As many of you know, poor Puma Jr is struggling big time this season. We changed gyms 7 months ago and she went from being the big trick/bad form darling of the gym who placed at almost every little meet last year to the back to the basics dead last of her teammates kid It had to be done, but it's still a tough pill to swallow. She has been working so hard, has a great attitude and is improving immensely form-wise, but is getting frustrated that she's still scoring really poorly at meets. AND after a rough meet Sunday (she hit all her skills and had no falls but still came in dead last ) her beloved pet Mr. Bundles left this world...not a good 24 hours. Last night when I came to pick her up she was BEAMING! HC had them working spotted kip-CHS and only Puma Jr and one other L4 could do it. HC had me come out on the floor and tape it so she could watch herself later. I guess earlier when they were doing them she made a huge big deal about it and made all the coaches and optional girls watch and gave the two lollipops. Also, she asked her if she could do a free hip (which she can, though not perfect) and had her do the low bar portion of the L5 routine. I know darn well she is clearly not ready for L5 if she's struggling with form in L4, but I am quite sure she did this to help Puma Jr's confidence. After feeling like the weakest of her teammates, to know there are some things she is the best at is such a good feeling for her. I am so thankful HC realized she needed that boost and picked something she knew she could geniunely excel at and let her "show off" and little and feel good about herself. Hopefully the positive vibe will carry over into great practices and some success at the meet next weekend!