LA Lights Holiday Invitational 2008 (Level 4s)

These are Ita's pre-team girls, plus the developmental level 4's who moved up over the summer (Emma, Sofie, and Grace came out of our SMGC intermediates/LASG advanced class). It was their first meet, and they did really well.

Grace is so shy, it's amazing to see her actually out there competing and performing. When she was with me, I had the darn'dest time getting her to remember anything resembling even parts of a routine. Strong and talented kid; but her habit and nature is more to do this all day long:

She always said she wanted to move up to team; but I think that was to be around Brenda and Keli, two older team girls. A strong kid with good-looking backhandsprings almost immediately, Hamest invited her to be on team earlier in the year. Mulan went, but Grace wasn't mentally ready. But around summer, she actually became serious about it.

Grace first came to SMGC from Broadway during summer camp in 2007. She hated being pushed in her stretching, and they did that a lot at Broadway; they do that a lot at LASG too, but she can take it now.

Grace:



I've known Emma since she was 6 or 7; she took a break, then came back a couple of years later. Another very strong, talented kid. Rather fearless on bars (she made my heart drop when she said, "hey look Michael", then did a mill circle on the high bar), she could do pullovers from the high bar right away, and started making kips prior to summer. Sloppy as all heck, you'd never recognize her now after only a couple of months on team.

Emma:




Sofie was with us at SMGC for quite some time as well. It's gratifying to see that she's hung in there and made it to team. I'm always happy when any of our gymnasts make that big transition to the world of competitive artistic gymnastics.

She had her round-off backhandspring on floor before moving up to team, but somehow lost it. I thought that maybe she had gotten sloppy on them, so that the coaches told her not to do it. But that's not the case. Sofie told me she lost it.

I'm sure it's still there, somewhere....

Sofie:




I've always liked Gracie. She and her sister Janie came to SMGC during summer camp in 2007 and had a great time. I thought we'd gain them in the Fall, but they returned to JAGS. When SMGC closed down, they came looking for us, and arrived at LASG. She went straight into Ita's pre-team class, tried rhythmic, then in the Fall, returned back to artistic.

Gracie:




Alejandra picked a very tough sport for her. But her love for the sport has made her determined not to give up. Through hardwork and perseverence she's made it to level 4 team. She has come a really, really long way in just a few months. She went from someone whose feet barely left the ground more than a couple of inches in a backhandspring, to someone who got her round-off backhandspring and has even done some standing ones.

Alejandra:




Tatiana's on pre-team with Ita, but comes on the days that I don't help Ita with her pre-team class. I always see her and her father around, though.


Tatiana:



Alexa's the kind of girl that boldly holds her head high and tells the world, "I'm beautiful, and people love me!" Really, thre's no lack of self-esteem in her bearing. She acts like she's in a beauty pageant. You can see it in her glance as she's walking out to do her floor routine.

Alexa:



Sarah's undoubtedly Ita's top student. She's so talented....she had never done a back flip on trampoline before, and within five minutes was doing them by herself with a very nice tuck. The team really wants her.

Sarah:



The "A-Team":



They were minus Miriam, who injured her ankle earlier in the week. They were on their own rotation, and I missed much of their routines as I was shadowing the "B-team" and pre-team girls.

Levels 5-9 also competed, and if I get around to it, I'll put their routines up as well.

LASG Academy Meet

3 hours of organized chaos is how I'd describe it. I guess it wasn't that bad, but it would have been nice to have been given more directive. As it was, I was only one step above the kids in not being totally confused and lost.

I only took a few clips. Leah Totsubo was my one beginning/intermediate Saturday kid who was nervous about the Academy meet, yet was willing to follow through with this. She only comes on Saturdays, and didn't really learn the routines until yesterday! So she was understandably in an emotional rollercoaster ride when I started to teach her the level 3 routine. She had been on-and-off crying, but started to feel better from the security of familiarizing herself with the routine. But then Ita convinced me that the special routine she had prepared for kids at Leah's level (Leah's actually a bit more advanced than the skill level within the routine) would be easier to acquire, as well as the fact that other kids were doing it. So I traumatized Leah all over again into tears as she had to relearn her floor with Ita, a teacher she hadn't worked with before.

Leah's older sister is in the advanced class after, and I held Leah over her class time to allow her a bit more practice while Heather directed the advanced girls.

Leah was still nervous, but I think seeing how so many girls were out there flubbing their routines yet walking away, still alive, put her a bit at ease.

Her parents let Leah know that the backdoor was open to her, to walk out; that she didn't have to do this. Her mom told me after the meet, that Leah said she had to do this for me. That makes me feel a little bad, that Leah might have felt she'd be letting me down, by not participating.



She did fine, and at the end of the day, she was all smiles with her medal- and much richer and stronger for the experience of participation.


I finally pulled my camera out when Alejandra stepped out to do her floor routine. All the other intermediate girls had done the special routine; and gone up, 4 at a time. Alejandra performed the level 3 floor and had the whole stage to herself.



Even though she made a couple of mistakes, I was duly impressed by what she cleaned up and polished on her own, from our last private together on Friday. It was very noticeable to me, that she did her homework.

When Hannah arrived, her mom told me that Hannah wanted to make sure that I was going to be the one out there helping her with her round-off backhandspring. It was very sweet. She really doesn't need help with it anymore.


I will ween her off, this week.


Emma Shapland's bar routine should appear below, when the upload is done:

She actually had better form here, than usual. So at least she is aware of it. I do not know why she asked for a spot on the single-leg shoot-through.

"Gymnastics Will Turn You Around"

Filmed back in February and March, I think, this is a fun little film of the Thursday beginning/advanced class, of the time. I miss the two kids who are kind of featured at the beginning and in the end credits. Emma and Sabrina had a lot of personality together. I especially love Emma's facial expressions, of which you only get a hint of here. Overall, I really enjoy working with this Thursday group.

I wouldn't exactly call myself a listener of country-western music; but there are some singers who seem to sing more than one song that I end up liking. I like the upbeat tempo and positive feel of this Kenny Rogers song ("Love Will Turn You Around").

If you notice that in so many of my videos, I have reel after reel of footage of kids doing sit ups....it's because that and stretching are the few opportunities I really have to film. I am, after all, supposed to be teaching. So I sneak it in wherever I can, filming the kids actually doing gymnastics. Usually I have clips of actual gymnastics when I wish to use the camera as a teaching tool and show the kids visually what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. I also sometimes enlist the aid of kids who show up early for the next class.