Today was the ‘Christmas Cup’. A mostly relaxed and fun in-house event held at our Gymnastics Club. The girls were very nervous and excited about competing. I thought that I was very ‘clever’ in fashioning a balance beam for them to practice their hand-stands on prior to the competition…..Squashed Christmas paper rolls sticky-taped together. The girls have been practicing on it every spare moment they have!
My 7 year old daughter, Muscles, just loves gymnastics and is in the National Level 2 program and trains 6 hours/week (There is more here). I haven’t seen her compete in a few months and was completely blown away by her strength and skill improvement.
Unfortunately, and despite all her practice on my work of art, she……
…..fell off the beam…..
To her credit, she got right back up and completed her routine with some very nice jumps. She didn’t end-up placing in the competition. I think she would have if she had not fallen. Gymnastics can be a cruel sport in that you can do brilliantly at your skill, but loose an entire point for one mistake.
She very disappointed not to win a ribbon. I however, am not disappointed. I am so proud of my little girl and her determination to do gymnastics. I just love to watch her, although it is hard, as a mum, to see her fall and be powerless to help her. I am also struggling to find the words to make her feel better about not placing in the competition today….I guess mums, as much as we want to, can’t fix everything!
I hope today will eventually teach her some valuable lessons in resilience. Not just for gymnastics but for life in general…..when you fall down, you’ve just got to get right back up there and try again!!
My older daughter Flash, 8 also does gymnastics but only recreationally, training 1.5hrs/week. Flash also competed in the Christmas Cup.
Flash mostly does gymnastics because it is a fun way to develop full body strength. She trains heavily for swimming and also competes at a high level in athletics. I hope doing gymnastics will help her to develop all round strength and balance that will aid her in her other sports. I also hope that the gymnastics work will strengthen her whole body and act to counteract overuse injuries from swimming and running.
Almost ironically, Flash fell from the beam during her routine as well. ……The girls beam work was jinxed today….Perhaps I need to go back to the drawing board for practice balance beam design!
*I have just double checked the scores on Muscles score card and there seems to have been an error of addition. Her overall score was recorded as 34.9 but it should be 35.9……will check with the coaches tomorrow. Perhaps she will win a precious ribbon after all!
** (added 19/12/11) Took Muscles to her gym training this afternoon and there was a 3rd place ribbon waiting for her. You should have seen her smile!! (don’t worry, the lovely little girl who was given 3rd on the day, got to keep her ribbon…we told them the girls got equal third J)
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