The One and Only Meetersquad

It's not a typo. Meetersquad is a cross between a meet and intersquad. We had our first meetersquad on Saturday. Three of my teammates competed also. Jamie, Patrisha, and Gen. This competition was just like a meet with other gymnasts from other teams and real judges, but it was a "soft-landing" meet. That's when coaches can throw mats on the floor, spot gymnasts with less deduction, and gymnasts can land on soft, squishy mats.

Another Intersquad!!

We had another intersquad. Yay!! It was great...... not. One short explanation? We were all sick, including myself. I could barely get through a beam routine without getting out of breath. Well, we weren't also that ready, but let's blame it on the sickness.

This time, we competed vault. Mine were very weird and slow, and I barely made the flip around. My vault is a Yurchanko Pike (Weird names, I know). This time, I hit my beam routine. I thought it was great until the judge told me I had to many acro skills (A.K.A. flipping skills). How can you have too many acro skills? Isn't this gymnastics? Anyway, now I have to change my routine, so I am adding a sheep jump. I guess that'll look cool.

Skill Explanation: Pak Salto

I'm going to try something new with this post. I understand that it may be hard to understand my gymnastics stories if you don't know gymnastics vernacular, so every now and then, I will do a skill explanation. This week's skill: Pak Salto.

Event: Uneven Bars
Type: Release Move/Bar Change
Difficulty: D

Intersquad Madness

It has been an interesting week. Coming in Monday, we all knew our coach would be a little crazy.

Wednesday was our first intersquad.

An intersquad is like an at-home meet. We have judges come in and judge us on our routines. The first one of the season is always nerve-wracking, especially when you don't have a routine. You have to swallow your pride and show a routine that is a levels below you. Keep in mind that these are the same judges that are judging at national competitions.

#TBT

What do you think of when you see #TBT? Chances are, if you are a teenager today (A.K.A. The technology age), and you have an Instagram or Twitter, you may think of "ThrowBack Thursday." However, if you happen to be a gymnast coached by Amanda Johanson, you will think of "Team Beam Tuesday."

On a usual day, we will have individual assignments given to us every day to complete, except for one day. On Tuesday, we must complete the assignment as a team. One at a time, each of us attempts the skill. Each time someone "sticks" or stays on the beam, we get a point, but each time someone falls, we don't get a point. If all of us sticks a round, then we only have to do it once and we have completed the assignment. If we don't make it, then we have to keep doing it over and over. A few times, it has taken less than five minutes to complete the assignment. On other days, we spend 45 minutes trying very hard just to complete a single round.

A Day in My Shoes

As an attempt to further illustrate my life and personality to you, I have decided to describe a regular school day. I can't make my "normal" day very accurate, because every single day is unique and full of surprises, but I'll try anyway. :)

I can never wake up. I can usually sleep through anything, including three alarms. So, in the morning, when my fourth alarm goes off at 6:00 AM (my first goes off at 5:40, my second at 5:53, and my third at 5:56), I usually count to ten and lumber out of bed. I get ready, collect my stuff, and sometimes eat. I arrive at the bus stop at about 6:54, and spend my time on the bus listening to music, trying to get motivated for the long day ahead of me.

My Blogging Idols

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I can't wait to start sharing my crazy and frantic life with you. Mostly, I'll be writing about my gymnastics life, because that is one of two main parts of my life. I have only written one other blog, which I wrote during my trip to France last summer. I had lots of fun writing it, which I'm sure will be the case with this one. (If you want to know more about me, I will have an "About Me" page up soon.) Needing some inspiration, I looked up a few other blogs. Here are a few of my favorites.

The first blog I looked at was Triple Twist Gym Blog. I was searching for an example of a gymnastics blog, and was slightly disappointed until I saw this one. One thing I noticed is that she explains every gymnastics term and trick so that the audience isn't just limited to gymnasts. This makes it fun for everyone to read. Also, every single post is completely different. They talk about gymnasts at all different levels and from all parts of the world. Having a blog full of diversity is a main goal of mine.

One of my teammates is an amazing gymnast. To add to that, she is also very intelligent, so I looked at her blog. (Living Balanced) Like mine, her blog is oriented around gymnastics. I love reading everything she posts! She has pictures on every post and includes plenty of links to different websites and videos that makes it pretty interactive. I will try to post pictures on every post like her because that makes it so much more entertaining.

Bottle Up the Crazy. Could you have a better name? This blog is absolutely hysterical to read, and is probably the most fun to read out of all three of these. There are pictures, and videos and of course, hilarious stories. The writer is a college student who likes computer sciences and cats. This is the definition of a funny blog, and it would be awesome to come even close to the greatness of this one.

All three of these blogs have inspired me to work hard during my blog journey. I hope to provide enjoyable and fun-to-read posts for you!

~Rose~