Level 4 & 5 Teams both finishe 11th at the State Championships!

Wednesday

A rainy day here at camp, we had morning practice from 8:45-12:15, lunch, open gym workout from 1:45-3:15, lots of naps, evening workout from 6:30-8:30, dodge ball until 8:50, an ice cream party for our team, and then some more dodge ball...now bedtime. 
Still haven't been able to get the videos uploaded but I will; although it might not be until we get home.  I'll try to compile a list of skill that the girls are doing and get them on here by Friday. 
Also, the bear showed up in camp this morning, Tricia had a VERY close encounter and might have some video of the bear that we can get on here.

Warrior Challenge

Sorry for the lack of updates about camp, we have been crazy busy between practice and the nice weather. We had another nice day so the girls spent a lot of time at the waterfront and other outside activities.  The girls have to attend afternoon open gym at least twice this week so that will be tomorrow and Thursday (and the weather is supposed to be a little worse anyway).  I'll take my computer to camp during that time and hopefully get some videos and pics uploaded.  Tonight after evening practice we had the camp-wide "Warrior Challenge."  We had a team of 11 of our girls, me, and two others compete in a ridiculously long difficult run with challenges that finished on the slip and slide into the lake and a swim under the dock.  We didn't win but we did great and just finishing was an accomplishment, especially for me. I think I'm going to give a prize to the girls that competed because it was so tough.  I'll have more info on this tomorrow (if I can move).

Sunday at Lake Owen

The first day went pretty well.  The girls just settled in and did a bunch of nothing while the parents and coaches had their meetings.  At 1:00 we had our VIP time with Mohini Bardwaj (2004 Olympian).  We were shown our banner that will hang in their gym and had our picture taken for their brochure.

Then we had check-in at 3pm, then dinner, then evaluations at 6pm.  The did what they are capable of for the most part.  The girls will get their groups tomorrow but at first glance they seem ok.  First workout is at 8:45am.  Also, Dakota wanted to stay in the dorms with the girls so that is where she is.  She is the smallest and youngest kid here.  We'll see how she does.  Not much else to report from today...tomorrow is when the fun/work starts!

Lake Owen 2011 Arrival

We have successfully made it to Lake Owen Camp 2011 with twenty girls and one more will be here tomorrow.  I have no phone service and internet services isn't that fastest but I'll do my best to keep everyone updated.  Registration and group assignment begin tomorrow at 3pm.  Not much going on until then.  It is nice here but MUCH cooler than back home.  Most of us showed up in shorts and a light shirt or tank top and it is currently 46 degrees.  Tomorrow is going supposed to be 72 and sunny. 

Gymnastic Parenting by Doc Ali

This is a video by Alison Arnold, whose mental training we have been using at the gym. She works with lot of athletes of all levels and is very experienced on this topic. I highly recommend this video to parents of any athlete but especially parents of a gymnast. Let me know your thoughts:

Pink Ribbon Invite This Weekend

This weekend our level 5-9 girls will be competing in the Pink Ribbon Invite hosted by KGDC at the Swinney Rec Center at UMKC.  On Saturday night there is a "finals" session.  The top 6 junior and top 6 senior girls for each level 8-10/elite get to compete in finals in up to 2 events.  The 8 & up kids compete on Friday so we'll know Friday night if anyone makes it.  The meet is pretty tough and there is no guarantee that any of our girls will make finals but they very well might and I'm sure would love to have your support.  It is also a great opportunity to watch some excellent high level gymnasts from all over the area compete.  This session is supposed to be fun and low stress.  The girls are scored more closely to college rules than USAG rules (which means much higher scores) and a college atmosphere with lots of cheering is encouraged.  The girls also get to be "spot-lighted."  Each girls gets a little bit of fun information read from their bio before they compete and only 1 girl/event competes at a time while the next event warms up.  It moves really quickly and has been fun the last couple of years.

If we have any girls qualify and anyone decides to go watch, I think it would be cool to have a spirit section with signs, painted faces, or whatever crazy stuff to cheer them on.  I will warn you though, they make everyone leave and charge separately for this session.  Your regular admission will not cover this session and I think the girls not competing in finals will have to pay to get in.  They stretch at 6:00 and stretch starts at 6:30.  I'll update Friday night with more info.