Sophia's Gymnastics Journey: Judges Cup 2013

On November 9, Sophia and her Elite Level 7 teammates competed in the Level 7 Team Challenge at the 2013 Judges Cup. I was not sure she would be competing when we first got to the meet - Sophia had been tumbling Friday night and landed a whip funny and rolled her right ankle. It was hurting her pretty bad Saturday morning, so I took her to the Pediatrician and then to the hospital for x-rays. She had a pretty good sized bruise on the top of her foot and her ankle was pretty swollen! I was hoping the x-rays would be okay -- and they came back "unremarkable" according to the Radiologist! Whew!!! Talk about being relieved!
So we got to the meet and we spoke with her coaches and they decided to tape her ankle and have her compete! The girls started out on beam and Sophia did well - she fell at an odd spot (not doing her back handspring, not doing her turn and not during her leaps!) and scored 8.800. Unfortunately, she did not place in her age group! Here is her first Level 7 meet beam routine! I am certain it will get better as the season progresses!

The second event for the day was floor! She took a few steps back landing her 3rd tumbling pass - but did not fall on her bottom! We spoke after the meet and I showed her the video of her routine and hopefully she sees the areas that she needs to work on for her future meets! This routine is cute -- just needs a little polishing! I am sure once she does this, this routine will get her high marks!! This routine got her a 9.000 - unfortunately, she did not place. Here is Sophia's Level 7 floor routine! Enjoy!

Vault was the 3rd event of the day! Sophia performed 2 nice looking vaults and scored 8.650. Again, she did not place in her age group! Here are her 2 vaults!

The final event for the day was bars! I am amazed at the number of times over the past few years where our girls compete on bars last -- uuuuggghhh!!! I, personally, would prefer that they do bars first or second and get them over with!! Oh well! I have no control over that!! Sophia did a nice looking bar routine, scored 8.650 and took 3rd place for her age group!! Her is the video of her bar routine!

So, as you can see, Sophia had a fairly decent meet! She only placed on bars (which is usually her weakest event) and did not place in the all-around (score 35.150) for her age group! We were both a little bummed about it, but considering she hurt her ankle the night before, I feel she did a great job! As for the Level 7 Team Challenge part, the top 6 gymnasts from the meet were chosen as the MA state team. This group of girls (including 3 of Sophia's teammates) will go to Washington in January to represent Massachusetts in the National Judges Cup! Sophia, unfortunately, did not make this team. The meet ended up having 52 gymnasts with 22 of them competing for the 6 MA team spots. There were 2 Junior age groups and 2 Senior age groups (regular meet and Team Challenge). Sophia was in the Junior age group with many of her teammates! The team score was 111.125 and got them the 1st place trophy for the entire meet!! Congrats to my Sophia and to her teammates for all of their hard work, to the girls going to Washington in January and to her coaches for their dedication to the team!!! Congrats to Elite Level 7 team for taking home their first 1st place trophy of the season!!!

The next meet for Sophia is the gym's in house meet on December 15!! Here are a few pictures from the meet!! Enjoy!! Thank you for checking in on Sophia!!