Alexa had her all time personal best meet on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at the Flower Power Invitational hosted by Technique Gymnastics in Rancho Cordova.
I was soo proud of her. I think I get more excited than she does. All gymnastics moms know (probably other sports too, but I’m a gymnastics mom so…) that anything can happen. I learned quite a bit this season about what could cause a point deduction, like an extra toe circle on the uneven bar can cost you .3 points and if your coach spots you, that’s a .8 deduction. How do I know? Because Alexa lost 1.1 at one of her meets and it is heartbreaking when your ranking can be significantly affected by tiny fractions of points.
Truth be told, I didn’t know what to expect when the season started. She did a back-to-back season jumping straight from completing her Level 5 competition season in November where she placed 3rd All Around to busting her butt to ramp up to compete in either Level 6 or 7 depending on the skills she was able to achieve. It took her some time before her coaches gave her the green light and so when she competed at her first Level 6 meet, I literally said to her “just have fun”. I knew she had struggled with some skills but I wasn’t sure about the details. To my embarassed surprise, she did really well! I don’t know why I was so shocked. I mean, she dedicates over 20 hours a week to practice and always does well so seriously, SHAME ON MOMMA for doubting her abilities!
Here’s the thing. I used to go to her practices and watch her learn new skills. At her original gym, the space was smaller and you could easily watch what they were doing from the bleacher seats. At her current gym, it’s probably 3-4 times as big and the seating does not offer a good view of where they practice. Besides, her practices are now 4 hours long! Aint nobody got time to hang out at the gym to watch for 4 hours!!!
In any case, she competed in 3 qualifying Level 6 meets and qualified for States at every one. The last meet was the Flower Power Invitational and she killed it! Her best event is floor (which is also my favorite to watch). She’s also done really well on beam but beam is nerve wracking because she does a back handspring which can cost you .5 points if you fall. You kinda hold your breath until she clears that part of the routine. She’s improved on vault so much this season. That was the one event that she always struggled with but her coaches have really helped her. Bars used to be her best event and well, bars is getting really hard and those handstands are brutal! Regardless, I am soo proud of all she’s been able to do in such a short period of time.
Her results for the Flower Power Invitational were as follows:
Vault: 9.425 – 2nd Place
Bars: 8.750 – Tied for 8th Place
Beam 9.475 – 4th Place
Floor 9.550 – 1st Place Baby!!!
All Around: 37.200 – 4th Place
She’s had another amazing season. I will do a separate post about her State Championship meet.
Enjoy this video I put together of her all time personal best meet. What a great way to close out the Level 6 competition season.
