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.

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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.