Al's Improvised Slip-'N'-Slide

Some of the kids and parents have called Al a genius.

Al is of the breed of gymnastics owners/coaches who is part carpenter/designer/inventor/improvement-maker. Because certain tools for gymnastics training might not exist, he's the kind of old school gymnast who will improvise and come up with what he needs, out of a sense of necessity.

The summer heat in the gym has been torturous, especially during camp. Some of the kids will drop off like flies during warm-ups and stretches before we ever get to the actual gymnastics. Spray bottles and water balloons have helped some.

This past week, Al decided to set up and improve upon his improvised slip-'n'-slide. I believe it's been set up 3 times, so far, this year. The kids have an absolute blast.



I hope the kids and parents realize the amount of work Al has put into it, in order to make it possible to set up INSIDE the gym, and not get the gym soaked in water. Just setting it up, takes about an hour; and usually, Al is by himself to tear it down at the end of the day, mop up, and set the mats out to dry. It's a lot of extra work. But he does it, because SMGC is quite simply the best gym around! And that's my biased opinion.



Coach Sara cooling off.

Hate Me Because You Love Me

Lilly's departure from the gym seemed to go from suspiciously predicted, to suddenly imminent. Her last day wasn't supposed to be her last day. No one wanted it to end the way it did. But sometimes things have a way of spiralling out of control.

Her last day at the gym was Monday of last week. The team girls were teary-eyed and broken-hearted throughout their workout. Not exactly one of the more uplifting days I've had in the gym.

I believe I've worked with Lillian for over 7 years. She was always the easiest instructor to flow with, in co-leading a class. We were pretty much on the same page when it came to mapping out or winging it for intermediates.

When Yuri left, she did a great job of stepping up as the team coach.

Reliable instructors seem hard to come by. Especially finding ones who make SMGC into a kind of second home, taking ownership and responsibility of the gym. Whenever someone like her or Yuri leaves, when they've contributed so much to the atmosphere and energy in the gym, a little piece of you feels like it's been taken away as well. For this reason, I'm glad I have done so much filming in the last 2 years with my simple 2.0 megapixel digital camera. Memories are one of the few things that we ever really own and they are of the stuff which helps define who we are in this fleeting world.



I wish her the best of luck in her music and in all future endeavors.

Cathleenated Addiction

Cathleen was a former competitive gymnast who now seems to enjoy coming into the gym as a stress relief from the daily grinds of the work week. So the song is perfect for her video, and is one of a number of songs she picked out.

She is an avid coffee-lover, so you will see her make repeat visits over to her coffee, throughout her workouts.

The story behind the title of her music video, and the sticker- "Start Here"- on her Tiger Paws wristguards, is that one morning at workout, she asked what was on my bottom. I thought maybe I had ripped a hole in my shorts. Upon closer inspection, Cathleen burst out laughing. She pulled the sticker off of me, and it was a piece from a cd sticker label, that said "start here". That's the portion that let's you know where to peel the label off from. I must have sat on it at home. Cathleen, still laughing uncontrollably, said, "Start here (my butt)...and end up where?!" (better not answer that one).