First Gymnastics Meet of 2009

Taylor had her first meet for 2009 today! It was in Hanover, PA. It is about an hour and 20 minutes from home. We had to be there by 7:30 a.m. We arrived at 7:00, there was no traffic. I guess everyone was staying indoors due to the cold. This morning's temp is a record, it was the coldest the kids had ever felt. It was 0 degrees! Brrr! Thank heaven's Taylor has picked an indoor sport. :-) Back to the meet, she was in the 10 and under age group. She had 24 girls in her age group. She started out on Balance Beam. She had a few wobbles but managed to stay on. On the skill's part of her routine, she looked really good. She recieved a 9.125, earning a 7th place medal. Floors she came out of some of her skills with extra steps which are .1 deduction for each little extra step. She received a 8.5, earning a 12th place medal. On Vault, she had to go first and she has a hard time rembering straight arms and 'popping off". She got a 8.25 for her score. On to Bars, last year Taylor really struggled with bars and she has been telling us this would be her best event this year. yea, yea,...... I thought. This past couple of weeks, she has been falling off on her 'squat on' costing her .5 deduction. It is where she gets(squats) on the lower bar getting ready to jump to the high bar. In warm-up she kept falling and I was thinking she was going to do it on her judged turn. She didnt. It was the best bar routine, I have ever seen her do. Even her coaches were surprised. In practice when her coaches "score her", she gets in the mid 8's. Today she got a 9.05. If you could have seen her face when she saw her score. She was really excited. It was really cute. Duane was trying to get her to look at us so we could get it on film but she never did. Bummer! She earned a 5th place medal in bars. For All-Around, she got a 34.925 which was 10th place medal. So, she got a total of 4 more medals to add to her growing collection. Her team earned 1st place. She needed a 32.00 All- Around score to qualify for Sectionals in April. She did it. YEA! She felt really good about her meet. The next two months are the main competition season. She has a meet in two weeks and thereafter for four weekends in a row. Taking us all over Pa, and even to Colombus, Ohio.