Showing posts with label Level 6. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Level 6. Show all posts
Sunday, May 6, 2012
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.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Level 6 competition season is only 5 months away!
Counting down the months left until she competes again, Emily is finally out of her hand splint and back at practice with a vengeance! This week Emily has been practicing her back handspring, back layout off the tramp; she's almost got her giant on bars. She still fears the height she's getting on the bars, but knowing this one, she'll work through that and have it perfected by April. She's also working on her front walk-over, front tick-tock on beam.
I haven't had the chance to watch much of Emily's practices as I don't hang out at this gym, the parent area is too claustrophobic, and besides, I've got plenty of other things to do, like take care of my own business in between chauffering this little one, but I see the improvement in Emily's attitude and she's much happier now, enjoying what she's doing and hopefully not causing her coaches too much grief.
Above photo courtesy of Brian@ImagingB... This was Emily's second Level 5 vault at the State Meet this past December - she crashed into the vault the first time out. I wondered why, now I know. She knew the table wasn't set right from the get go. Emily trained with the table set at a 1 and then 2, but apparently her vault coach decided this day to set the vault table on 0 at the State Meet. That's a lousy thing to do to a kid and a picture tells a thousand words. So glad we've found a new home at a gym that will encourage my daughter to thrive in this sport and not hold her back.
I keep asking Emily, "hey... you want to stop and do something else like soccer or softball?" Faaaaaggeddaboutit!!!
She's a gym rat all the way.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
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!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
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!
Emily starts the school program in January. She can't wait. I can. I frankly needed this break. Merry Christmas all!
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.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Eleven Days to COUSAG Level 5 State Championships
Eleven days to the Level 5 Colorado State Gymnastics Championships..
I don't know how COUSAG determines what gym is granted hosting the State Championships but I have to say taking the largest teams and cramming them into the smallest gym wasn't the smartest idea in the world. Also placing a disclaimer on the information provided to deter people from coming to watch also isn't a good idea considering the expense involved in getting a kid to a State Championship - my extended family would love to see the result of all that hard work, but I've informed them that seating would be an issue.
TIGAR may not have the best view of the floor routines, but by God, they have enough room to handle spectators! As the Vice President of the TIGAR Booster Club, I can assure you that we would have been able to make the spectators feel welcome and comfortable. I truly hope that our gym decides to bid on a State Meet next year.
Today Emily is in the school spelling bee. She really hasn't had a lot of time to practice on her spelling words because she's been practicing for the State Meet - I hope she does well. She didn't practice last year either, but she made it past the 4th or 5th round! Hey, she made it - I'll be there at 1:30 to support her.
Emily seems to be improving her core strength, even though she's sore. She just might get her kip back by State. She actually got it back during her privates with Svetlana. Svetlana's a miracle worker and knows my whining child well. I pray Emily has improved her bar and vault scores. She's way too hard on herself and wants to win everything in sight, but hey, she's going to have to condition more to reach her goals. There's only one way to get good at gymnastics, and that's based on conditioning your body beyond just regular exercize. I asked her again this morning if she wanted to continue in competitive gymnastics after this State Meet. She told me she's going to the Olympics. Whether she gets there or not, I have no choice but to support her in this dream. Who knows? Out of all three of my girls, Emily's got the tenacity of a bulldog.
I just now found out the schedue for the State Level 5 meet,
TIGAR Gymnasts Who Will Compete in this Session:
· Audrey Brandt
· Violet Erling
· Dasha Romanov
· Jaylynn Haertel
· Kailee Jorgensen
· Kalise Newson
· Joslynn Pulido
· Emily Boyet
· Tess Ackerman
We've got a really big group here for the final session. We don't know what age levels they'll be in, but I believe that it will be broken down into 4 age categories.
The Level 6 girls go to State this weekend - good luck Megan Groel and the rest of the Level 6 TIGARS! Good luck to Lauren, Carly and Ilona at the TOPS camp this weekend and it's a shame that you all can't be at State this year - so make your mark at Karoly's while you're there. You're all winners!
I don't know how COUSAG determines what gym is granted hosting the State Championships but I have to say taking the largest teams and cramming them into the smallest gym wasn't the smartest idea in the world. Also placing a disclaimer on the information provided to deter people from coming to watch also isn't a good idea considering the expense involved in getting a kid to a State Championship - my extended family would love to see the result of all that hard work, but I've informed them that seating would be an issue.
TIGAR may not have the best view of the floor routines, but by God, they have enough room to handle spectators! As the Vice President of the TIGAR Booster Club, I can assure you that we would have been able to make the spectators feel welcome and comfortable. I truly hope that our gym decides to bid on a State Meet next year.
Today Emily is in the school spelling bee. She really hasn't had a lot of time to practice on her spelling words because she's been practicing for the State Meet - I hope she does well. She didn't practice last year either, but she made it past the 4th or 5th round! Hey, she made it - I'll be there at 1:30 to support her.
Emily seems to be improving her core strength, even though she's sore. She just might get her kip back by State. She actually got it back during her privates with Svetlana. Svetlana's a miracle worker and knows my whining child well. I pray Emily has improved her bar and vault scores. She's way too hard on herself and wants to win everything in sight, but hey, she's going to have to condition more to reach her goals. There's only one way to get good at gymnastics, and that's based on conditioning your body beyond just regular exercize. I asked her again this morning if she wanted to continue in competitive gymnastics after this State Meet. She told me she's going to the Olympics. Whether she gets there or not, I have no choice but to support her in this dream. Who knows? Out of all three of my girls, Emily's got the tenacity of a bulldog.
I just now found out the schedue for the State Level 5 meet,
TIGAR Gymnasts Who Will Compete in this Session:
· Audrey Brandt
· Violet Erling
· Dasha Romanov
· Jaylynn Haertel
· Kailee Jorgensen
· Kalise Newson
· Joslynn Pulido
· Emily Boyet
· Tess Ackerman
We've got a really big group here for the final session. We don't know what age levels they'll be in, but I believe that it will be broken down into 4 age categories.
The Level 6 girls go to State this weekend - good luck Megan Groel and the rest of the Level 6 TIGARS! Good luck to Lauren, Carly and Ilona at the TOPS camp this weekend and it's a shame that you all can't be at State this year - so make your mark at Karoly's while you're there. You're all winners!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)