Equipment purchase

Here is the link for the new spotting block that we will purchase when we return from camp:

http://www.ten-o.com/xq/asp/deptId.403/PAGE.1/ID.1975/qx/product.htm

A donation from the booster club and the sleepover organized by some volunteer parents is helping us with this purchase.  We hope to buy another piece of equipment soon but haven't decided what to get just yet.  I will keep you updated.

Thanks to Christie Lilienkamp, Charity Bennett, Tricia Elmore, Lori Glenn, Missy Steinbach for organizing and running it, to Gary Morris and Billy Hoffman for bringing breakfast, and to anyone else who contributed to making the sleepover possible (sorry if I missed you).

Bethany, Kim, and I will be attending our Regional (region 4) Congress (convention) in Coralville, Iowa on June 25th-27th.  Several great speakers and clinicians from around the country will be presenting.  We're excited to go and hopefully grow as coaches. 

I have several articles that I intend to post to this blog but I'm going to save most of them until closer to the season when I feel like they will be more appropriate and useful.  If anyone has something specific they would like me to address, let me know.

Children Want to Please Their Parents

Here is blog post by Mark Folger, owner of Folger's Gymnastics in Andover, KS (Wichita). He was national coach of the year last year and he is the Kansas state chairman. His full profile is shown on the link. I will be occasionally linking from his blog; he has a lot of good things to say.

FOLGER'S GYMNASTICS: Children Want to Please Their Parents

Gymnastics Doctor: Wellbody

I want to recommend Dr. Goldstein to all of our gymnasts with injuries or nagging pains.  He specializes in our sport (and sports for kids in general) and he understands what it takes to correctly come back from an injury or a growth pain syndrome.  I would encourage you to read more on his philosophy.  He also has a good page for athlete/parent education that includes some good newsletters.

Their website is: http://www.wellbodykc.com/index.html.

I would ask that you please let me know before you go see him or any doctor regarding your daughters injuries so we can be on the same page.

From Bethany

From Bethany: Awesome practice tonight! Very productive and I LOVE it when that results in new skills attained! Way to go girls! New switch leaps on beam (Kennedy and Alyssa), fulls on floor (Kennedy and McKenna), new handspring-handspring on beam (Kennedy, Alyssa, and McKenna). Woo hoo!!!!!!

I GOT MY...!

I am in the process of adding some pages to this blog.  They will be listed on the right side of this page.  I will choose a few landmark skills from each event and list the girls that have accomplished them.  They will eventually bold if they've made them in competition with the age in which they first made them.  They will be in regular type if they make them all of the time and they will be in italics with any comments if they have made them, make them sometimes, or make an easier version.  I plan to also make their name blue if they have scored a 9 on a routine including that skill.

Girls Team Blog

I hope to use this blog to let everyone know what the girls are working on, when they accomplish a goal or new skill, and other things that happen in practice or in regards to the girls team at MEGA. 
I coach vault and bars with mostly levels 5 & up so that is what I will have the most to say about but I will post things from the other coaches regarding the other events and levels whenever I get a chance.

I also intend to use this blog to post or link to articles that I think the girls or their parents should read or that they(you) might be interested in reading.

Please give feedback anytime.