I recently discovered the "ChipIn" widget, which you now see on the blog. It's a very versatile little program that makes it easy for people to donate to just about any event you can think of. At present, I have it set for upcoming fall meets, although if you read the post just before this one, you already know that we don't know yet if she'll be competing this fall. Once we have a final determination, I will adjust the ChipIn widget accordingly. The goal is based on competing in approximately 5 meets. In order to compete, each gymnast must have a membership in the USA Gymnastics organization ($48 to $53 per year, depending on whether it's done online or via the mail), and a team leotard (varies--ours looks to be about $50-75). Then each meet that you sign up for has a gymnast fee, a team fee, and coach fee/expenses. Each girl attending the meet has to pay her gymnast fee, and a portion of the team and coach fees. Additionally you have to provide transportation to the meet, possibly a hotel stay (although most of the events this year seem to be local enough to not have to worry about that) and admittance fee of about $8 for any spectators. The $700 goal is an estimate for the three fees needed for each meet, plus the membership and leotard. All of this, in addition to the $170 per month for coaching and open gym time. I had no idea what I was getting myself in for last year when I signed her up!!
In additon to the ChipIn widget, I will be continuing to auction stuff on eBay (which slows down in the summer, so I've held off for the last month) and may do a blitz week, in which I auction a variety of items and ask everyone to spread the word. I am also thinking about doing a raffle. I have a few items that might work well for a raffle, and am hoping that some of our family and friends might be willing to donate something fairly universal, like a giftcard for itunes, a major store like Target, dinner, or a movie. I'm going to start working on that as soon as I finish with my fair stuff, but if anyone has any suggestions in the mean time, I'm all ears!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Competition Update
The time has come for the head coach to decide whether or not the girls are ready to compete---I spoke with him yesterday and his current opinion is that they may not be ready to compete until the spring. Over the next two weeks, he'll be watching carefully before making a final decision. Kaylie, of course, is very excited about competing in the upcoming Preliminary events--followed by Sectionals in late October and the State at the end of November. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite mastered her back hand-spring--although her coach has told her she's almost there. Many of the level 4 girls have been gone most of the summer, so it's unclear at this point if they will be in shape to compete, even if they know the routines.
So we'll keep our fingers crossed that Kaylie is deemed ready, and gets the opportunity to compete this season. I'm hopeful for her, but at the same time very appreciative that her head coach is looking out for these girls. Safety is always a primary concern, and I definitely think it's important for the girls to feel good about how they do in competition. But at the same time, the fastest way to motivate Kaylie, is to tell her she's not ready! She's already asking if she could get a private lesson to try to master those final skills. I think the issue of team leotard's may come into play as well, although this is just a guess on my part. I know the the team leotard is a custom order--basically they order a ready made design, in the gym's colors. This custom fee is divided amongst all of the team members of a particular level. For example, the level 5 girls split that cost 3 ways, since there are 3 girls on the level 5 team. I think it would be challenging for the head coach to tell families, ok, it's time for you to buy the team leotard, but you won't be competing for several months, in order for one or two girls to have the leo to compete now. I can just imagine that would be difficult. Of course, the flip side to that is it's not entirely fair to any individual girl who might be ready to compete now. And I'm sure that there would be some girls/parents absolutely convinced that they are, in fact, ready now. (Kaylie being one of those girls--and me sort of being one of those parents--although I won't be pushing it, as I absolutely defer to the coach's knowledge and experience.) A potentially tricky situation, which I'm glad I'm not in!
A little info on the gymnastics "season". I've gleaned this from reading various internet sites, and talking to other gym moms. Apparently, there is a competitive season for each level of gymnast---levels 4-6 compete at the preliminary level in September and early October, followed by the Sectionals with finals in November. In order to get to sectionals, they have to achieve a combined score of 30.00 at the preliminary event, and then achieve a combined score of 32.00 at sectionals to qualify for the state event. A combined score is the total of all scores from each event--40.00 being the maximum score, if you got perfect 10's on each event. Usually it works out In the spring, competitions for those levels are more invitational in nature, meaning they are for experience, not state ranking. Also, I believe there are "testing" competitions, which allow gymnasts to move up to the next level for the following competition season. Higher level gymnasts have their season in the spring, starting in April. Every state potentially has their own variation on this, but I think it's reasonably the same across the board. Also, the lower levels only compete thru the state levels. The higher level gymnasts then can move up from state competitions to regional and national events if they have qualifying scores. It's surprising how tricky it is to come by this information--maybe someday I'll write a guide book for parents of new gymnasts!
So we'll keep our fingers crossed that Kaylie is deemed ready, and gets the opportunity to compete this season. I'm hopeful for her, but at the same time very appreciative that her head coach is looking out for these girls. Safety is always a primary concern, and I definitely think it's important for the girls to feel good about how they do in competition. But at the same time, the fastest way to motivate Kaylie, is to tell her she's not ready! She's already asking if she could get a private lesson to try to master those final skills. I think the issue of team leotard's may come into play as well, although this is just a guess on my part. I know the the team leotard is a custom order--basically they order a ready made design, in the gym's colors. This custom fee is divided amongst all of the team members of a particular level. For example, the level 5 girls split that cost 3 ways, since there are 3 girls on the level 5 team. I think it would be challenging for the head coach to tell families, ok, it's time for you to buy the team leotard, but you won't be competing for several months, in order for one or two girls to have the leo to compete now. I can just imagine that would be difficult. Of course, the flip side to that is it's not entirely fair to any individual girl who might be ready to compete now. And I'm sure that there would be some girls/parents absolutely convinced that they are, in fact, ready now. (Kaylie being one of those girls--and me sort of being one of those parents--although I won't be pushing it, as I absolutely defer to the coach's knowledge and experience.) A potentially tricky situation, which I'm glad I'm not in!
A little info on the gymnastics "season". I've gleaned this from reading various internet sites, and talking to other gym moms. Apparently, there is a competitive season for each level of gymnast---levels 4-6 compete at the preliminary level in September and early October, followed by the Sectionals with finals in November. In order to get to sectionals, they have to achieve a combined score of 30.00 at the preliminary event, and then achieve a combined score of 32.00 at sectionals to qualify for the state event. A combined score is the total of all scores from each event--40.00 being the maximum score, if you got perfect 10's on each event. Usually it works out In the spring, competitions for those levels are more invitational in nature, meaning they are for experience, not state ranking. Also, I believe there are "testing" competitions, which allow gymnasts to move up to the next level for the following competition season. Higher level gymnasts have their season in the spring, starting in April. Every state potentially has their own variation on this, but I think it's reasonably the same across the board. Also, the lower levels only compete thru the state levels. The higher level gymnasts then can move up from state competitions to regional and national events if they have qualifying scores. It's surprising how tricky it is to come by this information--maybe someday I'll write a guide book for parents of new gymnasts!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Care and Prevention of Rips
One of the things I have learned about, as a newbie mom of a young gymnasts, are rips. For those of you not in the know, "rips" are basically tears on the palms of your hands from bar work. This is one of the pitfalls that all gymnasts face.
I'm not sure why, but the coaches at the gym don't seem inclined to offer advice to the girls on how to care for, and prevent rips. Kaylie got her first one in March, and I took some time to research on the internet on how to properly care for it.
Kaylie slipped on the stairs on Thursday, so her foot has been a bit sore, and on Friday she was having trouble running for her vault practice. She has a good coach, who noticed, and sent her over to work with the level 5 girls on the bars, so that she wouldn't strain her foot. An unfortunate consequence of this, is that she ended up staying at the bars when the level 4 girls came over to do that skill, and so her palms were sore, and on the verge of ripping by the time she finished for the night. We decided to use one of the tips I had found on the internet, and she was very pleased with the result---so, in case there are any other newbie parents reading this, I have decided to share a bit of what we learned here on the blog---noting that these are just things we have tried, and been happy with the results--in no way do I suggest that these are expert opinions/techniques--just simple things that have helped Kaylie.
First off, when she did get a rip, we cleaned her hand thoroughly with warm water and a mild soap. Next we kept it covered, with a band aid and neosporin. Once new skin was growing, she stopped using the band aid, but kept applying hand lotion, to keep it supple and prevent it from drying out. Apparently, if the edges dry out, they may catch on something, and tear more. Once healed, she continued to use the hand lotion after workouts---washing her hands before applying the lotion. She has been using a Gold Bond Ultimate product called "Healing Skin Therapy Lotion" with aloe. I have to say, I really like this lotion--it's quite effective, without perfumes and has a non-greasy feeling after application. You can also buy it in a small tube that fits great in a gym bag, or purse! Since she's been following this routine, she hasn't gotten a single rip. Now, on Friday, she came close. I suggested she try one of the other tips I read, for quick healing of a rip. After cleaning her hands, she applied the lotion and wore a pair of gloves to bed--these are gloves made for sleeping in, to heal dry skin. Ours came with a set of hand products someone gave us as a gift--I would imagine they could be found at Target, Wal-mart, or stores like The Body Shop, or Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The next morning, the redness was gone, as well as most of the pain and soreness. She only ran thru her bar routine once on Saturday, during open gym--but with minimal discomfort and no tearing!! So we're very pleased with the result of that tip!
Another suggestion, which she hasn't tried yet, is to soak your hands, and then use a pumice stone to remove a bit of the callous build-up on her palms. At this point, she hasn't built up enough callous to bother with this, but I'm sure she'll get there at some point! Callouses protect your hands from tears, unless they build up too much, at which point they bunch up when you grip the bars, creating an opportunity for a rip. There are also issues of gripping the bars too tight, using too much chalk, or not enough chalk--things that you just learn as you gain experience.
So there you go, a beginner's experience with rips!
I'm not sure why, but the coaches at the gym don't seem inclined to offer advice to the girls on how to care for, and prevent rips. Kaylie got her first one in March, and I took some time to research on the internet on how to properly care for it.
Kaylie slipped on the stairs on Thursday, so her foot has been a bit sore, and on Friday she was having trouble running for her vault practice. She has a good coach, who noticed, and sent her over to work with the level 5 girls on the bars, so that she wouldn't strain her foot. An unfortunate consequence of this, is that she ended up staying at the bars when the level 4 girls came over to do that skill, and so her palms were sore, and on the verge of ripping by the time she finished for the night. We decided to use one of the tips I had found on the internet, and she was very pleased with the result---so, in case there are any other newbie parents reading this, I have decided to share a bit of what we learned here on the blog---noting that these are just things we have tried, and been happy with the results--in no way do I suggest that these are expert opinions/techniques--just simple things that have helped Kaylie.
First off, when she did get a rip, we cleaned her hand thoroughly with warm water and a mild soap. Next we kept it covered, with a band aid and neosporin. Once new skin was growing, she stopped using the band aid, but kept applying hand lotion, to keep it supple and prevent it from drying out. Apparently, if the edges dry out, they may catch on something, and tear more. Once healed, she continued to use the hand lotion after workouts---washing her hands before applying the lotion. She has been using a Gold Bond Ultimate product called "Healing Skin Therapy Lotion" with aloe. I have to say, I really like this lotion--it's quite effective, without perfumes and has a non-greasy feeling after application. You can also buy it in a small tube that fits great in a gym bag, or purse! Since she's been following this routine, she hasn't gotten a single rip. Now, on Friday, she came close. I suggested she try one of the other tips I read, for quick healing of a rip. After cleaning her hands, she applied the lotion and wore a pair of gloves to bed--these are gloves made for sleeping in, to heal dry skin. Ours came with a set of hand products someone gave us as a gift--I would imagine they could be found at Target, Wal-mart, or stores like The Body Shop, or Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The next morning, the redness was gone, as well as most of the pain and soreness. She only ran thru her bar routine once on Saturday, during open gym--but with minimal discomfort and no tearing!! So we're very pleased with the result of that tip!
Another suggestion, which she hasn't tried yet, is to soak your hands, and then use a pumice stone to remove a bit of the callous build-up on her palms. At this point, she hasn't built up enough callous to bother with this, but I'm sure she'll get there at some point! Callouses protect your hands from tears, unless they build up too much, at which point they bunch up when you grip the bars, creating an opportunity for a rip. There are also issues of gripping the bars too tight, using too much chalk, or not enough chalk--things that you just learn as you gain experience.
So there you go, a beginner's experience with rips!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Lazy Days of Summer
Just popping in with a brief update---no big developments in training, just a steady effort and continued improvement in muscle strength and skills. Many of the girls on the team are off on vacation, so it's just been Kaylie and two other girls for the last couple of weeks--a good opportunity for more one on one time with the coaches! Kaylie has become pretty good friends with one of the girls at level 5---she's several years older than Kaylie, but they hit it off and have been on the phone regularly and enjoying a kids website, along with some other friends from school.
I'll be getting some more auction things going soon, in preparation for the upcoming meet expenses. We also have one small company that is considering sponsoring Kaylie, which would be awesome. Anyone interested in doing the same, please don't hesitate to let me know!
I'll be getting some more auction things going soon, in preparation for the upcoming meet expenses. We also have one small company that is considering sponsoring Kaylie, which would be awesome. Anyone interested in doing the same, please don't hesitate to let me know!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy 4th of July
Just wanted to wish everyone a great 4th of July weekend!
We're celebrating quietly at home, some friends may come over to BBQ. Very casual. Things tend to get a bit crazy here in Palmdale on the 4th----lots of illegal fireworks going off into the sky pretty much every direction you care to look. So here's hoping it's a safe one!
Kaylie is enjoying a week off of gymnastics as the gym is closed this week. She was very excited that she did get her locker last Saturday--so I guess it is official--she is now on the team, not just training for it!!
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