The Penultimate* Gymnastics Post

Yesterday was Megan's sectional meet. This is the contest that qualifies her for the state competition, which will be held the weekend after next.

Gymnastics can be a heartbreaking sport. When Megan was at level 5, she rocked the north sectional meet, with a first-place all-around win and a whopping All Around score of 37.025.

To give you an idea of how extraordinary this is: The girls have the potential of scoring a 10 on each of the four events. In fact, they start each routine with that score... and then, as they perform and DON'T do it perfectly, the judges subtract fractions of points for each mark they miss. You can get marked off 2 or 3 tenths for something seemingly inconsequential, like landing with a little hop... or an entire half-point for falling off the beam...

...at any rate, if you score more than an 8 on an event, you're doing well.  And an All Around score of 36 means that you've averaged 9 points on all four events. A 37 means you've averaged 9.25. Scoring over a 9.5 on any one event is so rare that you can hear the parents in the audience gasp when they see it on the scoreboard, no matter whose child has reached that pinnacle.

That is, unless you've got your child enrolled in one of a number of gyms that take the sport VERY seriously. These gyms train the kids for something like 30 hours a week (everyone home schools) and routinely hold the kids at the same level for two or more years. The result is that their team members achieve astronomical scores of 37 or 38 or even 39 points. And if your kid has something of a normal life (i.e., goes to school and trains just 15 hours a week), she has NO CHANCE IN HELL of achieving a state championship.

Last year, the gymnastics association decided to level the playing field a little. They established something called a "platinum" level for the state competition: Those who score 37 or above in the sectional meet will compete against each other, leaving the rest of the competition for everyone else.

Megan has had a good season. She's scored in the 36 range at all her meets, except for one when she hit 35.8... and the last one, when she did get a 37 on the all around. So she was thinking that this year, she might actually have a shot at a state title - as long as she didn't hit 37 at sectionals.

I'm not saying she held back yesterday, because that's not her style. She goes in there and does the best she can. And at this meet, her best resulted in an all around score of 36.425. She got second place. Her friends from our old gym, Samantha and Luna, came in first and third, respectively -- and the three girls got to share in the glory on the podium.

And that's when we had our rude awakening... because apparently, the rule for the platinum level state meet has changed. You still need a 37... but now, you also qualify if you come in first, second or third.

So the good news is that Megan will get to see her buddies again in two weeks... and the three of them will be TROUNCED. I told her that should take the pressure off. She should just go there and have FUN.

And once that meet is over, she will begin working on her new Level 7 routines... and we get to start all over again.

Wanna see how she did? Here's video I took of her yesterday:

Sorry about the bad quality of that Windows WMV file. Not happy with the way Windows Movie Maker compressed the video from our Sony camcorder. Unfortunately, the Flip's zoom isn't powerful enough to use at these large meets. If I do more of these, I may have to upgrade the video software that comes with the Flip (which is a superior program) so I can use it for my other videos, too.

Comments

[Violet The Verbose]

She looks great! Congrats to her on her 2nd place win!

That is a bummer about the state meet being such a no-win situation if you don't make gymnastics your entire waking life though. I hope she does go in there and have fun.

I love seeing the video - it's neat after hearing so much about her long practices, etc. on Twitter. :o)

[Lin]

She's a terrific athlete and a beautiful girl. It's hard to believe anyone could beat her!