soft landing 2017

I didn't really mean for these to be blog photos but for whatever reason fb won't let me post pics only videos...(?) and I think they are worth sharing.  Beach and Payton messing around before they competed. Beach was super nervous!!!! Her first LEVEL 9 meet. Still injured and having to modify but headed in the right direction. 

Beach caught her release move on bars & landed her double pike dismount.  Landed a score-able vault, nailed-ish floor, and stayed on the beam. It was amazing!!!! We are so proud and super excited for what is to come. The routines not the bad hotel coffee.

reflections 

FYI I'm not withholding her meet scores. I honestly don't have them. I did see them (high 7's to low 9's) as they came up but we didn't write anything down. 

Level 9 is its own animal. Scores say so little about what happened. Nothing is a given.

Competing every event is a win. Competing all the events you can, is a win. Then there is a win of having your skills check the requirements for that level. OR competing loud & proud with skills below the level requirements due to injury. The win of having enough bonus skills to get a 10.0 start value whether or not you land them. The win of knowing your start value is low but going in and doing your best. The win of being too injured to compete the meet at hand and showing up to stand with your team.

For the biggest win, how about finishing by walking away from the events you competed with only the injuries you came in with.

Up here in 9 and 10 there aren't divides between teams and/or gyms anymore, not like there used to be. At this level the girls know each other. They have competed and attended training camps together for years. They cheer for one another as if they were teammates because in the big picture that's what they are. 

They all understand the work it took to be here. The sacrifices, sweat, blood, and tears. The fails and the fears, late nights and early mornings. 

What is left 'up here' is respect and reverence for each other. It's not about scores or even skills- it's about soul. In the lower levels success is measured in numbers. The parents, the coaches, and even the judges can't quantify success like that in 9 & 10. Success is what THEY the athletes say it is.