Parents Juju, the Stomach Flu & TigerPaw

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Juju had her last regular season meet scheduled for this past weekend with Level 4 State Meet in 2 weeks. The TigerPaw meet is supposed to be the most fun of their entire season and is held in Littlejohn Coliseum at Clemson University. We have been looking forward to it all season… Unfortunately, Juju apparently caught a stomach virus running rampant in her Kindergarten class because she started vomiting early Saturday (4AM) morning and kept going until 6:30 Sunday Morning (less then 2 hours before the meet). We agreed that she would not compete but she asked if we could go so she could cheer her teammates on from the stands. The meet had a start time of 8AM on Sunday, so we left the hotel with Juju dressed in street clothes.

Just a few minutes from the Coliseum she just up and decided she wanted to try to compete. Her coloring was miraculously normal and her bright eyes were back. Boy was I torn on what I should do. She had not had solid food since Friday night so I was a quite hesitant. In the back of my mind I was now thinking may she just has a 24-hour bug and not the flu. She insisted she felt like at least trying warm ups and promised she would stop if she felt bad. After talking with one of her coaches about the situation, we decided to let her try and sent her out on the floor armed with a ‘barf bucket’ (ie. Tupperware container) in her gym bag. The rules were no contact with the other girls and VERY short event warm ups and frequent hand sanitizer. The good news… NO Barfing :D. The bad news… none:p.

It was definitely NOT her best meet but I am so proud of her determination and perseverance forgiving it her all while being so sick. It was so funny to watch her teammates congratulate her after she finished each event. They always do high fives and in efforts to not get any germs were doing ‘almost’ high fives stopping and inch or two from touching her hands. I think they had more fun doing that then they do the normal way – LOL.

All in all, she did better then I was expecting and the deductions were for relatively odd things for her. Her vault was TERRIBLE but that was her last event so I think she had just run out of fuel so to speak. Bars she almost went over on her mill circle but managed to stay up. On Beam she fell on her scale of all things and they hit her with a fall deduction and lost the value of the element (UGH!). Floor was pretty good but she put her hand down when getting up from her handstand forward roll (do they count that as a fall or just a balance check?).

Several meets we have done this year have been 100% awards but not so for this one. They did go out 50% + 1, but I was not expecting Juju to get anything based on her scores. We were in total shock when she got 4 medals. Her scores were:

Vault: 8.1 (10th) – no award
Bars: 8.55 (5th)
Beam: 7.875 (3rd)
Floor: 8.750 (5th)
AA: 33.275 (5th)

I don’t have video posted but will let everyone know once I get to it.
 
Amazing results for a sick little girl. Hate those gastro things, they seems to run rampant at this time of year.
 
She is a serious little trooper. That same thing happened to Bailey at Charleston Cup in level 4. We did not compete but went to watch. Congrats on placing being so sick and I am sure weak. Kids are remarkable. Can you imagine being that sick and even getting up off the couch.
 
Great job recuperating sooo fast.

But......now for the negative, I am a germ freak and really wouldn't have appreciated someone bringing their child to a meet, where my kid was, having just quit throwing up a few hours beforehand. She was still contagious and I'm sure others were exposed. Even if she would have sat in the stands, she still would have exposed others. This is what keeps those bugs floating around for so long. Some people may not care about being exposed, but I know a ton of people who have just gotten over it where we live and they would definitely care.

Sorry about the rant, but this is a pet peeve of mine. Please keep your kids home if they are sick.
 
WOW! I think her perseverance is incredible! I think her wanting to compete shows that she really loves what she's doing. I'm really sorry that she got sick right before the meet - and I am amazed that she did so well under the circumstances! What a trooper!
 
You must be a proud momma! That had to be a tough decision, but what a learning experience for Juju! She was able to get it together long enough to do her best through a tough circumstance, she did amazing!

I get the germ wariness aspect of it, but there was no telling what she had. Maybe it was food poisoning, who knows? If she was pretty much in 'competition quarantine' and slathered up with sanitizer not much else you can do. Her and her family traveled like other competitors to have their shot, I wouldn't have denied it either. Kids and germs go hand in hand, it's a competitive risk that isn't welcome, but always present.
 
She did well, but I am also not a fan of the sick kid at a meet. Someone on DD team did that at last meet. Girl had thrown up 15 times night before, and still came to meet because the begged her mom, who didn't say No. Didn't really help her or the team out (she was down over 2 full points from meet before). 2 teammates and a coach ended up sick. One girl missed a whole week because of it. Not really fair in my opinion. At least you sanitized. But they all touch the same equipment. Had my DD wash her hands before we even left, and threw her in the shower when we got home!
 
Sounds like she did great! Hope she didn't infect anyone else--maybe she was past the infectious stage by then.
 

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