Parents DD's first Level 4 meet - she got her beam dismount!!

[Bajanswife]

OK, it was messy, but she got it! Even in warm-up she wasn't getting it, but during the actual competition she was able to. I was sooooo proud! I felt for her, though, because she fell off doing the heel snap turn, which has never happened to her before. But she was very nervous and shaky, probably totally consumed with the darned dismount the whole time. She ended up with 7.6.

Floor was pretty good as usual (except that her back handspring is still slightly messy), except that she went into her splits too early and ended up a beat ahead of the music for the rest of the routine. That cost her, and she ended up with 8.6. Good enough for a 4th place in her age group, though. Her coach told me DD was very distracted during her floor routine. They had issues with the music, and 2 girls had it stop during their routines, and I wonder if DD was kind of distracted because of it? I asked her afterwards if she'd noticed she was off the music, and she hadn't a clue. Experience should fix that.

Bars she got everything done - I was proud of that, because she still sometimes "falls" in her shoot-through or mill circle. But ..... right before she did her front hip circle, like when she was pushing up to mid-thigh against the bar, she fell forward! She's never done that before, and it would have counted as a "fall". She only got 8.45. I don't expect her to score in the 9s until she straightens out her legs a bit more.

Vault was a low 8, can't remember exactly - I can see that she's still piking it a bit. One of her teammates, also a new Level 4, got 9.7 on vault - what a lovely surprise for her and her family, as they didn't have a clue that she was so good!!

 

[Monkeygirlsmom]

WTG to your dd!! my younger dd struggles with her dismount too! (she gets in perfect practicing but in meets for get it!

sounds like a good meet over all she should be proud of herself!

 

[cadybearsmommy]

Congrats to her! We aren't quite there yet, but I have watched the other girls in our gym and that dismount looks far from easy! Yay for your dd for getting it!

 

[Deanna]

WTG to your DD. Sounds like she did a great job. Im sure she is very proud of herself..and she should be

 

[mariposa]

Congrats to her!! My DD needed 2 tries for that dismount almost her whole first year of level 4. And even now, when she is really focusing on fixing one thing, the other things she usually does great suffer, LOL. It takes time to really put it all together. Sounds like overall she had a great first meet. Hope she had fun and is proud of herself!!

 

[UnoMas]

That is a really great first meet! You have to love too when they "get" a skill at the meet. So exciting! My DD struggles with the beam dismount too. She has done it in 2 meets now by herself but you just never know what you are going to get on any given day! You will for sure see things straighten and improve as she goes...those are really great scores to build on. Hope she is proud of herself and had fun, that's what it is all about! And...sounds like the new L4 teammate with the 9.7 needs to go to L5. That's a crazy high first meet score! LOL. Congrats to your daughter!

 

[Bajanswife]

That is a really great first meet! You have to love too when they "get" a skill at the meet. So exciting! My DD struggles with the beam dismount too. She has done it in 2 meets now by herself but you just never know what you are going to get on any given day! You will for sure see things straighten and improve as she goes...those are really great scores to build on. Hope she is proud of herself and had fun, that's what it is all about! And...sounds like the new L4 teammate with the 9.7 needs to go to L5. That's a crazy high first meet score! LOL. Congrats to your daughter!

Thing is, this girl shocked everyone with her vault score, because she is so inconsistent otherwise. She still needs spotting on the ROBHS, and her bars aren't at all consistent yet. So while that vault score makes her sound like an amazing gymnast, she's actually not that strong all-around. She's coming along, though - she'll pull it all together soon enough. It was her first Level 4 meet too. We have another girl who has absolutely beautiful form, but her strength is slightly lacking - she's gotten all long and lanky recently and has difficulty getting the power for tumbling. She got 8.8 on floor, despite being spotted on her ROBHS! She won a Carolina Crown in Level 3 in November. So she's another one who you think could move up but really isn't quite ready. Our HC looks at each girl individually, because their are so many factors to consider, and with so few meets all spaced out, we have to think carefully about who can compete what when.

 

[Bajanswife]

Thanks for all the kind words. I hope she realizes that she did great for a first Level 4 meet - actually, she did fine for any meet. I have tried to tell her that a few times, but you know they love the medals! We are aiming for something 3rd place and up in June, at our next meet. By then her floor routine will be polished, and hopefully there won't be any major beam or bars mishaps.

 

[UnoMas]

Thing is, this girl shocked everyone with her vault score, because she is so inconsistent otherwise. She still needs spotting on the ROBHS, and her bars aren't at all consistent yet. So while that vault score makes her sound like an amazing gymnast, she's actually not that strong all-around. She's coming along, though - she'll pull it all together soon enough. It was her first Level 4 meet too. We have another girl who has absolutely beautiful form, but her strength is slightly lacking - she's gotten all long and lanky recently and has difficulty getting the power for tumbling. She got 8.8 on floor, despite being spotted on her ROBHS! She won a Carolina Crown in Level 3 in November. So she's another one who you think could move up but really isn't quite ready. Our HC looks at each girl individually, because their are so many factors to consider, and with so few meets all spaced out, we have to think carefully about who can compete what when.

Well she is going to be an amazing vaulter someday then! I was just being silly about her moving up to L5, we just always laugh when we see those crazy high scores and say "ok, time for her to move on!". An 8.8 on floor with a spot is quite amazing for that other child, too. It is always interesting to see who struggles with what skill and event and how that can change from year to year (or meet to meet!).

 

[Bajanswife]

Well she is going to be an amazing vaulter someday then! I was just being silly about her moving up to L5, we just always laugh when we see those crazy high scores and say "ok, time for her to move on!". An 8.8 on floor with a spot is quite amazing for that other child, too. It is always interesting to see who struggles with what skill and event and how that can change from year to year (or meet to meet!).

We all said the same thing about the girl who got 8.8 with a spot when she won that Carolina Crown - time to move on! Actually, she had been training L 4 since September, but no way could she have competed it in November, so she went back down to Level 3. I found there to be quite a jump from L3 to L4 on floor, because all of a sudden there is a longer routine to learn and real tumbling for the first time! That has held back a few of our girls early in the gym year.

 

[UnoMas]

We all said the same thing about the girl who got 8.8 with a spot when she won that Carolina Crown - time to move on! Actually, she had been training L 4 since September, but no way could she have competed it in November, so she went back down to Level 3. I found there to be quite a jump from L3 to L4 on floor, because all of a sudden there is a longer routine to learn and real tumbling for the first time! That has held back a few of our girls early in the gym year.

Yes there are MANY MANY details in the L4 floor routine as compared to L3. And judging is much tougher. And then, it gets even worse in L5 with the dance elements!

 

[lhmom]

Congrats to your daughter on her first meet! That beam dismount can be tricky. My DD has been hit or miss all season. This last weekend, she was doing beautifully, best I'd seen her do on the beam. Got to the dismount and she went off the wrong side. She tried sooo hard to save it, but couldn't. :-( Glad to hear that your daughter got it!

 

[MaryA]

Congrats on the beam dismount! That's one of those wonderful skills that she gets to do for TWO LEVELS IN A ROW! Doesn't seem like there are all that many of them in the comp levels. "Rocking the level 4 vault? Now try it on the table! Finally got that mill circle? Guess what? You're never going to do it again! Finally getting consistant with that cartwheel on beam in level 5? Well, you're not going to do it in level 6!" But next year, if nothing else, she gets to do the same beam dismount!!!