Feb. 2, 2008 - The gymnastics meet
Delaney's far north gymnastics meet went well.
I am so thankful that she isn't one of those girls who have panic attacks or hissy fits or temper tantrums. I am SOOOO thankful. We have a few of those on our team, and they make me weary and they aren't even mine. But, on the other hand, we value behavior and sportsmanship at the meets much more than we value accomplishment, and my kids are well aware of that. I understand nerves... that is fine, but I also strongly believe that they need to get over that self focus if they are ever going to succeed in life. However, in my book, if you are going to sulk over a poor performance, you are soooo very grounded.
When Blake was competing when he was little he used to beam when he would get on the podium and then his face would drop in despair when he would place lower. It was rather funny, but we also knew that it wouldn't stay funny. After a stern warning, Leny actually paid him to smile when he placed low. He finally developed this odd philosophy that went something like "Well I can do the move I missed, and if I would have done it, I would have won, and so basically I won." A little odd, but it worked. As he is only competing against one other guy this year, he is quite capable of laughing and jumping into 2nd place before they start giving out awards. That makes me happier than if he was winning everything.
When Amanda was competing, we never had to worry about her at all. Her attitude was supurb. She was a solid gymnast, but not spectacular. She could always easily laugh at her mistakes, and would be geniunely happy for her teamates.
Delaney is very hard on herself, and tends to get very nervous. But we have talked about it a lot and her perspective has gotten so much better. She cried one whole meet last year, but after the meet, she said "I never want to cry like that again, I am only going to have fun at my meets from now on." She doesn't forget her purpose too often.
She has been placing rather low this season, near the bottom of the pack, but today she was redeemed. She placed 2nd on the floor with a 9.5, 2nd on beam, 3rd on bars and 5th all-around. (Her vault score was a dismal 7.2). Yeah!
No flash photography is allowed during the meet. As I don't have a wide angle lense, and the gym was really dark and I was terrified that I would accidently forget to turn the flash off, I don't take pictures of the competition.
Here they are waiting for awards to begin (Delaney is the 4th from the left):
Here is the memorable 2nd place finish...
And here is our Level 5, Age 10 5th place finisher (All that break down, means that there are 10,000 other little gymnasts out in the world competing, which is why we teach them that it really doesn't matter. Really):
But she is still cute!
Comments
Feb. 3, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Congratulations! She IS cute.
Amy@thefoilhat
Feb. 3, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Jenni in KS
Way to go, Delaney!
Na is a little like both your girls. She is very hard on herself, but she will almost never cry in public. She has to be hurting pretty badly to do that. She is a very good sport. I've never heard her talk badly about someone who outscored her and she always encourages her teammates.
She's having a rough time so far this year, though. I think the way one of the coaches handles her is making things worse. Na has a lot of respect for her and her cold, harsh tone just crush her spirit. She can take failures and problems when any of the other coaches are working with her and be ready to work harder. There's more. It's not fun. Will you pray for Na if you think about it?
I know what you mean about the kids who are poor sports, too. We had one on the old team that would pout and flounce and act up on the award stand if she did not get in the top three places--which was often. I'd much rather Naomi enjoy what she's doing and be able to win or lose gracefully than to have her win all the time.
