Kaylie's First Official Meet!

We found out last night that Kaylie will be competing as an official USAG gymnast for the first time on Sunday the 20th!! She was assigned to a 12pm session, which means we don't have to get up at 5am! Yeah!

For those that don't know how it works, at level 4, gymnasts compete at the preliminary level first, and if they score a 30.00 or higher at any of the scheduled prelim competitions, they move on to compete at Sectionals the weekend of October 24th. If they score 32.00 or higher at Sectionals, they are able to compete at the State Finals (So. Cal) in mid-November.

At Kaylie's gym, any gymnast that makes it to finals, will move up to level 5 in December. She's very excited about that prospect! She's now training an additional 3 hours per week to prepare for the meets, and if she moves to level 5, will continue with the additional hours. We'll keep ya posted!

Photos from the last two Mini-Meets

Here are some photos of the last two mini-meets at Kaylie's gym--mostly I took movies, which I'll post next!

Prelims are almost here!

It's been a busy summer, and I've not updated Kaylie's blog in a long time---I have some new video, and photos from the two other mini-meets that were held at her gym over the summer, so will get those posted within the next few days. She did very well at the second meet--scored a 34.45 all around! In the weeks prior to the third meet, she was out of town, so not her best scores, but she still did well, scoring 32.90!

She'll be competing in her first real meet the weekend of September 19th, and then again the following weekend. Her final preliminary meet in October, and hopefully she'll score at least a 30.00 to qualify for the Sectionals in late October.

We'll be doing some auctions to raise additional money for the meet fees, so look for those postings in the next week.

And the results are.....

First place in Floor and Bars!!!! We're so excited that Kaylie did so well! She had a lot of fun, and didn't have any problems with nerves. Her best apparatus is normally the beam, but she lost her balance, and fell early on in the routine, so lost a full point for that---but the good news is the fall didn't shake her, and she did really well with the rest of the routine. She missed the twist in her dismount, so since she still had time, she got right back on and re-did the dismount correctly. Not sure how much that helped her with regards to her points, but really proud of the confidence she displayed to re-do the element.

She did a fantastic job on her bar routine--still needs to work on her glide, and had a bit too much momentum on her stride circle, but did so much better than the other girls it was a pleasure to watch. She scored a 8.7 for that event. She did one of her best floor routines ever---an event that she has always struggled with--I think because her coach for levels 1-3 didn't focus on those skills, she came onto the level 4 team seriously lacking in floor expertise. She really enjoys it though, and has worked hard to improve. She was sooooo thrilled to come first in that event, scoring an 8.5

Vault is just not her event, so she didn't expect to do well in it--just have fun and do her best. She did enjoy getting to see the video of her vaults, and the opportunity to see what she's doing wrong, and where she needs to improve.

The next mini-meet will be held on June 27th. The goal of the coaches is for each girl to improve upon her scores from the previous mini-meet, and to build their skills and confidence heading into the state preliminaries.

Great job Kaylie---We're sooo proud of you!

Competition Today--Sort of!

Wow, it's been too long since I've posted---guess things have been really busy!

Today Kaylie will be competing for the first time----but not in an actual, USA Gymnastics competition. Because the annual membership in USA Gymnastics runs from August to August, the owners of Kaylie's gym decided to have 3 mock competitions at our gym over the summer, rather than enter the girls in real competitions. This saves all of the parents from having to pay the membership fee now, and then again in August. So sort of good, and sort of a bummer. Kaylie seems ok with it though--so if it works for her, it's fine by me. I'm always happy to save a buck! She is bummed that she doesn't get to wear her team leo--but since she's the only level 4 team member that has hers, it makes sense! Kaylie was measured as the fit model, so hers was the first one to be completed.

The events that are planned will include prizes and goodie bags, just like a real competition, and will be judged by actual judges. Each competitor will have to do their routines under the exact same guidelines as a real meet, so it should be a good introduction for them into the world of competitive gymnastics. Each event will have a theme of some sort, and provide a fun family atmosphere. I'll be posting pictures, maybe some video, and comments tomorrow.

Update on Gymnastics Camp

Well, we got mixed news about the scholarship for Kaylie to attend a week long summer gymnastics camp. She did receive a scholarship, but it was only for about 23% of the fee, and we just can't afford to make up the difference at this time, so she won't be able to go this year--hopefully things will improve in the upcoming year and maybe she'll be able to go next summer.

Also, we have not yet been able to take pictures/video at the gym, as Kaylie had a cold over her spring break, and we weren't able to go to the gym. Oh well, sometime soon we'll get some new pictures!

Kaylie's First Meet!!

Finally we know when Kaylie will get to participate in her first competition!! She will be competing at the Club Champion gym's annual Pasadena Classic on the last weekend in May!! We won't know which day, Saturday or Sunday, that she will compete on until a week or two beforehand, but we are excited to finally know which meet she will be attending! She will be competing at level 4 in this friendly meet, which will help give her some experience prior to the state preliminaries in the fall.