St. George: Boys State Gymnastics Meet

The boys state gymnastics meet this year was held this past weekend in St. George. A far away venue for a state meet, but we were pleased all the same. Not only does Bryan's parents have a vacation house there, but the kids had Monday off school due to a end-of-term teacher work day. Can you say VACATION???

But first and foremost, the trip was a gymnastics one. I love watching Brandon compete. I know all his teammates and know their strengths and weaknesses almost as well as I know Brandon's. I diligently keep scores and cheer them on. Because I'm not a judge, I sometimes get ticked when I think Brandon has been gypped on a score. And at times I get frustrated with how things shake out when it comes down to awards at the end of a meet. For example: Brandon's age division is the biggest within Level 5 which means his competition is a bit more stiff. At the state meet Brandon got a score of 14.3 on parallel bars. One of his teammates who is in a different age division got a 14.1. That score of 14.1 was enough to win his teammate 1st place on that event. While I was sincerely pleased for this kid, I was frustrated that Brandon's higher score only got him 8th place in his division. Same routine, same level...just different age division. I decided to share my thoughts with Brandon. Not my frustrations, just the facts....that his division was bigger and therefore harder competition, that in most cases his scores were just as good as many of his teammates who were taking higher awards. "Oh, Mom," he said. "I don't really mind what PLACE I take. I know my SCORES are good and that's all I care about."
Oh.
What a smart kid with a great attitude about sports and competition. He wants to do well, works hard to do his best, enjoys getting rewards for a routine well done. But he competes against himself. And when it boils right down to it, he's there to have fun.

Our gym hired a photographer to follow our gymnasts around and take the kind of shots that we can't get...either from lack of access (seeing as we're confined to the stands) or lack of photography know how. Anyhow, here's the shots that Brandon liked the best...

VAULT...it's in Level 6 that they start using the actual vault. In Level 5 they run down, jump on the spring board and do a flip up onto the mats. It's kind of all about height and sticking your landing.
POMMEL HORSE...which in Level 5 also includes "circles" around the "mushroom."

PARALLEL BARS...Brandon's warm up was a bit dicey on this event but he nailed his routine pretty well when it came time to show off for the judges. (That dark-haired girl sitting in the stands on the left side of the pic? Yeah, that's me.)

HIGH BAR...this is a hard one for Brandon.
RINGS...Brandon thought the dismount picture was hilarious. Thought it looked like he was falling on his head when in actuality, he was "front flipping out of a straddle"....if that makes any sense to you. :)


FLOOR....this first picture is a "scale." And trust me, it's much more difficult than it looks. The second picture is a dive roll in action. Brandon gets some serious air on his dive rolls....I think it's his favorite part of the whole routine.


Brandon's team took 2nd place...missing 1st by only ONE point! All the same, they were happy. Brandon's all around score was high enough to qualify for Regionals in Colorado next month. As pleased as we are about that, we will be missing the meet. Because, well...it's in Colorado, and frankly, we are a little weary of traveling. Also, and probably more importantly, Level 5's are scheduled for the Sunday of that Regional meet weekend and we're less than thrilled with competing on the Sabbath. So it looks like this state meet is his last this season. Rumor has it that in the next few weeks Brandon will start upping his workout time from 8 hours a week, to 12 as he starts learning level 6 skills. A big commitment...but as of now, Brandon is all sorts of gung ho. (Next up: Our vacation portion of the weekend....)