Part 1: A Proud Aggie

Some people called me crazy.  Some encouraged me to really reconsider, but I knew what I wanted.  But between now and my last blog post, there have been some more recent events.

First of all, I am so proud of my teammates for their meet on Friday.  I seem to have grazed  over that detail (props to Anna Shumaker for knowing the word I was trying to say).  Anyways, this year we are small, but we are very talented.  However the problem with gymnastics is that it is physically demanding on the body.  Then this year in particular, happens to be one of those years where everyone is feeling those physical demands.  Everyone has bumps, bruises, and pains—some explainable and others not.  But with our numbers being as small as they are, the people who can physically push through, the pressure is on them.

I don’t mean to make it sound like those who can’t do a routine, are not important, because without a doubt, they are.  I’m one of them, and I feel like I’m still important.  But anyways I’m getting ahead of myself.  Back to the teammates.  I am so proud of how hard they are working and fighting right now.  I trust each and every one of them, and I believe that no matter where we finish at the end of the season, I couldn’t have asked any more from them.

Now back to the more recent events.  We have a meet at Stanford on Sunday, against two additional Nor-Cal schools, Sacramento State and San Jose State.  It’s going to be a good meet, and I’m excited to see what we aggies can do.  However truthfully, I was more excited about the potential to compete.  I was working on my landings, my jumps, my routine endurance: I was ready.  All I need was a dismount that actually landed, instead of rolled out.

So the plan was set into motion by my trainer and coach.  Plain old double backs that land on a mat on Tuesday, blind front giants in front of the double back on Wednesday, and then full routines on Thursday.  If I still felt good, I may have been ready for Stanford… or at least  for the next week, the first HOME meet of the season.

After successfully landing the dismount on Tuesday, Wednesday was a little tougher.  I warmed up with one dismount that over-rotated, but on the second try, as soon as I went for the landing, I fell forward, hearing another pop in my knee.