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.


This Meetersquad went pretty well for me. I competed Vault, Beam, and Floor, and did a few skills on bars. We started on beam which was extremely nerve-wracking because all of us were shaking and nervous. I managed to stay on the beam with a good score for mid-December. (8.7) On floor, I competed a double-back but my coach was spotting me. The routine was going smoothly until I decided to show my inner-spaz. I was doing a leap series and did some sort of mix between a tuck jump and a straight jump. It was absolutely wonderful.

Picture from Beam. This the sheep jump that I had to integrate into my routine.

Double Back with my coach spotting me.

Vault went great. Having nerves in gymnastics is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing on vault and floor, and a curse on beam and bars. Being nervous makes you run a lot faster, which gives you more power. Yay! Sadly, having more power than I'm used to, I over rotated, which means I lost .5 points on my score. (By the way, gymnastics scores are out of 10.) With a fall, I got an 8.75, so if I had landed it, I would have gotten a 9.25.

I got my Pac on real bar! I practiced it at this meet but didn't compete it.

After the meetersquad, my teammates and I went down to Olive Garden. We watched videos and continued to act our weird selves. I was stressing out about the competition this entire week, but it turned out great, and I competed(ish) for the first time in one and a half years.

Only 4 of us went (Gen, Jamie, Patrisha, Myself, and then my coach, Amanda)

~Rose