Gymnastics

The level 3 state meet in photos...
 Alyssa and Emma both did their best routines of the season here. No falls, major wobbles or mistakes on any event for either of them. The scores were a little lower than previous meets, but it's expected that the judges will be tougher at State, looking for the very best routines.


 A quick warm up picture of Emma on bars.


 The all important application of purple eye glitter by Miss Amy.


 Salute.


 Giggles while she waits on her floor score.


 Pretty Arabesque.


 Alyssa and her teammates.


The most common correction I give Alyssa is to stretch out her skills. Make her body as tall as possible with everything she does since she naturally has such long lines. These next two pics tell me she's getting it...
 Huge extension on her bars dismount.


 And a really tall straight jump.


 This is probably my favorite gymnastics photo of Alyssa to date. But it makes me a little sad too. If you click it you can see how happy she is. She just nailed the best bar routine I've ever seen her do ~ and she KNEW it!! The score: an 8.25. Previously she had scored 8.8 and 8.9 for routines that weren't quite as clean, and she had set a goal for herself of getting a 9.0 or above at State. She worked so hard at it, bars has been her hardest event since she started gymnastics a little over a year ago.

The lower than expected score, and not meeting her goal was a disappointment, to say the least, but certainly a part of the sport that every gymnast is faced with at some point. She recovered quickly and later that evening when I showed her the video of the routine, she was wowed. She told me, "I'm really proud of that routine!" I was relieved when she said that, because I was so proud of her too. Regardless of what the score said.


 Another pretty arabesque.


 Congratulations on a great meet, Alyssa and Emma! We are very proud of you!