily's turn as I watched her complete her back handspring, back layout I was shocked at how much height she was able to get in her back layout on a spring floor, not on a trampoline.  She took my breath away.  It's moments like that one that keep us, the parents inspired to continue to support our children in this sport.  Emily, labeled a problem child with Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD, now channels her frustrations in tumbling passes, switch leaps and twists.  How she amazes and inspires me...

It takes an enormous amount of commitment - both time and resources - to support your gymnast in her goal of mastering this sport with no guarantee that she will make it to collegiate level, much less Elite status, but as parents we are there for our children because we love them and want the best for them.  We'll all be there to support our children no matter what in whatever they choose as their passion.

On a side note:
As we approach a new competition season, since I've been asked by several of my friends about Booster Club rules and regs, here is a great link to all things legal regarding Booster Clubs, what the Gym can, and can not force the parent to do. My best advice to you is to educate yourself and ask for documentation of proof that there is actually a legal organization that is bound by your State's Fundraising laws.  Any legal organization's documentation should be on file with your Secretary of State's office as well.

Word to the wise:  Booster Club Board of Directors are liable for any errors and omissions of legality and should be protected by Directors and Officers insurance policy to protect them against any "errors or omissions" in Booster Club acts and/or policies.  A Board Member can be sued personally for any mistakes made by the Club.

Please click here and educate yourself prior to committing your precious resources:

  Is this Booster Club Legal?

and  please check out The truth about Individual Fundraising Accounts

May Flowers... new skills

Emily has been working on getting her Giant. Still pretty fearful, but she's almost there! She's been able to swing to handstand on the parallel bars, which Gay says takes a good chunk of the fear factor out of the equation, but still Emily's tensing up with fear when working on that skill. I just found out that my cousin Glenn Olson has been chosen as the head chef at Olympic Village for the Summer Olympics in London! I hear he's a wonderful chef. I haven't seen him in 35 years. Wow, that's a long time and we were all just kids. Thank God for Facebook. Emily was in the talent show at her Elementary School this past week and she performed a modified balance beam routine which she ALMOST crashed and burned at. She threw two tricks on a 2" mat that I had NO IDEA she decided to put in that routine. When she rehearsed her original routine, it was performed on 8" mats. I did not know until she went to perform that the mats were switched out, and by then she was in the middle of the routine. Thank God she didn't get hurt.

Emily's Left Thumb

It's leap day! Tomorrow Emily gets her brace off and she can start using her left hand again. In January Emily broke her thumb in a freak accident at Flynn Elementary. Emily never gets hurt at the Gym. While trying to get her backpack off of the hook so she could leave school for gym, she somehow caught her thumb in the coathook, breaking it. When I took her for xrays, they confirmed that she had broken the metacarpal bone of her left thumb in the growth plate. Well, at least this injury wasn't in the middle of a competition season. Emily's been conditioning and training on floor, vault and beam, just not bars. Today I got an IPhone 4S, and I' think that I should be able to update this blog on the run, through the I-Phone, so maybe now I can be a little more regular in my posts. This phone has Siri, and she's got attitude. Tonight, while trying to figure out how to make a call, I asked Siri to help. She dialed everyone but who I wanted. I called her a piece of s**t. She answered back with attitude "I'm doing THE BEST THAT I CAN!" Ewh.. sorry...

Emily's Birthday and new skills

Emily turned 11 years old yesterday. She's been attending gym school since January 3rd and tells me that she's finally getting back her upper body strength. She's thrilled at learning all the new skills. She's finally learning her bar routine while using her grips which is something that I and her previous coach went rounds about more than once. I don't know anything about Gymnastics, but it was really obvious that my daughter was not getting the training or conditioning she needed to perform a compulsory bar or vault routine. Emily's been at a few gyms by now. She started out at Gymnastics Unlimited in Thornton in their tots tumbling class. She then spent some time at 5280 Gymnastics in recreational and pre-team. Emily spent her Level 4 and 5 compulsories at TIGAR Gymnastics. She had a great Level 4 record with 2 All Around Wins and did very well on Floor and Beam in Level 5. The difference in her training at Level 5 seemed to be attributed to a coaching change for Bars and Vault during her Level 5 season. She's now in the Gym/School Program at Gymnastika and is spending 6 days a week there. Emily still holds the Olympic dream in her mindset. She's 11 and so far has been truly dedicating herself to this sport for the last four years. Everybody keeps telling me that she's a "natural gymnast", whatever that means. I just know it's all a crap shoot at this point, but I still have to support her as her parent. If she continues to fight through the pain, strain and training she will succeed. There is no doubt in my mind. I pray every day that she remains injury free and I can direct her into a stable future once her gymnastics dreams are fulfilled. I keep on looking at the business models for this industry - I don't see a great big profit margin in any of it, unless you're cranking out cookie cutter Olympians like WOGA or the Karolys. I believe in Gay and Alexi and I know their training is top notch. They have produced a few National Team and Olympic Team members in their own right. Time to start a non-profit for this little gym and these small teams. These girls are going places and they'll need the funding to pull it off. I need to figure out how to get the community support behind this little Gym Group. TOPS training, which was a big push at TIGAR - I was told that program was started so that the young talent wouldn't get lost in a sea of poor coaching. That kind of made alot of sense to me. Well two days until Tim Tebow and the Broncos meet up in another playoff game. Go BRONCOS!

3 days til Christmas...

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!

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...

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.