Our New Athletic Pursuit

On May 25, while Grandma and Grandpa visited, Merrilee had her Gymnastics Family Night. Her class is very small and of the six kids, only three showed up for Family Night. It made for an intimate presentation of their floor and beam routines. Afterwards the kids got to show their families some of their skills on the bars and trampoline.

I asked her to wear her newer purple leotard for the occasion, but she insisted on wearing the one shown in the photo. She said it felt patriotic and she wanted to feel like she was at the Olympics. In the end, I think she really did feel like a star!

That's Coach Renee in the photo above. I love Renee. She's firm and doesn't put up with any goofing off or lack of attention during practice. The girls' social time does not coincide with practice time, and Renee makes sure the girls don't think otherwise. She's kind and loving towards the girls, but business is business. Just my style! I've been telling Merrilee for the past two years that when she's in practice her attention must focus solely on the coach, both for safety reasons as well as because I'm paying for her to learn gymnastics, not chit-chat. I love having an instructor back that up now! But it's not a total social loss; yesterday Merrilee was invited to a gymnastics birthday party for one of the other girls on the team. The girls will get to enjoy all the equipment they love without being "in class" this Saturday--not to mention cake and gifts! What fun! I'm so glad this is also an opportunity for the Merrilee to make friends.


Here is Merrilee's floor routine she performed on Family Night.

Here is Merrilee showing us some of her skills on the equipment. She was able to do a pull-0ver on the bar all by herself on her first try and I was so happy for her! She and I both love the bars the best, but they are by far the hardest. Merrilee is blessed to have upper body strength that I have always lacked.

Each child got a medal for his/her hard work. Merrilee wasn't expecting any kind of award, so she was in heaven!

After the program was over, the coach came up to me and handed me a piece of paper which stated that Merrilee had been selected to be on the gymnastics team. To say that this came as a surprise would be an understatement! We had put Merrilee in gymnastics as a recreational source of physical training, not for competitive athletics, and I was pretty sure the coach of the gym had understood that. So for the next week I did some research into the pros and cons of being part of a gymnastics team, and even spoke to a friend back in Maryland whose daughter is on a team. In the end, we decided to say "yes" to the two-hour practices three times a week, as well as the upcoming monthly competitions, fundraisers, and snazzy new leotards.

We ended the evening with dinner at Golden Coral, one of Merrilee's favorites. We had so much fun, and really enjoyed sharing the special occasion with Grandma and Grandpa.

So far the team thing has worked out well. The more she goes to practice, the more she loves doing it and wants to go back. I had a feeling it would work out this way; she's a natural athlete and loves the pressure of pushing herself to do better. That's not to say she didn't point out her sore pectoral muscles after doing at least 50 push ups last Friday, but she did not complain about it once. And I'm finding that it's giving me the opportunity to spend several hours a week working on Merrilee's quilt that I started before we brought her home from China. Who knows...I might even get her quilt done in the next year!