down between dance floors and an encore of "after the applause" (8/2013)

Gym orphans litter the floor. Collecting in piles around stacks of mats as the sleek dark Choreographer with her long limbs and slicked back hair dances in tandem with a tiny girl. I can see the girl's big, soft eyes peek up at the Choreographer as they move, not quite together across the floor. In a matter of months, no, in a matter of days this little girl will step out of the Choreographer's shadow and the dance will become hers.

[Beach the day after she got her routine Aug 2013]

In the meantime those getting routines workout their 5 hours and then return to (or is many cases never really leave) gym for another 3 or 4 hours of work. Rinse. Repeat.

It is easy to cheer for the girls. But behind each one of them are parents trying very hard to make this world seamless. Yesterday the moms ran a bucket brigade that had zero forethought or planning and yet based on teamwork alone it was skilled enough we might have successfully invaded any number of small countries.

I worked at the gym. Mom L called needing a little help between football and gym. She got 3 offers. Mom K ran a check to the bank for me so I didn't have to go without funds all weekend while I stayed longer at work to make sure the desk was covered. I caught the overflow of girls at the end of practice, mom L's kid included and handed them off to older sister KT who handed them off to mom H who fed and watered them.

Then mom H returned them me at the gym and I took them home to the farm. I also fed them, funded by mom K who handed me 20 bucks as we were heading out the door. After an hour of downtime, we returned to the gym where mom H and mom K met us for the team fundraiser Parents Night Out. That is 3 hours of open gym time for 70 kids hosted by the team girls!!! The same girls who woke by 6 am, worked out 5 hrs, some 3 or so more...

Mom A, who was working the pro shop stayed and helped me check kids in at the desk even though she didn't have to and the fundraiser wasn't directly benefiting either of her gymnasts. Mom H got money and pizza. Mom K set up the other moms. Mom C held the "what we expect from you team girls working tonight" speech. Mom T2 brought extra kids to lend us more hands. Mom T1 brought in crowds of friends to PNO. Mom/coach W and coach M volunteered their time to the girls they coach  Mom/retired coach C brought in her little boy, paid the 20 dollars and gave Beach the credit. It goes on and on and on...

We call ourselves a lot of things: bench hens, gym moms, and when things get very strange "dance moms". But the one that fits the best really is Team Moms- because that is what we are. A team of moms. And since it is the season of routines and meet fees in honor of the moms (& dads) making the sacrifices to support their daughter's passions, I want to re-post this little piece from August 2013, titled: AFTER THE APPLAUSE

There is a whirlwind in her little eyes as she looks past me.  I can't tell if she is looking forlornly at the piano for the last time on the way out the door to the gym or at her father who is on the phone closing the deal: the piano is finally sold.  The night I listed it For Sale she cried and begged us not to. I explained the reasons; 

we don't use it, 

we need the room, 

we need the money for you...

The money will cover (hopefully) the cost of the choreographer for her floor routine. The sale is timely, as this week the choreographers have taken the girls one by one to learn their new routines.  

Each girl gets her own, her own music, her own moves, her own price tag.  It looks like Beach will be one of the last to get.  She has her music, her choreographer is lined up, and her price tag set firm: one dream of being a gymnast and a pianist.

She knows what she is doing when from under her seat belt and over her glasses  she asks, "So does everyone have to sell a piano to buy a choreographer?"

And I know what I am doing when I answer, "No, not everyone is lucky enough to have a piano to sell.  Or lucky enough to have gymnastics in the first place." 

Addendum: In late September Beach is scheduled for a new routine. Her old routine, with a small upgrade, lasted her 2 years.  In-State Meet (Spring 2015) Beach earned a personal best, a first place 9.750 and in Regional One Championships (2015) the first place 9.725. 

~And finish~

Gymnasts, salute!