Gymnast Crossing: Alejandra in a 4 hour private!

Alejandra really wants to be a gymnast. She goes to UCLA meets and is "into it".

LASG has their annual "fun meet" this Sunday, which gives Academy kids a chance to show off what they've been working on for their family; and also gives them a taste of what it feels like to perform/compete in a gymnastics meet.

This poor kid has missed quite a few classes for the last two weeks, due to the flu. Her mom was worried that she might still be weak, but Alejandra- who missed Monday class and a scheduled private, begged to come today.

Alejandra began her day with Spring Camp- from 9:30am to 12pm. At 12pm, I arrived for an open-ended private. I thought we might go an hour or two. We ended up doing a 4 hour private, with only a five minute break for an energy bar.

Alejandra had never worked on the level 3 floor routine at all. The only skill in the routine she cannot yet perform is the bridge kickover. Other than that, she just needs to keep getting stronger in her handstands, body shapes, body tightness. Her handstand forward rolls need to get stronger, as well as her backward rolls.

For someone who hasn't worked much in the way of dance elements, she did pretty well. She has a certain knack for presentation, and I think that comes from watching and paying attention to good gymnastics on tv. Something that I found lacking in a lot of my SMGC students, including the team girls (many even have trouble identifying and labeling skills, let alone recognizing gymnastics celebrities and holding them up as sports heroes to emulate).

Anyway, after the 4 hour private "cram" session, Alejandra did her regular 4-5:30pm class! Good job Alejandra! Hope you get plenty of rest. Then it's back to practice, practice, practice!

03/28/08- Alejandra did a 2 hour private today. We added in vault, did some beam and did some floor. We decided to have her bridge down instead of candlestick to a bridge.