As you all know Kay has joined a new gymnastics team and has been training quite hard for the past three months. Her team has been practicing for this meet and the upcoming meets for the past year so she had a bit of catching up to do. She has been practicing 14 hours per week and then on Saturdays has been doing 2 hours of private lessons to get ready, and man oh man she was ready!There are four events, the beam, the un-even parallel bares, the vault and the floor. The was nervous to say the least, leading up to the trial practice she was crying and worried she wouldn't make the cut and would not be able to participate in all four events, she was a wreak, and for fearless Kay, that is saying something. In the days leading up to the trial all she could do was worry, and when the trial came and went she did awesome. The day before the meet she was on her balance beam for basically the whole day and when she wasn't on the beam she had to do something with all her nervous energy so like all 11 year olds she decided to create make from scratch cream puffs, which were out of bounds good.
First up the un-even parallel bars, she was determined and made the routine look casual and easy, the judges for the meet were very strict and hammered her and her result an 8.1, not her best but she did great and her dismount was spot on!
The beam, which is Kay's second favorite was next. She jump on and did a great job, most importantly she didn't fall off, nailed her back walk over and her dismount, and received a 8.675' She makes the beam look easy and is very graceful with her execution.
The floor was next, which is her favorite routine and as we watched her practice her routine, for the first time, we were all sitting there with our eyes wide opened in awe, Jimmy finally said, when did she learn how to do that? She nailed her backflip into a tuck into a back walk over like she was standing still! The Orvedahl's came to see her and their only comment was wow Kay is awesome! She stuck the backflip and her ending was incredible and a 9.30 was her top score for the day!
The vault which has been her nemesis for the past few years was the final routine. She has been challenged by her size and her speed as she gets going so fast when she hits the vault it acts sort of like a sling shot and she sails way past where she is supposed to land, not today. She did a great approach, jump and handstand, flip and got a 8.325, awesome!!!
This meet it turns out is the last meet in which the girls can qualify for the State meet, so there was a bit of added anxiety, her coach told the girls, do you best focus on what we can do not what we cant and have fun. There we 99 girls competing at Kay's level, which is level 5. To qualify for State you need to score 32.01 or higher, Kay came in at 34.00 and not only did Kay make the cut to go to State she was the highest ranking on her whole team and placed 9th out of 99, not to shabby for 2 1/2 months if practice! Samir, the owner of Kay's gymnastics school and the overall head coach was beaming with pride for Kay and even told a mutual friend how proud he was of her and how great she did!
Kay was very happy with her performance, her only comment was, Ok now that's over I am ready for the next meet, when is it ? I can't wait!, Nervous no so much look out girls Kay's gunning for State!Way to go Kay we love you and are super proud of you!!!
