Our Little Gymnast

On December 22, Alena had her first gymnastics competition. We've had her in it since she was three and she generally loves it. They moved her up from the five year old class to Level 1 just three weeks before the competition so she didn't exactly have a lot of time to learn her routines and perfect them (she was also the youngest). But she did well considering that and the fact that she loathes performing in front of people. I knew she wouldn't want to do it but was told everyone received medals and awards. I knew she would like that and thought that might increase her confidence.

They called this a 'mini olympics' and had the younger kids go first. Everyone was figuring on this only taking an hour and a half but boy were they wrong! We were there for just over THREE hours! Alena did really well waiting for the next round and her turn. Christian also did surprisingly well for having to sit there with nothing to do the whole time. He even ended up falling asleep!

Her bars routine and score. I think she did her best on the bars because it was in the back of the gym and not right in front of the audience. And there was less to remember for this routine.

Her beam routine was next. There was a lot to remember and this was directly in front of the audience so she had the most trouble with it.

Another hard routine for her was the floor routine. Also in front of the audience.

You have to look at her reflection in the mirror to see her here.

Last was her vault which she had no problem with.

She got fourth overall and third in the bar and vault.

And here is what Christian ended up doing. :)

With as many meltdowns and "I don't want to do it!" as she had, she got through it and I'm proud of her. She loved the medal and ribbons she got, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get her hyped up about competing again. We really want her to get over this fear of being in front of people because it is only going to hold her back.