Tales of the 10th West Irregulars: once she was

I remember sitting at the old gym building on the benches watching the "big" girls practice. I remember the pockets of time they were suddenly absent from the gym for a few days. I remember hearing their moms talk about single event scores instead of All Around awards. I remember watching them and thinking nothing about them related to us. I remember the day that changed.

Every single one of our JO team girls qualified for Regionals this year. The lower levels head to Reno. The upper levels to Las Vegas. For many, this will be their first look at a national stage.

I am surprised at the lack of questions coming from the parents. I know I was not prepared for what was ahead of us that first time. Most of the girls will compete alone. There are so many athletes the age divisions divide by months not years. At best you will get one or two teammates in your session.

Although I was not prepared Beach was. All those "do we really have to travel this far for a meet?" moments make sense the second you see the scale of a regional meet.

The encounters with the big-hitting North Cal teams have already happened somewhere out on the road. Knowing ahead of time the talent pooling together in one spot helps prepare our girls so the can enjoy seeing the differences and the possibilities.

I look at all the scores and placements from Beach's regional meets and I am honestly surprised at how low they were and yet I don't ever recall anything but joy tied to all those numbers.

Regionals is a victory lap. Mixed in there are falls and personal bests, big risks, bravery, and the final salutes of the season.

Once she was little and we had never gone this way before.

A brief history in numbers of Beach's past regional meets:

A Quick Note: The year Beach competed JO Level 6 the national program was completely restructured. It was the first year Level 6 became an Optional Level. The program did not yet include a Regional Meet*

Regionals 2015 Level 7 Long Beach, California