The Vault, the Bars, and the Balance Beam
Things are really moving along fast for Thea. I notice the changes happening almost on a weekly basis. The level 5 routines she performs now are even more polished than what you see her doing in this video. And she is acquiring level 6 skills and beyond; in many ways, with seemingly relative ease.
Included in this Christmas edition video is a clip of her doing a beam series (backwalkover backhandspring) last Wednesday; a layout with a half (even working on the full twist) on trampoline, Saturday- something she rarely even practices, since developing good basics is more of a priority. Yet she is able to pull it off even though she hasn't invested a whole lot of "flight time" to practicing it.
Also on this past Saturday, she found out she could do a standing back flip on the floor. She just never tried it before. I think there are many things she is able to do, but just doesn't know it yet. She has the skills. They just haven't revealed themselves to her yet. She's still only a 9 year old kid who trains only 3 days a week, 9 hours total, strictly for the fun of it.
As Marcel Proust put it: "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Or, as my teacher Mark Mikita might tell me, "I'm not teaching you anything you can't already do."
One of the most remarkable transformations, has been her form and grace. If you take her six videos in order, I think you can see how much things can change in 2 years. And like technology, the more she progresses, the faster she seems to acquire progress.
I especially like having captured footage of coach Kimberly giving her a few "pointers" on developing stronger toe point and leg form. Sickled, pidgeoned-toed feet have been labeled in our gym "Thea disease". We kill it wherever we see it. Fortunately for Thea, she has enough self-esteem in her stalwart body not to be negatively influenced by the stigmatizing phrase. I think it's actually part of the cure, as Thea realizes not even she wants to possess "Thea's disease".
To go along with the new epic music, I present to you Thea's new video in "letterbox format", to enhance your movie-
Merry Christmas, Thea!
Previous videos:
Riddle of Strength
Thealogy
Theatricks
Theanthropology
Theaphany
posted by The WordSmith from Nantucket at 12/25/2006 12:00:00 AM
3 Comments:
Wow, she is coming along quickly and is quite a talent. Are you considering suggesting that she participate in TOPS testing? She'd likely do pretty well.
I think she'd do great at Tops testing, if she had the mindset and interest for that kind of training and dedication. As it stands right now, she only trains 2-3 times a week for 3 hours a day. The kids we have at the gym these days are not very serious team girls; and Thea doesn't seem to express that she has that kind of interest to train harder, and to train to be an elite level gymnast. Who knows? Maybe one day, something inside her will click.
For what she does though, she does fairly well, and is making good progress (if she trained more often with greater intensity, she'd be extremely good, I think).
Yeah, I trained at a gym like that in college where the girls were not very serious team girls. It was a completely different atmosphere then what I was used to from when I was younger. Even though the less serious kids and gyms may not have their gymnasts reach the highest levels of gymnastics, it is nice to see a different kind of enjoyment. The kids still get a lot out of the sport too.
This is a wonderful site you've got here, and a nice example of good coaching.I hope the kids realize what a great coach they have.
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