Parents Survived Sectionals, but not pretty!

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Blackie6

Proud Parent
Our #1 L4 sectional was today. We had to be there for 7:45am and had to be out of the house and on the road by 7am. We are not morning people and I knew DD was just not herself this weekend, really whinny, tired, maybe getting sick..who knows. Started out on beam which is DD worst event but she has been trying really really hard to make it her best event. Working on it at practice and just being so much more aware of her toes, straight legs, ect...and working the run leap (not sure what it is called) land on one foot. Well, she leaped all right and landed right off the beam! Got back up and then fell off yet again! She has NEVER fell off twice and only fell off last year at her first meet, so I guess she was just trying to hard to do well? Went to floor and did really well, so I was thinking OK, good recovery, finally broke into the 9's and her all time best FX score. Then trouble. You know how I always say my DD doesn't do good when people are seated too close? Vault ran right in front of the first row of chairs. DD ran, did a good first vault. Coach said something too her about placement of hands on the mat and when she started running again all of a sudeen she got to the springboard and put on the brakes and went CRASHING right in front of us into the mat with her feet slipping between the mat and the vault. She scraped up on foot but then burst into tears and I am tearing up right now thinking about it...I burst into tears too. Because the coach had others to go, she passed her off to me and we went out in to the gym lobby. One of the vault judges was super sweet and tried to console her and even showed her her score which was still good. She was HYSTERICAL since vault is usually her best. Motherly advice followed with "you did so good on floor, and you are doing so well you will still qualify for states"...even told her she should be glad she got a decent score on vault with only the one counting as other team girls were not doing well there at all. I guess she was just trying so hard to do better the second time it just came out in tears. As I calmed her down, ladies at the gym (working the meet)talked to her and told her how pretty she was and complimented her but she was just so upset I've never seen her that way before. Finally got her out there for last event, bars. Again usually one of her better routines but on the mill circle she started to go around again for a second time and the coach had to geive her a push back up, so major deductions there too. Overall all of our scores were lower than last week, but it was a sectional so we anticipated that. I really thought DD would have a better year, her scores are higher, she works so much harder at practice, but now that she is aware of the scores, she seems to come unglued easily. So, here are the whopper scores:

V 9.0 (one vault, one crash!)
UB 8.10 (coach help on mill circle)
BB 7.75 (2 falls could have been so much worse!)
FX 9.1 (personal best, woohoo for something good today! 4th place!!)

AA 33.95
 
Sectionals are big deal, yay for a personal best! If she's been making leaps and bounds in perfecting her skills at the gym, she may have just been trying to go big at the meet. Nerves and morning badness (I'm not a morning person either!) and a desire to do great can sometimes combine into not the best showing possible. It's a learning experience, she'll see it when the sting isn't so fresh. I know it's hard to tell a DD not to get to down on herself though at the time. It sounds like everyone tried their best to cheer her up despite the circumstances, having a judge comfort you is a rare thing indeed! Meets like that really do teach you how to harness your jitters, and rein things in just enough while still going for it. If anything she can be sure she's not alone!
 
Its hard to pick up the pieces after falling apart.Its something I work on daily with our gymmies..I am always preaching "Dont turn a bad event into a bad day". At least she finished and she quallfied..:eek: Overall it looks like two scores in the 9s and 2 that could have easily been 9s so I am sure it will all be uphill from here!!
 
It sounds like it was a tough meet, but look at those scores, she really did very well despite having some major hiccups. She has a lot to be proud of, including persevering when things got tough.

Things will get better, imagine those routines without just the falls and the coahc spot, she would've been way up over 35, nothing to sniff at.

I am very impressed.
 
I agree with bog...those scores were not that bad considering the crash and the spot and the fall! She'll do great next time around even if she just gets ONE of those things under control! And the floor..great job!! Sorry it didnt work out fabulously for you guys, but, it's good to have it over and done with and she can only go up from here!
 
I know she had a tough meet, but wow! Those scores are awesome. Sorry about the vault crash- lots of band aids and hugs go out to you both!:hug:

No worries- your DD did very well in my opinion.
 
She still did awesome, with all the stuff that she had to get through, she still got a 33.95, can you imagine what it would have been without all the trouble? That is a tough little girl you have there. I am sorry you both had to get through tears. I had tears in my eyes just reading your post. I hope she is proud of herself for making it through a tough meet and doing so well. :D
 
I agree with everyone else, her scores were great, even with the mishaps! There are many girls out there competing that would be happy to get that score! I know sometimes the girls want to go out and do something amazing, and can become very disappointed if they feel that it didn't happen. Last year at sectionals my dd was on beam first and fell a couple times (still got a 8.4 though). I could tell she was broken hearted. Then her coach came over and really jumped her case about it (which I thought was awful). She was just sitting there on the verge of crying. Needless to say, I was also on the verge of crying! She ended up pulling it together and did amazingly well on all other events - in spite of her coaches remarks! I wish your daughter luck on her future meets. I am sure she will do awesome!
 
Hang in there her scores were really good and she qualified. My daughter is also repeating level 4 so since she knows the routines very well now and the coaches are complimenting I think her expectations are really high. I am nervous that she will be disappointed if her scores are not high. Last year she was very discouraged that she did not qualify for states in time. I am crossing my fingers that she will qualify in our 1st or 2nd meet. I think as parents we just have to focus on the postive and forget about the scores but it is really hard for the kids to do this, just keep positive she did great job, I think my daughters highest AA score last year was a 31.:)
 
Sorry to hear she had a tough meet, but just think every gymmie is going to have an 'off' meet - and if she did that well at her 'off' meet - she is doing pretty darn good :)
 

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