A cool place for friends and family members of Santa Monica Gymnastics Center to come hang out. So nuke the popcorn in the microwave; Snoopy dance...dance..dance around the room...then pull up a chair, and be prepared to laugh and cry; to feel embarrassed and inspired; and to just sit back, relax and enjoy these music videos.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Thrill of Victory and the Fun of Defeat
Thea won floor at State Championships for her age division. If not for her two falls on beam, she'd probably also be the All-Around champion and her high marks would have counted toward the team score (Not being mean...I just like giving her a hard time).
Her beam series has plagued her all season. She hit about 4 or 5 for 5 in warm-ups. In every meet this season, she's missed. I wonder what the professional commentators would have to say about it....
Happy 12th Birthday, Thea! A day late for you; a day early to say it to Robyn.
I didn't really have a video planned at all, but decided today, to scrap one together.
Thea's family made the decision for a change in gym environments, this summer. Overall, she's at peace with the difficult decision of leaving her coach(s) and teammates for the sake of her own growth, opening a new chapter in her gymnastics journey.
I decided to narrow the focus of this video on body-shaping for bars; and also the special role Al has played in training her.
He invested time in "further down the road" skills, planting seeds of L-grip giants, Germans, pirouettes, front giants, and stalders, among others. She's already done inverted giants in the strap bar as far back as 2 years ago, just from starting out with swings, back and forth.
Although I am no longer her coach, I've been sneaking in extra time with her, after practice, to maintain some of the drills she's been doing with Al, including lots of one-arm balances for bar pirouettes, including pirouettes and blind changes and different grip changes.
I'm also trying to help her maintain and improve her strength at doing presses- which seems on the decline (strength for handstand presses aren't stressed over at Broadway).
Knobby knees, bent arms, and posture continue to pose a challenge to her.
Right now, Thea is learning new things and is happy.
This was a quick, spur of the moment video, as I discovered a new favorite song by Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours". The melody just has a certain "happy spirit" to it (at least to me). So a couple of hours later: Walla! A new LASG video.
I was torn between using the original Mraz version, or this cover, by Chris Cendana (Mispelled his last name in the closing credits- grrr!). I like the Happy Slip Cup Beat, so I opted for the latter. I don't know why I find it so uplifting, but it's my new fave until I wear out the song after a hundred listens.
It's been a long time since I made a video of Erin, even though she's been a mainstay (out of everyone who's left from SMGC, she's been around the longest) and someone who really appreciates these videos. I think the very first video I made was her doing level 5 beam, when I discovered Windows Movie Maker.
I've discovered that those I've known the longest are becoming the hardest to make videos for. The problem lies in an accumulation of video clips to sift through, as well as imperfect organization on my part. Sometimes, I don't know whether to store a clip under a person, or during a time period (summer camp, winter camp, etc) for easy retrieval.
Erin is a Beatles fan. She's also a very happy camper (I have always loved her laughter!) who likes happy songs. I'm already at work with her next videos (which should have more recent stuff).
This one waxes nostalgic like the last post. The part in the video where she doesn't really seem to be doing much of anything in her floor routine? That was some strange improv concoction she goofed around with.
The video is comprised of footage from 2004 and 2005...which is why she looks so small, cute, and fuzzy funny.
Well.....she still looks like that.....just a few years older.
Within the last year, we lost a few girls (Ana, Michele, Ash'lee, Mackie); within the beginning of this year, we lost Brenda and Elana, with other girls who drifted and became inconsistent in their workouts with pressures of school and waning interest, buttressed with knowledge that the gym would be closing.
I thought I'd include some footage of Ana, Brenda, and Elana; but much of the rest of the footage is shot from the last two months, where attendance was low and the gym rather cold and lonely (Keli had a solo workout, MLK Day)...semi-depressing and struggling with morale(at least in my mind- maybe others were having a cheerful good time).
I bookended the video with Erin and Thea. Being a quick edit, it just seemed the thing to do. I'm sure I'll feel differently tomorrow. But for now, it's a wrap.
Thea acquires her strength by getting piggyback and shoulder rides from the older girls.
