Tuesday, April 7, 2009

My daughter, Emma, is 13. She's been doing gymnastics for about 5 yrs and has been competing for the past 4. At this point, she practises about 21 hours a week.

We should have known that she had a talent for gymnastics right from the start. When she was still a toddler, Emma used to like to sneak out of her crib and play in her room when she should have been sleeping. I remember trying to catch her out of her bed. I would tiptoe into her room, trying to sneak up on her, but she she would always hear me and make a run for her crib, grab the rails, and do a flip over the rails onto her mattress!

It was really jaw-dropping.

This year she qualified to compete at our state gymnastics tournament, which was last weekend.

In gymnastics competitions, there are 4 events. And everyone has a favorite.


  1. Vault. (If your daughters like running full force at a stationary object, this is the event for her.)

  2. Bars. (If she likes peeling off pieces of skin from blisters the size of quarters off her hands, and getting blisters on top of her blisters, then this is the event for her.)

  3. Beam. (If she likes falling off a 4 inch wide piece of wood - or worse, onto it - while doing flips and jumps, then this has got to be the event for her.)

  4. Floor. (If she likes to parade around in a leotard getting wedgies, doing dorky choreography, and falling on her butt, face, and pride, then this is definitely the event for her!!! )

Emma likes them all. And the past weekend she won a gold medal for her beam routine, placed in all events, and came in 5th in her age group!

Now her proud mom has to share. Here's a short video of Emma doing her beam and floor routine from the meet:

Isn't she wonderful!

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16 Comments:

  1. ARTISANNE DESIGN said...
    WOW!!Fantastic, no wonder you're proud. I think it's so great when kids have something like this to focus on... she is brilliant!
    Anonymous said...
    Congrats!!! This is so amazing!!! Proud of you and your family! I am sure many more bigger and greater things to come ahead!
    Parallax said...
    Well congratulations to her, I'm sure she (and you!) are quite proud that all that practice paid off
    My Inspired Reality said...
    Congratulations! Wow, she is absolutely fantastic! I loved that story about her as a kid flipping over the rails:):)
    Tammy's Treasure Chest said...
    She's AWESOME! Congratulations to both of you!
    Kellybot said...
    Amazing! I can't imagine watching this and be, like, biting my nails the whole time.
    Jo said...
    Wow! Wonderful moves, but yes, I'm another one who'd be biting my nails most of the time!
    There's an award for you on my blog BTW
    Jo x
    Contrariwise said...
    Thanks so much. Yes, we are very proud of her.

    It can be very stressful watching the events. Our 18 yr-old daughter went with us to the State Championships, and about half-way through, she told me that she was so worried about Emma (and the other gymnasts) performing on the beam, that she was breaking out in hives!

    I think the beam is the worst with regard to injuries. It's so high up, you're on a 4 inch-wide piece of wood, and you can hit it on your way down.

    About half the kids fell off. No one got hurt.
    Anonymous said...
    That is so fantastic...I couldn't walk on the beam much less do all that other stuff...congratulations to her.
    Denise said...
    YAY, Emma! It's great to see all your hard work pay off! It must be really hard to keep your concentration while all that other stuff is going on around you; you did a great job!

    (Okay, as one of the nail-biting mamas, I have to say it: Be careful out there! Mooch would be so sad if you got hurt!)
    Julie said...
    Yay! Way to go Emma!
    The Great Ethan Allen said...
    WOW! that was Awesome! i know the Olympic athletes make it look easy but it is NOT and she made it look very routine! Keep it up! Well done!
    kathleen grant said...
    there is nothing better than watch your kid succeeding in their dream.
    i love your blog and jewels check out mine sometime
    kathleen
    KAT said...
    Wow, Emma did a really good job!! She was great!! You didn't tell us what her scores were, but I bet they were really good!!

    I love watching the gymnastics at the olympics, that's usually the only thing I watch. :)

    Congrats to Emma, and to you too Mom!

    OMG! My word verification is: myedance ~ How conicidental is that? LOL
    Contrariwise said...
    Her scores were
    Vault: 9.325
    Bars: 8.925
    Beam: 9.4
    Floor: 9.35

    Total: 37
    Kathryn said...
    Wow, she's fantastic. Gymnasts always amaze me.

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