Surfin' Safari SMGC

Kids are back in school, and summer's essentially over. But today was another hot day in LA.

This video is the last of the summer camp SMGC slip 'n slide videos. It was filmed over two days in August of 2007. Easy video to do, but took me over a year to get to work on it. Just string the footage together, add music, and there you go. Instant music video.

Guess I was feeling nostalgic.

Al's Magic Carpet Slide

Previous slip 'n slide video

Al's Improvised Slip-'N'-Slide

Some of the kids and parents have called Al a genius.

Al is of the breed of gymnastics owners/coaches who is part carpenter/designer/inventor/improvement-maker. Because certain tools for gymnastics training might not exist, he's the kind of old school gymnast who will improvise and come up with what he needs, out of a sense of necessity.

The summer heat in the gym has been torturous, especially during camp. Some of the kids will drop off like flies during warm-ups and stretches before we ever get to the actual gymnastics. Spray bottles and water balloons have helped some.

This past week, Al decided to set up and improve upon his improvised slip-'n'-slide. I believe it's been set up 3 times, so far, this year. The kids have an absolute blast.



I hope the kids and parents realize the amount of work Al has put into it, in order to make it possible to set up INSIDE the gym, and not get the gym soaked in water. Just setting it up, takes about an hour; and usually, Al is by himself to tear it down at the end of the day, mop up, and set the mats out to dry. It's a lot of extra work. But he does it, because SMGC is quite simply the best gym around! And that's my biased opinion.



Coach Sara cooling off.