Blast to the Past

I never really know how to answer questions regarding when I started gymnastics and why. Because, truthfully,  I don't remember how I started, and now that I think about it, there was never life before gymnastics for me, or life without gymnastics. Well, except for last year, but that is a completely different story. Me starting gymnastics wasn't my decision, it was my parent's. They apparently couldn't control me. I "moved too much." So they stuck me in dance, skiing, gymnastics, and soccer, but gymnastics just stuck. So anyway, here's my gymnastics story.

I only remember snippets and moments from when I was about two or three. I remember going to the classes with my mom and sliding in the parachute, and sliding down the little yellow slide that still exists to this day. And pretending that our hands were pancakes while stretching our wrists. And asking,"Where are we flying to today?" when we were in butterfly. And making a cake when while we sat in straddle. And the memories just keep coming.

I am the littlest one, in the green and black. This is at Gymnastics in the Park.

:) The coach on the right is still my coach.

At that time, I was at the Old Gym. The Old Gym was located over by Home Depot by the side of the highway. There were two doors and one of them, when opened, went straight into the pit. My Grandpa once went into the wrong door and just walked right into the pit. The older girls (optionals), when vaulting, would have to start outside on the sidewalk because the vault runway wasn't long enough.

Salute!!!

After the mommy-daughter classes, I just went immediately into Bronze. Then Silver. I skipped Gold and just went into Level 4. Charity, our coach, made all of team (Levels 4 through 10) run beside the highway in the summer. Two miles. In Level 4, you start to compete. Unfortunately for me, I was too young. You had to be six in order to compete according to USAG, and I was only five. So I watched my team for a few meets from the sidelines, and then turned six and competed myself. Before my first meet, I would practice and practice my floor routine in my little family room, and, convinced that I had it down, competed it. Well, I didn't. I did my handstand-bridge twice and left an entire part out. I can remember this meet vividly. That is how traumatic it was.

Who needs knees when you have flexibility?

About now, I think, is when we moved to the gym we have now in Redstone. It is bigger and obviously newer.

I honestly don't remember Level 5 and Level 6 very well. What I do remember is how much I looked up to all the Optionals. I wanted to be just like them. I strived to do the same skills as them, and be their friend. I would sneak peeks at them when our workout times overlapped. I also remember being terrified of a back-walkover on the beam. Apparently, some people don't realize that it is scary to go upside down on a four-inch piece of wood, four feet off the ground. Especially when that beam is taller than you. (I had to stand on my tip-toes and poke my head over the beam at meets to see if the judges had saluted me.) To this day, every time I get up on the beam to do a big skill, there is a little voice in my head reminding me that I could potentially majorly injure myself, and that never ever goes away, but it's just part of the sport. Anyway, back to back then. :)

I moved up to Level 7 when I was in fourth grade, when I was about 8 years old. Gym started at 1:30 and ended at 6:00, but since there was no such thing as Parent Release in elementary school, I just got out of school early. I would just kind of walk out of class and wait for Emily Cannon and Maggie Glasheen, who went to Treasure, to come walk over to McPolin and sign me out. (We carpooled.) Level 7 was also when I started to get to travel across the country for meets. The first year, we went to Florida, Las Vegas, Tennessee, California, and California again.

I went to Level 8 that next year, and I also don't really remember that season very well. It went fine, I think. I was in fifth grade. I made it to Regionals, too. In fact, I got 5th. *Smirk.... (I'm pretty sure you will only get that if you are one of five people.)That summer though, I broke my elbow doing a Yurchenko drill. I had to take 12 weeks off, but got right back on it. I also split my eye open with my own knee (How many people can say that?) doing Tsukaharas (a different vault) when I landed on my head. Literally. I got 5 stitches, but I did think that I was going to be blind in one eye at the time.

At University of Utah Gymnastics Camp with Utah Gymnasts.

I repeated another season of 8, which isn't that uncommon, but it was a terrible season. I still made it to Regionals, though. Then I went Level 9, but I wasn't great. I was fine, but not awesome. Through a series of events, I ended up at Olympus and then quit, thinking my passion had faded. I spent an entire year wondering all of the "what ifs" and decided to go back. Taking a year off in gymnastics is very difficult. You can't just come back and do everything you could do. I wasn't nearly as strong, flexible, or coordinated as I had been before. However, I worked hard to gain all that back, and competed Level 9. For half a season. Some of my teammates today, including Jamie and Elise, have been with me since.... uh... forever. :) And that brings us back to now.

Who knows how many times I will use this picture........

I know this was a very long post, but all these memories and events have made me the gymnast and person who I am today.

Just to leave you on a good note.

~Rose