Mimi Met Her Match — A Big Defeat

Gymnasts warm up started on 8am.  Dean asked us to be there by 7:30am.  As usual, Mimi wanted to be there earlier than that. 

 

We woke up at 6:30am.  We arrived the OnCenter shortly after 7am.  This is not the first time we come here.  We were here with grandpa and grandma for Cirque du Soleil’s performance.

 

It took us a while to find our venue.  This is a large facility.  I think it is probably as big as the mini dome in Taipei.

 

 

 

Shortly after, Kiersten’s family arrived.  Not surprisingly, we were the first two families there.

 

 

 

 

Their victory pose.

 

 

Do they look like lamb before butcher?

 

 

Only gymnasts and their coaches were allowed to enter at 8am.  Parents needed to wait for another 10 minutes before entering.

 

 

I didn’t know (and probably should have known) that this is a pretty good size meet in the region.  Many gymnasts around the state attended.  One of the facility called “Rochester Gymnastic Academy, RGA” is well known for its top performing gymnasts.  They harvest most of the trophies and awards in most of the meets in NYS.  Their top gymnasts are looking for Olympic 2016 and will attend the qualifying event at VISA Champion in a few years.  One of their level 10 gymnast attended the national competition and was placed number 5 on the beam.  (See how much mommy can get from gossiping with other parents in a competition!!)

 

Mimi didn’t perform particularly well at this meet.  Her kick wasn’t high enough on the bar routine.  She fell from her beam routine and she didn’t held her hand stand long enough.  These were two 0.5 deductions. 

 

Even that is the case, she still did a beautiful job with her floor routine.  She got the score of 9.8 and placed number one.

 

I am happy that Mimi can learn a lesson and doesn’t take victory for granted.  This is the first time she didn’t get placement at all for her beam and bar routine.  I guess she was a bit surprised as well.  It’s nice to know that we always have rooms for improvement and shoot for that level of excellence.

 

For me, unless Mimi shows me the drive to go all the way up, I will not be willing to sacrifice her childhood for 24 hours of practice a week.  Most of the girls at RGA do not do any other extracurriculum activities (sports, music, art, language, etc).  Some of them have to go to a private school for a condensed curriculum.  I don’t see that happening to Mimi nor do I want that to happen to Mimi.

 

Mimi, keep your good work!! 

 

 

 

Mimi came home with a big trophy for her 1st place on floor.  Good job!!