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.

Happy Birthday Robyn!

Thank you for all your hard work as camp director, this summer! And thanks for getting the kids to show support for our soldiers serving overseas.

I look forward to working with you again for our advanced class.

This video is right up your alley:

Weekly Round-Up

I've focused heavily on tumbling, neglecting some of the other events. In part, it's because primetime at LASG means it's crowded and equipment-swapping and floor navigating is a challenge. I also feel that a lot of these girls just need to get stronger, and tumbling is one of those skills that requires a lot of major muscle groups.

A backhandspring/front handspring/RO-Bhandspring is one of those skills that can be a sort of turning point in a young gymnast's life; same with getting a kip on bars.

Since so many of my advanced girls are once-a-weekers, I'd hate to take two steps forward and one step back, by skipping a week on working it, right when some are on the verge of getting it.

Georgia's one of those, who I think has suffered for it. Certain skills that we don't get around to maintaining, and it all but deteriorates. Tuesday was the first day in ages where her tumbling was consistent. Corynn did her RO BH for the first time Tuesday, without a spot.

I didn't film everyone today, but captured a few; none of them were firsts, though.

Heather and I were both missing Lauren (she mentioned Tuesday that she would be absent; she's the kind of kid who's been raised to thank instructors at the end of class, and call the gym, if she's not coming).

I took advantage of having Emma Totsubo and Alexandra Shamash teach the level 4 floor routine to the Heravi sisters, to bring them "up to speed". Perry also learned some of it, and Akasha actually made it through the whole routine to music.

Emma Shapland's been suffering from anxiety and has missed quite a few workouts. No one knows what's causing it. She tried class Tuesday, but ended up leaving; she made it through, today, sitting out only a couple of times. I spotted her on a few flyaways, then she did one in the pit.

Round-offs are still very weak on all of these girls. Handstand snap-ups are one of those drills that I think we should be doing every week.

More Backhandsprings

Sierra got bumped up this session to pre-team (without consulting me!), after Alejandra asked to move up into Ita's pre-team class. She went from not having any understanding of the mechanics for a backhandspring, to doing one on trampoline, by punching back into it:

Perry just moved up a couple of weeks ago from the previous level class. I used to train her older sister in the same class, at SMGC, before she briefly moved up to team (I believe she had to quit because of scoliosis). Their mom was one of Al's gymnasts in days of yore, and according to Al, was really good.

Today, after a bit of heavy spotting, Perry built up enough confidence to do what she was capable of doing: A round-off backhandspring by herself. A little aggressive approach can go a long way toward succeeding.

She was already bugging me about doing it on the regular floor, but I wouldn't let her because she hasn't done sufficient numbers. The one good thing about her and Nava are they aren't afraid to try. Nava did her RO BH on the floor last week, but she was more off her game today and I would not let her, until she fixed her round-off. Sometimes I forget she's only 7, as she bugs the devil out of me with her one-track requests (think Bart Simpson, asking every few seconds: "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?", and that's Nava) and non-understanding of following assignments and doing progression drills as a means to her ends.

Kaitlin surprised me with her round-off backhandspring. It got better all of a sudden, after being somewhat in a rut since she returned (it's not the first time she's done it by herself, I don't think). Her sister Corynn is very close to it as well. I almost felt like if I just let her experience a few by herself, she'd do what needed to be done to fix it. But there just wasn't enough consistency there that I felt comfortable enough to allow it; although she probably would have been alright (one of the ones in the video, I only touched her after she was making touchdown with her hands).

Spotting is kind of a fine art, making judgment and sometimes split-second calls on just how much support to give them.

Georgia is so inconsistent, she's capable of RO BH's by herself (even on harder surfaces), has been doing them by herself on and off for a year, and I still can't trust her. She's just all over the board on her round-off. She did one today that flew by me, and I had to lean out, with no leverage, my arm far away from my body. I fell to my back hoping she wouldn't still try to do it; but my hand being there probably made her feel it was ok for her to go for it. So lying on my back, I caught her with one arm, suspending her in midair, like a cirque du soleil act. I just held her there for a moment relieved, but also berating her.

Georgia of the Jungle Gym

Happy Independence Day!

I really wanted to use "George of the Jungle" for her theme music; but couldn't find a version that could work...probably something to do with the fact that this is "Georgia" and not "George".

This kid's pretty strong...I joke that she's Thea V2.0 and her classmate Kaitlin is Thea V3.0; but of course, they are each their own unique selves.

One stuntguy working out in the gym earlier in the year noted it one day, how strong Georgia is; and Georgia's classmate, Ruby, piped in with a footnote, "And she's only in kindergarten!".

Georgia and Ruby started around the fall of last year in beginning/advanced; but they were moved up to intermediates by the end of the session, when Georgia was still only five years old. She's now six.

Ruby's done gymnastics on-and-off, along with her sister Delphine; after summer camp, I was happy to see that one of them, at least, decided to linger on into the school year. And she brought her younger friend, Georgia, along with her.

For a long time, Georgia only came once a week. Happily now, she attends classes twice a week. One of the great things about having kids who are naturally strong, is that they are motivated to do the strength work. Georgia often does more than is assigned to her, when it comes to strength and conditioning. She is often heard saying, "One more time..." when working on her stiff-stiff, straddle press to handstand. I'll assign something like 10, and she'll discard the bad ones and only count the ones she deems worthy of being counted, in her estimation.

During the brief time she was in beg/adv, she was able to do standing backhandsprings on the trampoline; then lost them. The tumbling footage seen is mostly her best stuff, thus far; but for a while, she had a lot of difficulty getting off her hands and feet in her tumbling.

Her one weakness is that she tends to do everything slow. I don't think she lacks fast-twitch muscle fibers; it's just that she seems to be secure in areas where she is in control of what her body does. And when you are required to move fast through the air, in the beginning, it may feel like you have to relinquish some of that control, leaving gravity in charge. Georgia's learning how to deal with that.

And in the meanwhile, she is feelin' stronger everyday!