A Tale of Two Erins: Excerpts from Academy Meet

Just a couple of things: This is Erin, who just moved into level 4 advanced/pre-team. She hasn't done the routine for very long; and had a private the previous week on it. Last Thursday we combined with Ita's group and spent almost the whole time cranking out repetition.

What's funny is, I think Erin knows the routine a lot better than Gael (the girl she went up with) and yet Erin can't help herself but look over at what Gael is doing. A number of kids do this, and it really throws off their self-reliance. Unless they really are stuck, all it does is throw them off- especially if the other person is stepping with the opposite leg.

What I did notice about Erin's routine are the areas of improvement where she's been having difficulties. I could tell she'd been practicing (apparently, since the Meet, she's been still practicing the routine). She made mistakes other than in the areas where she had been having problems before. So she really did her homework! When we had our private, things she kept messing up on from habit were:

1. Stepping with the wrong leg for the lock, turn, chasse
2. Adding the step kick prior to her handstand to bridge kickover.
3. Turning on the correct leg in the right direction after the quick switch prep for the turn.
4. Doing a rebound right away after landing her backhandspring.

Her dismount was good, even though she didn't hold the pose at the end and was ready to walk off the floor.

~~~

Erin (...er...the other Erin) did part of her level 9 bar routine. She's still working on her shoot-over, but I think this is the first time she did it without a coach standing there (actually, I think she did it the day before, as well), and showed some signs of improvement.

Saturday Successes

This is Akasha from March 14th (I think the first time she did two in a row was the previous Saturday):



Akasha and her sister Ashana will be taking a break for a session or two, and last Saturday was her last. I'm sure they will be back.

This is Lauren from last Saturday:

Julia's Epic Fail Moment

This happened on February 5th. She really gave me a scare, but was none the worse for wear. Looked hyperextensively pretty bad, though.

I first learned about the phrase "epic fail" from Julia.

Aside from this video, I'd like to publicly say that Julia is the most thoughtful and considerate human being on the face of the planet. Catastrophic success, right there!

Thanks for sending me the video message! It made my life!

Isaac's Dr. Pepper Trampoline "Commercial"

LASG uniforms are a requirement at the School. Since Isaac forgot his t-shirt, he improvised.

It's weird how one finds usage for footage that you had no idea what you'd eventually use them for. In this case, it's Isaac drinking Dr. Pepper. The idea came to me when I was actually filming his makeshift LASG t-shirt and he was sipping his soda; went through my archives, and found a few other clips of him holding a can of Pepper (if I had known I'd be doing this, I could have had the camera linger longer on Thea when she was drinking the same).

When I was growing up, my mom loved Dr. Pepper and I remember the catchy commercial jingles.

Revving up for Another Academy Meet

Last Friday, Erin did a private to gear up for the Academy Meet on the 29th. She's done well on it, considering she comes only once a week and began the advanced/pre-team class this session. She also didn't start acquiring the level 4 floor routine until a few weeks ago.

A few of the team girls decided to check her out (you can tell she's distracted by that):

She does a right-leg round-off, but when it comes to preparing for the chasse, her inclination is to always step with the left leg. Just needs more drilling. (I often incorporate bits and pieces of the level routines into the floor warmups, across the floor as cyclic patterns, including elements of the beam routine).

Where's Abby?

Oh! There she is:



She's been missing her Saturday classes for her Wildwood School Theater rehearsals of Les Miserables, in which she plays the part of Cosette. "Castle on a Cloud", I think, was the first song that made me curious about the rest of the musical. I remember my dorm neighbor had the Broadway Cast album. It was interesting, but foreign to my tastes. Then I think I saw the actress who plays Cosette in the Los Angeles Company appear on the Tonight Show to sing "Castle on a Cloud". After that, I borrowed and listened to the entire album and was hooked.

After moving out of the dorms and getting an apartment with Michael Chaplin, Scott Keswick, Terry Notary, I would still play the musical. Chainey Umphrey would be over, playing Japanese Nintendo video games with Keswick and after initially knee-jerk rejecting it, they soon became hooked on Les Miz as well. We eventually bought tickets to see it at the Schubert.

Abby's mom was kind enough to supply Robyn, Thea, and I with tickets to Friday night's performance. The show was stellar; I was really impressed. And Abby really shined!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Julia started doing giants by herself a while ago. This is from today:

If you haven't read it before, check out Julia's story. She's a great kid.

Gymnasts + Origami = Gymnagami...or is it "Origamnastics"? "Origymnami"?

Hanging out with a few of my favorite people last Saturday. Click on the photo for more.

Saturday Success

After about a session in Ita's pre-team, Isabel Berliner starts to discover her backhandspring capabilities. From last Saturday:

Quote of the Day

I had half of Ita's Mini LIGHTS on bars and set up a few additional stations. Sammy, who's about 4 or 5 years old, acquired such vital information that she felt it urgent enough to leave her station to come disrupt the station where I was at, finding me in the middle of spotting her classmate on bars. So what was it that was so important that it required my undivided attention? Well...Sammy shared the following breaking news with me:

"Someone farted."

Yup...breaking news, alright. She said it with such gravity, too....

I told her to hold her breath and go back to her station.

A Few Highlights from this Week's Advanced Class

A few Tuesday gals:

Helaine:

Thursday...


It's not the first time Naomi's done round-off backhandsprings on floor; but she hadn't done them on floor in a while, and this week seems more confident and more consistent; using mats, she was even starting to snap-up off her hands, rather than just curling up and letting her feet fall over.

Erin's first day doing her round-off backhandspring on the floor without mats:

Note from Mom:

Erin was sooo excited to do the backhandspring without a mat. She said it "felt good, like a roller coaster ride." I asked her again if she wanted to do the meet [Academy Meet coming up at the end of the month]. She said "I'm shy, but I want a gold medal."

Naomi's the only senior student this Thursday; the other girls observed her going through the level 4 floor, to get a sense for it:

Getting Erin to try two in a row on trampoline:



Maiya experienced doing backhandsprings for the first time by herself yesterday:



Maiya mentioned that she misses Anna.

"Cosette" Does Her Round-Off Backhandspring

Last Saturday Abby made some progress:

She's only been coming once a week, practicing for a school production of my favorite musical, Les Miserables. Abby asked me to post this up, of her singing her role:



Robyn and I are invited!