Thursday, July 5, 2012

Proud gymnastics mom moment

I know, I know.  REALLY?  A blog about the back handsprings..YES. Definitely.  Paige started back handspring clinics back in February.  In May of this year she was invited to join the elite Dynamite team. This is the power tumbling pre-team.  I, I mean we, were stoked.  I have been bitching, and bitching, and bitching a little more to everyone that Paige does not have the back handspring yet.  I sit there during Dynamites and watch the group of girls above Paige not only do their back handsprings, but also connect their round off back handspring combination.  I have had round off back handspring envy.  Badly. Earlier this week I had a chat with Mrs. P and Mr. Mitchell about her skills.  Mrs. P said she would be moving Paige up groups very soon and she would start connecting.  Tonight Mr. Mitchell spotted her with one finger.  Once we left the gym, she told me he said she's ready to do it on her own.  We come home and she immediately goes to the back yard.  She gets on the trampoline, I spot her twice.  I do it once with a finger then I pretend to spot her and she gets it.  Her confidence sky rockets at that point and there she goes!  I yell at dad frantically to come see her.  You would have thought she was hurt!  We stand there with the iPhone in hand recording away.  What happens after that...she does a round off back handspring and connects it!  She connected it!  It wasn't perfect to say the least, but she did it!  She can NOT wait to go to SSB tomorrow and show her coaches what she did.  Its pretty safe to say that I am more excited than her. 

I was a gymnast growing up.  I did tap, jazz, and ballet for a few years and then gave it up.  I know how hard it is to get this skill.  All three of my girls love gymnastics.  Every item in the house that they can use as gymnastics equipment they do.  This includes the couches, stairs, fireplace, trampoline, beds.  All I wanted when we had all these girls was for one of them to love my passion for gymnastics.  Just one was it.  I wasn't even being picky as to who it was.  Zuri, from the moment she was born, was labeled as my Cirque Du Soleil baby.  She was an emergency c-section BC her leg and arm were pinned up by her head and that was the way she decided to attempt to make her entrance into the world.  It wasn't going to work that way!  I knew she would be my gymnast.  Turns out I think she likes cheer better, but Liana is another story.  Liana is limber and aims to be a beautiful gymnast.  She is always doing poses at home and asking me if its pretty or ugly.  Her nickname in class is monkey toes BC she grabs the beam with her toes like a natural gymnast.  Paige is not limber AT ALL.  She is working on it.  She is so close to having her splits, but her back flexibility is still bad. I think my family might have come to one or two of my competitions growing up.  I am so eager for the day when I get to sit there and watch my girls be amazing gymnasts and be so proud of them.  I had some of that moment tonight standing in the yard watching Paige get her back handspring on her own then with her round off.  Donnie asked me tonight if it made all the gymnastics worth it and it sure does.  We spend a lot of time at the gym.  Currently Paige is doing 4 days of gymnastics, Zuri does 3, and Liana does one, but I'm watching Liana catch up to Zuri quickly at almost a year younger.  As soon as Zuri and Liana saw Paige do her back handspring, they want theirs as well. I started spotting Liana tonight and worked with Zuri again.  I'm going to have my proud gymnast mom moments soon.  In just a few months they will start competitions.  In a few years when they are amazing, I won't regret a single minute or a dime we have spent getting them there.  Watching them so makes it all worth it.