Two down...two to go...

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Lauren had her 2nd gymnastics meet as a level 3 gymnast! She beat her overall score from the last meet by 2.0 points. 34.15 got her 5th place overall in her age group. She was 0.40 points from 2nd place. It was a tight race. This meet allowed her to compete with gymnasts from other gyms, not just ours.

I always worry she will get stressed out or feel too much pressure. Moms... She finished her vault and there was a lot of waiting time before her bar routine. I looked over at her and she was yawning. Yawning. Oh, yeah, feeling some pressure and stress there. NOT! I am actually very thankful she is a lot like me in that respect. She gets excited before the meet and talks way more than she usually does (yes, surprisingly, that is possible!), but once there she finds her groove and gets the job done.

Vault - She rocked the vault with a 9.05. Her friend, McKenna, got a 9.1. Very, very cool!

Bars - She struggled with her back hip circle (a move she could probably do in her sleep). This was the move she overrotated and "fell" last week, so she undercast (didn't put enough ummph into it) and had to really fight to pull out the hip circle. She did it and ended up with an 8.20.

Beam - Her beam routine this time was much better than last time. No fall. High split jump, great handstand. She got an 8.4...I think she was robbed. The downfall this meet was they timed the routine. Our girls all got dinged on time.

Floor - 8.50 on floor. She was a little sloppy toward the end of the routine which is more dancey artistic-y stuff - not her strong suit. This gym awarded blue ribbons for any event over a 9.0 and red for 8.0-8.99 and white for lower than an 8.0. They also all got a trophy for participating with their overall rank. Pretty cool!

We have promised her special things for beating her scores. She wants the Club Penguin game for her DS. We told her if she beats this score at her next meet she can get it. For this one, we aren't sure what her reward is and she isn't sure either. Maybe a webkinz (but she goes through spurts with those). Who knows?

Her next meet is February 8. My parents and Shane's parents and grandmother will be here to watch her compete in that one. She is very excited.

Lauren's First Gymnastics Meet

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Here in Las Vegas (or at least the gym Lauren belongs to), they allow Level 3 advanced to compete in a couple of meets. It gives them practice for the "real thing" and lets them get their feet wet as far as if they want to even be in competitions. Historically, Lauren is not that competitive. Shane thinks she gets it from me, but really I am pretty competitive (at least with myself). I don't like to lose, I am just okay if I do. Lauren is okay if she wins, loses, or whatever. So, Shane and I were both a little concerned competition might not be for her. Well, we fixed the hair and added the glitter (a necessary part of competition, as we have come to find out)! We have done the hair back and tight two other times and there were a lot of tears. This time there were less. I have hopes we may be able to do it someday without any tears! The meet went great! She loved it and really stepped it up from her practices. She was in a group with 12 other girls and she consistently stayed in the higher scores. Her best score was on her worst event - vault. This poor child cannot run and when she does it is flat footed. For a tiny petite little thing, she sounds like an elephant. BUT, she managed to get off the springboard into a handstand forward roll. It wasn't too shabby and got her an 8.70. A very admirable score. Her floor routine was also decent. She can do the motions, but she doesn't always make her movements deliberate. I think this is where her deductions came from. She got an 8.35 on her floor routine. All the girls at this level do all the same routines. She doesn't get to make up her own until she is at least a level 7, I think. Until then, there are compulsory routines and premade ones. On bars, which is her strongest event, she overrotated her hip circle and ended up having to remount. Her mill circle was great and her dismount was beautiful! She arched and landed. She still pulled out a 7.0 on this event. Her beam routine was the best, though. She rocked it. She did fall doing a split jump, but her jump was higher than the other girls'. She pulled out an 8.1 with the fall. It was an awesome score. She ended up taking 3rd place in her age group. If she hadn't fallen on either event, she would have taken first. It was that close. She is very excited for the next meet in two weeks. This one will be at another gym, so the competition will be different. We can't wait to see what she does there.

Gymastics - finally

We finally got Lauren back into gymnastics after a 3 month respite. We were a little afraid she had lost some skills. We went in to do a trial class. They were going to put her into a beginner class, but was able to have one of the instructors test her right away. They put her into the Blue group. As she was practicing with the blue group the owner saw her and pulled her to test her further and moved her up into the Bronze group which is a competitive group. It is about the equivalent of an Arizona Level 3A (advanced). It is a lower level competition - most states don't even let their level 3's compete. It will be a great experience and Lauren is thrilled with the fact she is learning routines along with new skills. She is currently going to be attending twice per week (one day down from Tucson) and we will see how that goes. Competitions are supposed to start at the beginning of the year, so we will try to keep up on updates.

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The pictures aren't the best. It is hard to take pictures through plexi. Tonight she is going to a Parent's Night Out which the gym does every month (are we loving this gym or what!!!). She will be there from 6pm-12am. Shane, Alex, and I are going to Circus Circus to check out the multiple haunted houses they advertise. Should be fun!