Team Challenge!
This is typically a meet that I really enjoy -- the judges are usually pretty good and give nice scores! This year, it seemed like the judging was a little tougher! But I do feel they were fair! This meet took place on January 30 at Western Connecticut State University. Since it has been a while since this meet - I will probably come back in here and provide a few updates and observations related to the videos I have (but won't be posting yet since they are on the handheld camcorder and I don't know how to transfer them to my computer!)
The first event of the day was floor. Sophia performed a nice looking floor routine. The floor routine was scored a 9.175 and earned Sophia a 4th place medal in the Junior age group.
The 2nd event was vault. Sophia had 2 decent looking vaults and scored a 9.000. She did not medal in this event for this meet! She was a little bummed but she quickly let that roll off her shoulders.
The next event was bars! We all know how nervous I get when she does bars -- however, Sophia pulled off a very nice looking bar routine and received a 9.250 and a 5th place medal.
The final event of the meet was beam. Sophia was given a 9.200 and placed 3rd in her age group. Her all around score for the meet was 36.625 and she placed 5th in the age group.
Her team finished the meet with a team score of 112.050 for a 1st place finish!! Of course, there was more than one session with Level 7 teams, so Sophia, Cookie and her mom and I returned to the meet location after dinner to pick up the team trophy!
Here are a few pictures I have from the meet! When I finally get the videos on my computer, I will post them here! Enjoy!
Laela, Sophia and Cookie before the meet!
Laela, Sophia and Cookie jumping around - acting goofy!
More goofiness!
Elite Level 7 team!!
Beam warm up!
Hanging out after the meet!
Sophia, Caroline, Sydney, Cookie
Waiting for awards!
4th place floor
3rd place beam
5th place bars
Two very tired girls with the 1st Place Team trophy!
Excalibur Cup!
This meet took place in Virginia Beach, Virginia February 14th. We decided to make a family trip out of the meet and spent time in Virginia and Washington D.C. We drove down the Friday before the competition and spent time playing on the beach and hanging around the town of Virginia Beach! I will be honest with you, there is not much to do in Virginia Beach in February! It is definitely on the chilly side!!
Onto discussing the meet! The first event of the evening was bars! I have no words for Sophia's bar performance other than I am happy she did not get hurt! She fell off the high bar on her giant 2 times and did not do her fly away layout dismount and landed on her hands and knees. It was definitely not her best - she scored 5.700 (and I had tears in my eyes watching her crying on the floor!) - and did not place. After she finished her bar routine, 2 of her teammates that followed her fell off bars and the last one was scratched from the event! In a completely bizarre turn of events, the 4 girls were given an option of re-doing their bar routines for the judges on a different set of bars (after everyone else competing finished their rotations) however, Sophia said she was too scared to do it and opted to pass! I will admit, I was bummed she did not do the routine for a better score, but I am more happy that she did not get hurt!! After the meet, Sophia told me that the bars felt funny and that the chalk was "weird!"
The second event of the night was beam. Sophia took 7th place in her age group (Junior B) with a score of 8.900.
Next up: Floor! Sophia had a very nice looking floor routine and received a 9.300 and 3rd place medal.
Final event of the night - vault. Sophia had 2 good looking vaults and placed 7th with a 9.250. The team score was 113.250 for a 7th place finish -- not too bad considering there were 42 teams (30 teams had more than 3 gymnasts competing).
I do have videos that I will post later! Here are pictures from the meet! Enjoy!
Beach gymnastics!
My beautiful Sophia!
Sophia and Laela before the meet!
Beam warm up!
Waiting for awards!
7th place vault
7th place beam
3rd place floor
9th place all-around
Starlight Invitational!
The next meet Sophia competed in was the Starlight Invitational. It is hosted by a local Massachusetts gym and took place at Tuft's University. This is the first time Sophia has ever competed at this meet! I do have video from this meet -- decided to use my camera to record the events -- instead of the handheld camcorder! I am happy that I did because I was back in my "comfort zone" using my own camera!!
The first event of the morning was beam! She had a few small wobbles and almost fell off 2 times but stayed on the beam and did a respectable routine. She earned a 9.200 and 4th place medal in the Junior C age group. Here is the video of her beam routine!
The next event was floor. I thought her floor routine looked great! She did step out on landing her first 2 tumbling passes and stuck her final pass -- she scored 9.100 (not quite sure why she got this score??) and placed 6th in her age group. Here is her floor routine!
Then next event for the morning was vault. Sophia did 2 nice looking vaults - that I did not record because the event was on the far side of the gym and too many obstacles in the way! Sophia earned a 9.150 - I don't recall if she received a medal but she was 10th in her age group!
The final event of the day was bars! She did a decent looking bar routine -- still needs to work on the free hip handstand! Her score was 9.000 for a 3rd place finish!
Her all around score was 36.450 with a 3rd place trophy in her age group! The team walked away with the 1st place banner with a score of 112.950.
Here are a few pictures from the meet! Unfortunately, I was playing around with the settings on my camera while waiting for awards to start and my pictures did not turn out while she was on the awards podium -- nor did the team receiving their 1st place banner pictures turn out! I know -- lesson learned!!
That's a great looking group of girls!!!
It's blurry but I love this!
Bars warm up!
Beautiful handstand on bars!
I believe I can fly!
Trophies for the winners!
Maya and Sophia
Sophia, Avery and Laela
2014 Massachusetts Level 7 State Meet
The 2013-2014 competition season came to an end on March 28th. Sophia competed the Level 7 States in style and ended the season on a high note! The session she competed in was all 11 year olds -- 53 of 200 Level 7 gymnasts in the state are 11 years old! The break down was 3 age groups! Her and Maya competed in the same session -- different age groups!
The first event for the day was beam. She had a few small wobbles and pulled off an amazing routine!! She received her highest beam score for the season with a 9.375 and took 1st place in the 11C age group! She did tie with 2 other girls but took home the 1st place medal because of having the higher all around score! Please enjoy the video of her routine!
Floor was the next event! Sophia again blew it out of the park and did a fabulous routine! She placed 1st in her age group with a 9.450!
The next event was vault! I wish I had recorded her vaults -- they were so pretty! But, as you know, vault is a difficult event to record!! The girls move so fast and each vault is mere seconds long! Plus, the vaulting is usually on the far side of the arena and has so much going on around it! Sophia scored 9.400 and took home the 1st place medal for her vaults!! She tied with another girl - she got the 1st place medal! This was her highest vault score of the season!
The final event was bars! Sophia did a superb job on her routine! She received a 9.150 and took 2nd place in her age group! Again, she tied with another girl and got the 2nd place medal!
As you can tell, Sophia saved her best for the last meet of the season! She definitely brought her "A" game to States!! Her all-around score was 37.375 (her best of the season!!) and she took home the 1st place trophy in her age group!! WAY TO GO SOPHIA!!! So proud of her!!! Since she is the 11C Level 7 State Champion, she will be invited to some fun state hosted event for all of the State Champs -- along with 3 of her L7 teammates and many other girls from the gym! Will post the information about this event when we find out more about it!!
The outstanding Elite Level 7 team walked away with the 1st place team banner with a score of 114.725 -- best score of the season!!!
Please enjoy pictures from the State meet!! And, as always, thank you for checking in with Sophia's gymnastics adventure!
Maya and Sophia before the meet!
Warming up on the floor
Maya and Sophia at team announcements
Hanging with the coaches before competing floor
Many level 9 and 10 girls from the gym came to cheer the team on!
Sydney, Caroline, Sophia and Maya before awards
Sophia and Maya
1st place vault
2nd place bars
1st place beam
1st place floor
1st place all-around
After the 11 year old session -- waiting to watch teammates compete
Waiting final session and team awards
STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS LEVEL 7 TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!
So this ends the Level 7 2013-2014 competition season! I will keep you updated on Sophia's training over the next few months and into the summer for the next level! She is very excited to be finally working her new skills and is looking forward to the next step in her gymnastics training! Thank you again for your support and love of Sophia!
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