Parents Being a good sport

[esor]

So my DD had a meet this weekend and it's the 3rd time she has not recieved a single medal - and they were all this season (1st year level 8). Until this year, she always at least gotten one medal at a meet, but it has been a tough season for her. With that said, I am actually so proud of how she is handling it, and she is cracking me up.

She now keeps a back-up medal in her bag, just for times like these. It was a medal given to her by a team mate the first time my DD didn't place at all - a super sweet move by her older friend. When she doesn't medal, she simply puts her back-up medal around her neck, and walks out smiling! I can't help but laugh when she does it.

I know she's not happy about not placing, and is a bit frustrated, but I am so happy that she handles it gracefully and with a sense of humor

 

[Ali'sMom]

That's wonderful!!
It made me smile!
Good for her!! (and how great for that friend to do that??)

 

[rjb123]

Love it! What a great attitude and wonderful team mate!

 

[Shooosh]

What a cute idea! Y'all raised her right.

 

[JMACAZ]

What a great attitude

 

[seoulmama]

That is super sweet that a teammate gave her a medal, and how she chooses to use it! Really admire her plucky attitude!

 

[gymmomtoo]

Love her attitude!

 

[raenndrops]

I like this girl's style!

At YMCA Nationals, they only place top 1/3 of each age group (3 age groups and a total of UP TO 99 girls... so up to 33 per age group). We knew going in that YG probably wouldn't place, especially since we were going against teams that also compete USAG... and teams that ended their competitive seasons in January and were already preparing for their next season (so they were either ready to compete the next level or they were repeating and prepared)... and teams that practice more hours than we do (7.5 hrs/wk all levels)... and teams that required a 36 to move up.
YG had barely qualified (32.45 and 32.25 were her season high scores and 32.0 once was required).

Since we knew her chances, I told her that I would "make" ribbons for her for her placements... and she could pick the colors. I used my printer and created ribbons the same size as the ones she had gotten all season... put the Nationals Logo on the front of each of them, and put her places on them like her other ribbons.
It was a smaller age group this past year, so they placed top 6...
She decided that 17th place should be lilac, 15th place should be carnation, and 12th place should be slime green

 

[gracyomalley]

Love your girls attitude! DD medaled a lot as a L7 - and one of the reasons she was hesitant to compete this year (not the important one, but it was still in her head) was that she might not do very well - and by that we mean might be fighting for "not last" on occaision!!! She knows it "wrong" to worry about that - but is still working out how to care about doing well without being disappointed when it doesn't go your way.

I wish it were more like the boys with the girls - this weekend at a large men's meet (for our region - so small by other standards) it was great to see the L10s joking together from all the teams - about who had to scratch what event, and such. And watching the upper level boys (including my oldest) jump up laughing after the craziest "hind quarters in the air over the pommel, land on your face off high bar, etc" falls was refreshing....so I wish your DD (and all of ours) didn't have to feel like she needed to have a "back-up medal"....but girls gym stinks that way! And these boys work very hard to get where they are - they take gym quite seriously - they just don't take themselves so seriously!!!

 

[z2akids]

Love till read the stories of good sportsmanship.

One of DD's teammates could have used this lesson last weekend. She didn't place as high as she hoped and boy was it obvious from her face, even almost in the back of the award room.

 

[windydays]

Love the back up medal!! Good for her

 

[Mrs. Puma]

Thanks for sharing!! I'll be reading this to DD (7) later. She had her first "bad" meet on Saturday and wasn't the best sport....learning experience!

 

[my4buffaloes]

That back-up medal probably really means a lot to her. She can put that on and know that her friend thinks she did awesome and be proud. What a great story!

That being said there was a girl on our team this weekend that had a great meet, but looked miserable on the podium. I talked to her after and she felt horribly sick to her stomach. Just because they don't look happy doesn't mean it has to do with gymnastics.

 

[headoverheels]

My 10 year old DD had her first "bad" meet a few weeks ago and didn't receive a single medal - the first time that's ever happened to her. She sulked a little bit on the way home, and then later when we were going up to bed she said again, "I really wanted a medal" and I told her I know that and I understand. Then I noticed a random medal just laying on our staircase (I believe it was her sister's from winning a spelling bee) and I pointed it out to her. She handed it to me and said, "Here. Put it on me." So I played along, announcing her as the first place winner and putting the medal around her neck. She looked down at it, grinned a little, and happily went up to bed. I was actually kind of tickled at how much better a random medal made her feel. I might need to look into putting one in her gym bag, just in case.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

At YMCA States last year, my gym hosted. One of my teammates didn't medal at all, and was VERY upset (crying) I walked over, handed her one of my first place gold medals, and said, "Here-you deserve it. You just came back from a severe sprained ankle and you went out there and tried your best." She took it, and, happily put it around her neck. Without a thank you to me. My coach watched it, and since we hosted, she gave me another medal. She talked to my teammate, and said that if that happened again she was being kicked off the team. She worked 10x harder after that. Moral, sometimes it is the bad meets that help-you learn nothing from winning every meet. Good luck to your dd- I wish I could give her a medal!!