My little upstart!

[Learning Parent GB]

On the last morning of the holidays, as we packed up the tent, DD finally mastered her upstart in the campsite playground. She was just showing a fellow gymnast what she 'couldn't do'. She was so pleased she ran to tell me and ran straight into another piece of playground equipment and put her teeth in her lip!

Anyway, she was fortunate enough to have her first day back at gym yesterday and a special session at Loughborough and she managed to do both her upstart and long upstart relatively reliably. I know it is likely to come and go, but it is so exciting for her and to know that she can actually do it.

I was more excited by Sam Oldham being in the gym too

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Wow, go girlie, what an achievement

 

[Amusibus]

On a playground! Gymnastics is such a head game!

 

[stillgotmyleotard]

Big skill! Well done to the gymnast.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

The tradition in her (new) gym is that you get a free chocolate bar if you make it two practices in a row. So I will judge by the ring around her mouth whether it has gone well tonight when she gets home.

She is just chuffed that she can move onto trying new things because she has been so concentrated on the upstart for ages. She is learning to cast immediately out of the upstart now and was doing soul/sole circles in the gym on Monday.

Just that backwalkover to move to the high beam now. 'Just'!!!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

that backwalkover can be a doozey, don't worry if she gets it then suddenly is afraid

 

[Learning Parent GB]

I don't think she has got over being afraid of it in the first place! It's one of those things where the coach has to take a step back each time. They've done it with the mats up to the bar and removing one, but that doesn't seem to work for the way her brain thinks at the moment.

She has come home buzzing (and with her chocolate to stash in the fridge for tomorrow!). The gym closes for 2 weeks in the summer and we didn't know that before we moved so had planned 2 different weeks for a summer holiday. So she's actually had 4 weeks out of the gym in the summer, with just 2 sessions in the middle. I was worried that it would be too long, but after a hard start to the year and a gym change I think it has actually worked out well. She is refreshed and seems to have got straight back into it without losing any skills and finally having managed this upstart. I don't think we'll do that every summer, but it is nice that it hasn't all gone wrong