Five of Us

...it's probably best.  :)

Lainie earned an 8.1 on floor (her best floor score ever! That connected roundoff/back handspring works wonders), an 8.75 on vault, a 6.35 on bars, and a 7.55 on balance beam.  Honestly, I'm just so proud of her.  She did her best, she didn't get crazy nervous, and she was thrilled with her scores.  She worked with a coach who is not her coach...in a gym she's never been in, with less sleep than she has ever had in a night and then been expected to function.  She rocked it.  

Here's where Mindy gets...I don't know.  Irritated or something.  At the end of last season, the coaches and owner at Lainie's gym decided to bump all of last season's level 4 girls up to beginner prep. opt. level, meaning they would all skip level five altogether, and move to the other gymnastics program in the US, which basically allows the girls to begin optional routines much more quickly than USAG allows...thus giving more variety, allowing them to work with their strengths, and I'm convinced...partially to relieve coaching staff and gym owners of living through the same music over and over and over...to infinity...or insanity.  The downside of this for Lainie and her friend Maura is that they both could use an extra year at level four.  For the experience, for the skill progressions, for all of it.  I haven't decided if the coaches/owner chose this course to keep the girls from feeling badly about not being moved up, or to get more money out of us...I don't know...but this week, I'm going to ask.  Today Lainie competed routines and events she hasn't touched in literally months.  She performed at a level very comparable to the level at which she competed in April.  Which, I mean, really...is fine.  Except for the fact that over the summer, she spent 10 hours a week in the gym...at no small cost...and right now, she's in the gym for 8 hours a week...I mean, really...wouldn't you expect improvement in form?  In skills?  In strength?  Her bar routine has literally not changed since last season.  There are 7 skills in the routine.  2 of them, she can't do at all--the coach does it for her.  She couldn't do those same skills when she started at this gym last fall.  The one skill she got...that roundoff/back handspring.   I'm thrilled with that and so is she...but for the amount of time she's at the gym...sigh.  I don't know.

In this situation, I know that I have crazy expectations.  I coached.  I competed.  I get it.  I know what it takes to improve...that it's a combination of coaches' efforts, student discipline and perseverance, strength training, time in the gym.  I realize that it all has to fit together and work together, and fall into place, and that Lainie plays a big part in this.  BUT.  She can only do what she's told to do.  She can only improve if she has instruction that allows for improvement.  If she doesn't get her front hip circle...she's never going to get her kip.  She can't do prep. opt. until she gets her kip.  She makes the exact same mistake on her back extension roll that she made 2 years ago when I was coaching her at the Y and couldn't get her to fix it.  After a year of 5-10 hours a week in the gym.  She still doesn't consistently point toes or work to keep knees straight or fight to keep tight if she bobbles on the beam.  

...k.  I'm going to shut up now.

I'm so proud of her.  She was totally fine with how she did.  Totally fine.  I just have to let some of that go.  At the same time...I'm not going to send her 8 hours a week if she's literally not making any advances in her skills.  

Oy.  I have 3 days to figure out what to say to her coach.  Wish me luck.