What Does the Letter "C" Stand For?

Yes, I'm weird:



But admit it: You enjoyed the video, didn't you?

Mostly made up of spare parts, with the only footage post-vid-idea being the shot of Bianca in her t-shirt promoting cookies. By then, I knew a video had to be made with this song.

(Personally, I'm not a Cookie Monster fan, but a fan of furry, lovable old Grover).

The recurring footage of Katie and Halle is from the Overnight in 2003. Back then, I didn't do much filming of anything, because I wasn't making these music vids. But their singing was really cute, so I'm glad the footage came in handy and served a "greater" purpose.

Dowadiddydiddydumdittydo

It's not that I have too much time on my hands (Hilda!!!)....I don't; I'm just functioning on less sleep to be able to do these vids, quickly. That's 3 in about 3 days. I've just been "in the mood" and inspired to make music vids again. So I'm on somewhat of a roll.

This one's another fun one, like the last one; with little in the way of actual gymnastics involved. Don't worry: Some vids on the horizon will involve lots of flipping and twisting and swinging around. After all, this is about gymnastics, right?

"Don't Analyse!"

This is a nice video of the team girls having fun in between the "serious work" they are known for doing in their workouts.[/sarcasm] So don't be too critical and analytical. Just sit back and enjoy the goofballs at play.

Incidentally, if the video sticks, try pausing it to give it time to load fully (remember, this is a streaming video); sometimes it may load quick; other times slow; if you are on dial-up....lots o' luck!

The Freedom of Flight

Sheryl's into horses, but I could not think of any horse music. One day A Nina Simone song was playing in the gym, and Sheryl remarked she had never heard it before, but liked it. I love this song, and so found the perfect music for her video.

Sheryl first began workout out with us around June of 2005. She's rather athletic; if you ever push her down, she'll know how to fall and roll out of it safely...and if she gets back up, she'll be kicking your a...ah...royal rump (This is, after all, a family-friendly blog)!...well, more like, "whatever you do, don't grab her wrists". You can check her out tossing me around in the Gymkata video.

Mackaroni!

Mackenzie Solton is the kind of student teachers can't find fault with. Good attitude, diligent listener, hard working, burning desire to succeed and move up, no lip-service, et cetera. Because of that, even though her skill level wasn't quite there yet, we decided to go ahead and bump her up into intermediates.

She started taking occasional privates with me last summer, and through into December. Two of her primary goals were to get her backhandspring and her round-off backhandspring. So, this video charts her progress from the beginning phase up through to when she finally got her RO backhandspring last month. She's had to work very hard for her gymnastics skills, as none of it seems to have come easy and naturally. I'm sure that has only helped build her character.

One of her biggest hurdles was overcoming a very inconsistent, slow, and rather crooked round off. In fact, there was one time I was spotting her on her RO BH, and she threw one of her old crooked round offs and launched herself like a battering ram straight into me. The top of her head collided with my forehead like a hammer on an anvil. It hurt. A lot. I did years of boxing and combative sports, and I couldn't recall a headbutt, kick, punch, or kali stick that hurt worse than that did and made my head explode with stars. I worried if she were ok, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. But do you know what the first words out of her mouth were? "Are you ok?" I can't tell you how selfless that was of her to ask me that, and be concerned about my welfare (yes, Mackie....I wanted to cry); because I could tell it physically hurt her. But she didn't cry. I later learned through her mom, just as I suspected, that she was a bit shaken up by the experience, and held it in until she got in the car. Through the rest of workout, she had contained her pain and kept her composure. Sometimes Mackie's biggest obstacle can be her self-confidence in executing a skill, when I know she's physically capable. So I worried if this would set her back or not from getting her round-off backhandspring. Well, she's proved to be made of sterner stuff; and with the determination of a mack truck, she's been plowing through her gymnastics obstacles!



This is a video I've been wanting to make for a long time! But I couldn't make it until MacKie delivered on her round-off backhandspring. So I've been very patient on holding on to much of the footage used in this one.

Planching and Eating at the Same Time

I was expecting a backflip or handstand walking....not a planche! Check out this dog from Japan:

The March to Progress (First Day RO Backhandsprings)

The month of March proved to be fruitful for the intermediate class, as we had 4 girls (Alex, Mackie, Haley, and the following week, Eliana) get their round off backhandsprings, and 3 others trying them on the floor for the first time (Zoe, Addie, and Kirsten). It's one of those bread-and-butter kind of skills that opens up a whole new world for budding gymnasts. A breakthrough and hopefully a turning point.

Zoe only recently moved up to intermediates; I think maybe the end of 2005. I knew she'd progress well, and she hasn't disappointed. This is from March 2nd:



Alex went from doing round offs and giving the spotter nothing but dead body weight, to an aggressive RO BH that looks like she's been doing it for a long time. Nice and stretched body position in the air. A complete "overnight" success!



MacKie has been struggling with this one for what seems like a longtime; but really not. She's been very persistent and on March 16th, 2 days after Alex, MacKie finally had the confidence to do it the way I knew she could:



Haley has a very weak round off; but she would still push off her legs in such a way that I knew she could pull it off on her own. All it takes is confidence in yourself:



The following week, March 21, newcomer Eliana got hers:



We inherited her from another gym about a month ago. She gave me a few more strands of grey before we got to this point where I let her try it by herself.

Here's Addie on Sat, March 25th, figuring out she's good enough to do it on floor:



Here's Zoe on floor March 30th:



She didn't need a whole lot of coaxing. Some of the other girls, however don't need the gentle nudge, but require a stronger shove out of the birds nest; otherwise, I wonder if they'd ever figure out how to spread their wings and fly.

Congratulations, girls! Go intermediates! My prediction for April is that Madeline will get her round off backhandspring (she has had a backflip on the trampoline, and she and Addie were doing a lot of them at the end of class last Thursday (Addie's first time without being spotted, and out of the belt). Ariella had sorta had them before, but lost them; so maybe she will find them again.

April 13, 2006 UPDATE: I told Madeline today that she was going to get her RO BH today, and she did!



Nice to be proven right!

April 29, 2006- Kate Pregler got her round-off backhandspring this past Saturday. She went from pulling her head in and pulling her legs over the top prematurely, to keeping it stretched out. Today we just slowly weened her off of the handspot, and with some feedback- both verbal and by no longer touching her, she made the necessary corrections to land it on her feet.



Good job, Kate!