Let me just preface this by saying that Mikayla does not have a common first name. However, we do have another little girl in the gym that shares the same first name as her and whose last name also starts with a “C”. The girls in the gym refer to her as “little T” and my Mikayla as “big T” (hehe, that makes me laugh because she is not so big). So imagine our surprise when we went to check in at the gymnast table and find out that “little T” was the registered gymnast and not Mikayla, GULP!!!
I learned a valuable lesson yesterday, always know your child’s USAG number. A simple mistake can lead to unnecessary worry for your gymnast and teammate, which can then lead to the mother of the said gymnast getting a slight headache for the remainder of the meet. No harm, no foul as the crisis was quickly adverted due to an awesome friend who just happens to be the treasurer of our Parents Association and a fast acting coach, thanks guys!!! Guess where the girls cards are now? Yes, right in my wallet with all the numbers stored in my phone too:-).
This was a long meet! There were a lot of girls competing and only 4 judges, who lived up to the reputation that Level 6 is not for the faint at heart with scoring, so there was a lot of downtime between events. Mikayla and her training teammate, Miss. K and the rest of our World Class teammates were in flight B, meaning we went second on each event. We started on vault and that went relatively well for both of the girls. Mikayla ended up scoring pretty average, but vault is not her best event(s).
After a long wait the girls then moved on to the bars. Mikayla has been struggling with her flyaway dismount for the last few days but she was determined to do it by herself at this meet. Thankfully she does land on her feet first. The funny thing is, is that she can do a flyaway in a layout position, which is a harder skill with no problem.
After bars I knew that Mikayla needed 14.600 more points or at least a 7.300 on each remaining event to make the qualifying score of 31.000. I admit I was super nervous and we had to get up and move around. At practice this week Mikayla has been ahead of the music during each practice run. Did I mention we were already told to put our non-refundable deposit down on the optional level Leo? Did I mention I was nervous?!? And yet, she sat on the sidelines with her friends cool, calm, and collected :-)
Beam was last, she likes beam. However, with beam you just never know! We knew she needed at least a 6.100 to qualify. In the past she has performed quite well on beam but I was still nervous because of the back walkover and if you are not spot on, your OFF!
BREATHE! I do not know if you have been keeping track of scores, but, SHE MADE IT!!!! Mikayla scored a 8.600 on the beam and officially moved up to Level 7.
Here are her official scores and placements for the meet. I did not even realize she was in the 10 year old age bracket until awards started. (her birthday is not until Jan. but she will be 10 before State).
All – American Level 6 Test Out Meet – 10yr olds {10/27}
Vault: 8.500 ~ dnp
Bars: 7.900 ~ 4th place
Beam: 8.600 ~ 5th place
Floor: 8.500 ~ 2nd place
All Around: 33.500 ~ 4th
I was so happy for both her and her training mate, Miss. K who also moved up! We will be back in the gym tomorrow, barring any damage from the impending Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy and going full steam ahead with Level 7 routines.
GOOD JOB GIRLS,
MISSION
ACCOMPLISHED!!!!