Practice last week

I forgot to mention it at the time but last week Jordanne and Jessie both did backhandsprings by themselves on the high beam.  They chose to take that step without being pushed and they both succeeded!

Also, Jordanne has made some giants by herself on the single pit bar, a huge accomplishment.  Now if we can just get them more consistent and on the bar set, she's ready to go. 

Home from Camp

After almost 12 hours on the road, we got home last night a little after 10.  The humidity and heat at 10 last night were greater than it had been all week at Lake Owen (Cable, WI).  Hopefully, by the end of next weekend I'll have all of the videos put together and posted or available on disc.  If anyone has any pictures or video, please send them to me. 

Here is a picture that I think Kailey took/made and posted on her facebook:

Summer practice starts tomorrow.

Lake Owen Day 6

Just got back from dinner with Courtney Kupets (an Olympian), Neil Resnick (national team coach), 2 other division I coaches, the coach of IGI (Chicago Style Meet) and the owner of Lake Owen.  It was a good time.  Today was a really busy day and the girls got a lot done, so I'm going to have to summarize it later.  We did; however, get to have a workout and a clinic with Neil Resnick.  This entire week has been extremely informative, but the time we got to have him work with our girls and to talk directly to him, with questions, etc. was extremely valuable.  This week we have also got to work with:

Doug Miller: optional team coach at IGI (host of the Chicago Style meet)
Don Houlton: coached Cal last year
Kari Louthan: assistant coach at Southern Utah

And other well qualified and excellent coaches. 

Neil Resnick talking to the girls

Lake Owen Day 5 Evening

This evening, Erika flipped tuck tsuks onto a resi by herself while Ashley flipped with a spot.  Rylie did some piked tsuks onto the resi.  McKenzie did some backhandsprings on the beam with the bungies.  Everyone continued to work hard.

McKenzie with Lori and Christina in the background "working."

Autumn

Kacy doing a backwalkover.

Kailey getting ready for a round-off.

McKenzie in the bungie belt on beam.

Tomorrow, I have a vault clinic at 8 am and then we have our morning workout from 8:45-12:15ish.  We have an "optional" open gym from 1:45-3:30 then we have our exhibitions.  Neil Resnick (a national team coach) is coming in tomorrow so groups 1&2 will have a workout/exhibition with him from 5pm-8pm while groups 4-6 will have their exhibition from 6pm-8pm.  Groups 1&2 will have bars and vault from 5-7 and tumbling from 7-8.  Groups 4-6 will perform there dances and show their floor and beam accomplishments from 6-7 and will show their bar and vault accomplishment at 7.  

On Tuesday, it felt like this week would never end and now I'm a little sad that there is only 1 day left. 

Lake Owen Day 5 Morning & Afternoon

Today is Cowboy/Cowgirl day so many of the staffers wore cowboys hats and gear to practice this morning.  Courtney Kupets was on vault with her most over the top southern accent/slang all morning:

Courtney with Breanna

After morning practice and lunch, some of the girls got their faces painted:

Then with "encouragement" from us, all of the girls attended open gym with a few goals in mind.  During floor/beam today we had:

Alyssa, Mckenna and Kennedy did round-off full dismounts from beam into loose foam.

Skyler did handspring handspring series on the low fat beam by herself.

McKenzie did a backwalkover on high beam by herself.

Autumn & McKenzie both did backhandspring in the bungie belt on the high beam.

Rylie connected and made a switch-leap backtuck on the high beam.

Jessie did spotted backhandsprings on the high beam.

Kacy & McKenzie both did round-off backhandspring back tucks on the floor by themselves.

Breanna did a fronthandspring front flip into the pit.

Ashley did a full onto the resi.

Then, some of the girls got to do the bungie tramp.  It was pretty entertaining.  They were catapulted into the air and tried to do as many flips as possible.  The most I saw was Rylie do 4.  To get the full affect, you'd have to see the video.

Then the girls went to bar/vault open gym.  We didn't have near as much time, but some accomplishments were:

Kacy did flyaways.
McKenzie did flyaways.
Jessie did kip cast handstand clear-hips.
Kacy & McKenzie also did some more giants today.  (Kacy all the way to handstand)
Autumn did half-ons over the horse on 5.
Kennedy, Mckenna, Erika & Alyssa all flipped tsuks onto a resi.  Kennedy and McKenna both landed on their feet without a spot.

Bear Update: A new bigger, male bear showed up in camp today.  He hung out down by the dock all morning then made his way up to camp while the girls were getting their faces painted.  They made everyone go inside.  Some of the girls got to see him, but I didn't :(  He eventually left camp and everything went back to normal.

Lake Owen Day 4

Holy cow, it's been a long couple days.   The girls still seem to be going pretty strong (a little tired at practice today but not bad), but I'm wearing down so please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors.  Here is our daily schedule:

7:30-8:00am: Breakfast
8:00-8:45am: Coaching Clinic
8:45-12:15: Morning Gymnastics
12:15-1:00: Lunch
1:00-1:45: Coaching Clinic
1:45-3:30: Open Gym (today the girls did ropes course for that whole time)
3:30-4:30 Rest

4:30-6:30 Diner & Rest
6:30-8:30: Evening Gymnastics
8:30-9:30: All Camp Evening Activity (tonight was dodge ball with the skaters)
9:30-11:00 Usually some kind of coaches gathering

I don't see how some of these staff coaches can survive that schedule and stay energized all summer.

 Before practice this morning.

Once again, I have lots of videos of skills and some entertaining moments.  I'm probably just going to put them all together into a mini-movie when we get done.  Anyway, back to gymnastics.  The last few practices have kind of blurred together.  Here are some things I can remember off of the top of my head: (they did work on more than I have listed)

Breanna:
   Getting closer on the kip, hopefully she gets it.
   Flyaway drills. 
   Low beam backwalkovers
McKenzie:
   Spotted giants again on the low bar.
   Flyaways by herself into the pit.
   Good fronthandspring vaults and some half-on over the horse.
   Some backhandspings on low beam with Courtney Kupets spotting her.
   Spotted back tucks onto the resi pit.
Autumn:
   Good fronthandspring vaults
   Backhandsprings on the high beam with a mat.
   Spotted back tucks onto the resi pit.
Kacy:
   Good fronthandspring vaults and some half-on over the horse.
   Backhandsprings on the low fat beam by herself.
   Back tucks into the pit by herself.
   Layouts on on tramp.
Kailey:
   Spotted tuck tsuk into the pit.
   Backhandspings on the low fat beam by herself.
   Good layouts, ready to twist tomorrow.
Jessie:
   Spotted giants on the trench bar (I may have let her fall down in the channel ;) but I definitely did great of a job of saving her)
   Front twisting off of long tramp into pit.
   Double backs on the tramp in the belt.
Ashley:
   Front twisting off of long tramp into pit.
   Double backs on the tramp in the belt.
   Walkover handspring series on the high beam with a mat.
   Good lightly spotted clear-hip handstands.
   Working blinds and pirouettes.
Skyler:
   Working hard on her kip cast handstand piro on bars.
   Still kind of a bum ankle, but she did do some double backs on the tramp in the belt and a spotted double back off of the long tramp into the pit.
Erika:
   Very close on her clear-hip handstand.
   Bounce handstand pirouettes by herself on the handstand bungee.
   1 1/2 twist onto the resi.
   Double backs on the tramp in the belt.
Kennedy:
   Handspring handspring on the high fat beam.
   Double backs by herself on the tramp.
   Double back dimounts on bars.
   Worked Pirouettes on bars.

McKenna:
   Handspring handspring on the high fat beam.
   Double backs by herself on the tramp.
   Double back dismounts on bars.
   Worked Pirouettes on bars.
Alyssa:
   Full on the floor by herself.
   Double backs on the tramp with a spot.
   Giant 1/2 piro giant double back into the pit on bars.   

Rylie:
   Double backs by herself on the tramp.
   Double fulls of off beam into pit.
   Handspring layouts on high fat beam.
   Worked full pirouettes on bars.

Courtney Kupets working with McKenzie

Rylie, McKenna, and Kennedy were asked by the staff coach in charge of the coaches clinics today (floor progressions) to come demonstrate for him.  The show up from 8-8:45 and from 1-1:45 to be his "dummies."  They did a great job.

This afternoon, most of the girls did the ropes course.  It was fun and pretty challenging for the girls.  It was scary and difficult (especially for the shorter girls).  I have a ton of pictures:

 Ropes Course

Ashley

McKenzie

Alyssa

Jessie

Erika

McKenna

Rylie

Breanna

 Kacy

Kennedy

Kailey

Everything was going well until our resident spider monkey, Rylie, fell out of her tree:

Oops

Tonight, after evening practice, the camp activity was dodge ball.  They take dodge ball very seriously around here.  The first game was all gymnasts and coaches vs. all skaters and coaches.  The skaters had some wicked good arms.  About a hundred girls huddled together on one side of the floor while the skaters fired balls into the masses that couldn't miss.  I tried a sneak attack on one and took a 200mph dodge ball to the face (did I mention that the face is not off limits in this game?).  Anyway, the skaters won but the girls did pretty well and got the skaters down to just 5 or 6.  We played a few other combinations of games with coaches switching sides, etc.  It was a blast and amazingly, the foam balls didn't really hurt.  

Then we headed over to a campfire to roast some marshmellows.  Kacy, McKenna, Skyler, Jessie and Erika roasted marshmellows with me, another coach and a skater coach while Bethany headed back to the room, the younger girls went to bed, and the other girls went to the canteen. 

We attended a staff appreciation/retirement party with Lori and Christie at 10:30.  The married couple that were retiring from Lake Owen had been here for 17 & 18 years respectively and met here as teens.  Like everything here, it was entertaining.  Now it's time for bed, no bear update today. 

Lake Owen: Day 3 Morning & Afternoon

Woke up to rain and even cooler weather today.  First I'll start with last night since I didn't get a post in last night.  The girls all got to have a question and answer session with Courtney Kupets (who has been great at mixing in with the girl while they practice).  She did an excellent job.  We even learned that she once got a 6 on vault at level 5 and had fears to work through just like everyone else. 

Then the girls moved on to a crazy game of Ultimate Challenge.  They got to bounce ball into cups, shoot rubber bands at empty pop cans, run and jump into the pit, monkey crawl under beams, and pass block between their legs and over their heads.  It was a pretty fun/entertaining game.  I have video, but no pics, what was I thinking.

This morning, in the vault/bar gym we had the following accomplishments that I saw or spotted:

Autumn - Low Bar Giants
McKenzie - Low Bar Giants
Kacy - Low Bar Baby Giants
Kailey - Cast almost to Handstand
Breanna - Flyaway drills, also getting closer to the kip

 Breanna halfway through the flyaway drill.

I made it to the floor gym in time to see Jessie do a double back on the trampoline with the spotting belt (rope).  I saw Rylie do some double back on the tramp by herself last night and I saw McKenna and Kennedy do them with a small spot.  I also so Alyssa do them on another trampoline with a spot.  I think the others haven't had a turn in the belt yet.  Skyler managed to roll her ankle going down the stairs last night so she hasn't been able to do much.  Hopefully she'll be good to go soon.

 Erika front twisting off of the tramp into the pit.

 Jess doing a front layout off the tramp into the pit.

This afternoon, I attended an optional bar clinic that was very helpful.  I will bring some of that information back to the gym for Rylie this year and hopefully for others in the future.

The girls also attended open gym this afternoon since it was raining.  It was a little crazy and I don't really remember what they worked on but it was pretty fun and I know a few of them got some good reps in.

We're getting ready for dinner now and evening workout at 6:30.  I was ready to go this morning but I'm starting to feel a little tired now.  Bethany is still napping.  I expect several of the girls to hit a little wall tomorrow.  The camp director told us to expect it and I can definitely feel it coming.  (By the way, there are a LOT of stairs around here.)

Bear Update: Sometime during the bar clinic or open gym, the bear showed up again right behind the canteen (the girls gathering place and the place where they spend all of their money).  That also happens to be right next to the main path/stairway between the main camp and the gyms.  The girls were told not to take that path.  I believe they had a trap set up back there, but I'm not sure if they actually caught the bear.  I know they hope to capture her and transport her to a more remote location.

Lake Owen: Day 2 Morning & Afternoon

The sun came out this morning and it was a little warmer than yesterday. 

For this morning's practice, Group 1 (Rylie, McKenna, Alyssa, & Kennedy) and Group 2 (Erika, Skyler, Ashley, & Jessie) had bars and vault.  Several of them got to personally interact with Courtney Kupets.  Riley got to work some Geinger drills with Courtney.  McKenna, Alyssa, & Kennedy all got to work some blinds on the channel bars.  They worked on fundamentals on vault. 

Group 4 (Kailey, Kacy & Autumn) and Group 5 (Breanna & McKenzie) had floor, beam and trampoline.  The had a pretty open workout to evaluate where they were.

After practice everyone had lunch and then headed down to the waterfront.  The water is extremely clear and it is a very pretty lake.  Everyone rode on the 6 person banana at least once.  Some of them managed to get dumped.  There was also a blob that a few of them got to try.  The water was only kind of cold but it was pretty cold when they got out, even thought the sun was out.  I put my trunks on but they couldn't convince me to get in as they all stood there shivering.

 Lori serving lunch :)

Ashley & Kennedy got to try the ropes course.  They were pretty brave but couldn't make it all the way through it. 

Ashley on the ropes course.

Kennedy falling from the ropes course

Since I've been in the bar gym, I've only got pictures from that gym on my camera but I will get as much as I can before the week is over.  Also, I have some videos, but I don't know if I'll be posting them on the blog this week.

Bear Update:  As of this morning the bear isn't in the camp, but they're expecting her back.

Lake Owen: Day 1 Morning

Today is check-in day but the girls don't have their check-in until 2:30.  The girls and moms bunked with some girls and moms from South Dakota last night.  We also stayed across from their coach.  This morning was spent exploring the camp.  We took a peek at the gyms and the girls walked down to the waterfront.  Before lunch we gathered for a couple pics:

We had "brunch" for lunch; then the older girls got their cabin assignment for the week and went to get settled in.  At noon, they'll meet the recreation director to be entertained until check-in.  Also at noon, we have a coaches meeting and the moms begin having their meetings for their respective jobs.  This evening, the girls will head over to the gyms to get placed in their workout groups for the week.

Bear Update: Apparently this is first time in 9 years that anyone has seen a bear around the camp.  The bear and her cubs were seen again this morning and the ranger is here looking for her. 

Lake Owen - Trip to Camp

We finally made it to camp.   We left MEGA at 8:10am and arrived in camp at 9:45pm.  We stopped for lunch at McDonald's at 12:30 just north of Des Moines, Iowa.  The group posed for the picture below.

 Then we head on north through St. Paul, Minnesota.  We left Belton with the temperature at or near 80 and it was in the 60s with some rain by the time we were in Minnesota.  We then turned east toward Wisconsin.  We traveled through a bunch of Swedish town on the banks of Minnesota's lakes and made our way on to a 2 lane road that crosses over the St. Croix River from Minnesota into Wisconsin at Taylor Fall, MN.  It is a beautiful area. 

At around 7:30, we stopped in Spooner, WI to have dinner at Tony's Riverside Restaurant.  The had great pizza among other things and I managed to get some cheese curds while in Wisconsin. 

We finally winded down the dark, forested lake road to arrive at camp at about 9:45.  As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, I was told to keep everyone in their cars because there was a bear in camp.  Apparently a black bear and 3 cubs have been hanging around.  We finally got the girls to their cabins (with no word on the bears) and I got everything to my room at about 10:45. 

Everything gets started at around noon tomorrow, when we all have our meetings and the girls get to meet the rec director.  They'll officially check in between 3-5 to get their cabin assignments for the week.  Then, they'll go to the gym and get put in their groups for the week. 

It's been a long, but pleasant day (considering the 14 hour trip).  Hopefully I'll have some stories, pictures, and videos to post each day this week.

Lake Owen

We're taking 13 girls to Lake Owen Camp tomorrow.  I'm going to take my camera and laptop so I can hopefully keep everyone posted on how everything is going.  I'll get as many pictures and videos as I can.  If we can survive the 10-12 hour drive each way, it should be a great time!