Weekend Update

The eye infection I acquired in Phoenix is kicking my butt.

It's not so much an energy drainer, but between the itching, the watering, and the blurriness caused by dousing my eyes with drops, I don't much feel like sitting at the computer to work.

Besides, today was Megan's short day at school, which means that after visiting the eye doctor and shopping for new eyeglasses (because I hadn't had them checked in oh -- seven years! I badly needed a new prescription), it was just about time to pick her up. The infection isn't contagious -- which is good. But antibiotics won't get rid of it -- which is not so good, because I have to wait for it to clear by itself. ("It's just like when you have a cold," the eye doc said.)

So I am putting off the detailed account of our weekend another day.

But I will leave you with this:

Megan's meet was awesome! (Kudos to Desert Lights Gymnastics, who put on one of the best-run meets we've ever attended.)

This is the off-season for girls competing at her level, so while the Friday and Saturday sessions were huge (with participants ranging from Hawaii to Pennsylvania), our team was the only out-of-state gym competing at Level 6...

...and we left them wishing they all could be California girls.

Gymnastics is a really tough sport. The USAG Junior OIympics and Olympics women's program consists of 10 Levels leading up to Elite status (this is where actual Olympic hopefuls compete). When I tell people how much my daughter trains each week, they usually say something like, "Maybe we'll see her in the Olympics some day." Then I have to explain that no, that's not likely. Kids on the Olympic track are usually farther up the ladder by the time they are Megan's age. Her 16 hours of weekly training is just what she needs to maintain the strength necessary to perform her Level 6 skills.

Now, if she decides to stick with it through high school and manages to make it all the way up to Level 9 or 10, she might be eligible to compete on a college team; maybe even qualify for a scholarship. But we're not holding our breath for that.

Each level gets exponentially harder. Next year, when we expect that she will be promoted to Level 7, her training hours will have to increase (at the same time that the dreaded homework load will also become larger). 

It would be a lot wiser to skip the athletic training and put the $6,000 per year we spend on gym into her college fund.

Besides, Level 6 has been hugely challenging for her, especially after all the success she had at the previous level, when she consistently scored 36 at all her meets (and won our area's big Sectional meet with a whopping 37).

Beam and Floor are her strengths: She routinely scores in the low 9's. She's okay on vault (it's the same one for Levels 5, 6 AND 7 -- which means that even though it may look easy, it is one of the harder skills to perfect).

But the bar routine has been her downfall at every meet since she was promoted to this level over a year ago.

On Sunday, she showed signs of coming out of that slump. She got an 8.75 on bars. Combined with the 9.1 she got on vault, a 9.3 on beam and 9.4 on floor, she finished the meet with an All Around score of 36.55. This was the highest score of the session and her first winning AA score at this level.

Her friend Sammie, who went into the meet feeling ill (and giving her poor mom anxiety attacks throughout the afternoon), also did well. She also scored a 36 in the All Around (second place for her age group), and would have done even better if she hadn't been feeling dizzy on the beam. (Sammie's beam scores are usually 9.5 and higher).

Thirty-six is the magic number at our gym. The head coach keeps a running tally of who attains it and posts it on the team bulletin board. We left Arizona with two very happy little girls, who knew that they were going to get some major strokes when they got home.

I'm not sure why our girls scored so much better in Arizona than they have been here at home. One of the frustrating aspects of this sport is that the winners aren't determined by empiric means (as in track and field). It is judged and it's hard to understand what the judges are seeing. I wonder if our girls' Southern California style was just different enough to make them stand out?

But I really think the difference for Megan was that she was so hyped about attending her first out-of-state meet that she trained harder for it. The two weeks before her last meet, we left the gym early every day so she could keep up with her homework. This meant that she kept missing the portion of the workout that is devoted to her bar routine...  and she only got an 8.025.

Our next one is at the end of the month, in nearby Burbank. It's another huge event (this one is sanctioned as an international meet, which means that we may even find ourselves facing teams from other countries -- but the majority of the competition will be the usual suspects we never beat). 

It will be interesting to see how she fares -- especially if we can manage to keep a good balance between her schoolwork and her training.

Comments

[Shannon]

This brings back soooo many memories. I was raised on Gymnastics, my mom owned half of the gym we grew up in. I loved it there. She didn't want any of us to compete, so I was on a show team. My little sister was a firecracker though, she could have gone a long way. I ended up teaching it for my high school years. It was a great job where you feel like you are being paid to play!

[Sue Goldman]

I agreed with you, it was a great meet!! I'm so proud of the girls' accomplishment. The week before the meet, Sammy got sick and missed the whole week of work out. It was a maricle that Sammy pulled off the meet and finished with the score of 36.025.(Second All Around in her age group). Maybe we should sent her to the meet when she's sick (NOT!!!). I believed I aged about 10+ years after this meet :>). She got sick with bad headache after we returned from Arizona. Today, her headache finally went away but still a little stuffy. Well, that's a good sign(at least). It's a good thing that we don't have any meet until next month. Hopefully she'll be fully recover from her sickness soon. You guys are so nice. I had a great time traveling with you. I'm so glad that I get to know you and your family more. Thank you for such an adventure and wonderful memories.