Bohemian Rhapsodizing: Gymnastics Competition

Like many little girls, my two love to flip, turn, jump and dance. Unfortunately, they like to do it at home, in my living room. So I was thrilled when we found the gymnastics program at GoldLife . I immediately signed the girls up and for the past few months they have been taking lessons with a few of their friends after school. MadHatter is at a small gym right down the street from us and practices with a group of about 10 girls; Stinkerbell opted for private lessons with her friend S, and they practice at the Czech gymnastics center that trains the Olympic team (and those hoping to make it). Because they are at different gyms at different times, I do a bit of running around and not a lot of actually getting to watch what they are learning. Though, every once in awhile they will show me a new trick (roundoffs, one handed cartwheels, the splits) back in the living room.

But this past Saturday we got to see what they had been working so hard to learn these past three months. Their program put on a private "competition" at the gym that Stinkerbell trains at. Each gymnast had learned a routine for the beam, vault, bars and floor and would perform it for the judges. And though it was scored and they were being leveled for the next semester, it was really just a way to gather all the kids together and cheer them on for all the hard work they had done.

I was lucky enough to have access to the floor to take pictures of all the kids and B was able to capture videos of our two (as I was sometimes photographing one, while the other was somewhere else doing another routine). All in all - it was a great time and I loved seeing the girls take such pride in their accomplishments. Both of them completed level II and will be moving to level III when we start again in January! So proud of them both.

Warming up before the competition starts.

The Triplets - Bente, Asha and MadHatter.

May, Lia, Arianna, Kamma, MadHatter and Bente ready to go.

Sarah and Stinkerbell - these two work so wonderfully together.

The group teacher, Tomas, telling them how the competition will run.

The Judges - Stinkerbell's instructor Vicki is on the left.

Stinkerbell's floor routine. Unfortunately, we didn't get an video but she did so great!

MadHatter on vault. Again, no video but I love the pictures...

MadHatter doing her floor routine.

Stinkerbell and her unusual vaulting style. I think she was supposed to land on her feet, but she still got a great vault score so I guess she got points for originality. Heck, I would do that too, if only I wouldn't pull every muscle in my body.