Lady Luck Invitational

We are well-pleased with Emma's performance again in Las Vegas at the Lady Luck Invitational.

There were over 80 Level 4 gymnasts! They divided them into more or less age groups, combining and dividing age groups to try to keep each group at around 16 gymnasts. There were 17 in Emma's group.

Here are her scores:

Vault: 9.4 -- She took 2nd!

Bars: 9.0 -- 5th place.

Floor: 8.55 -- 7th place. She got a huge deduction for absent-mindedly replacing one skill with another, of less value. She knew immediately what she did wrong, and can point it out on the video, and demonstrate the subtle difference in the two skills (which to me look nearly identical, haha).

Beam:8.175 -- didn't place. She fell off the beam doing one of her skills. She got back on and finished well, though. There were some gymnasts who did not fall and scored down in the 8.1s and even lower. So, she kept her composure after the fall, and held back the little cry to have with her coach after she was done. She knows what she did wrong (looked down during a turn). It's also possible she was distracted because I was in direct line of sight to her. The guy sitting in front of me after she finished turned and said that she made eye contact with me four times during her routine. I didn't see that, as I was filming. (I'll have to figure out how to make videos available on this blog). After the meet, Emma did say she liked her first meet much better, where all the audience was up a floor looking down, rather than at eye level. Less distraction. But, her coach told us that the gymnasts just have to develop the focus to drown out the audience and focus on the performance. She says Emma will get that with more experience.

Overall: 35.13 -- 7th place.

But, Emma really shined in my eyes when one of her team-mates (the best in her school at her level, with Emma being right behind her in skill-level) was having a hard day. She fell on a kick-over, one of the first, most basic skills that she has done hundreds of times. It was just a slip, not a matter of it being a skill she has barely mastered and only does right some percentage of the time. Jenessa was pretty devastated and crying. Emma went to her and put her arm around her and comforted her. Jenessa then messed up on Vault, faulting completely on her second run, but still getting a 9.05 with just her first run, and then messed up a skill and needed a coaches help on bars. She was saying she wants to quit gymnastics. Emma comforted her, and gave her good advice like "sometimes mistakes happen, we don't give up, we keep trying", etc. Jenessa then did great on Beam and tied for First Place. So, she was able to get back her composure after doing poorly on her first three events. Hopefully she sticks to it -- that's where mental toughness comes in. But, anyway, I was so proud of Emma for comforting her teammate -- the one with whom she is the most competitive and wants to beat. There was not one bit of personal satisfaction at knowing she would place ahead of Jenessa -- I doubt it even crossed her mind. She just felt empathy for her teammate. Emma does have strong leadership qualities (she is usually the one telling her teammates where to stand, etc.), and if we can just channel those qualitied she'll be able to influence the lives of others for good.

The kids loved the warm weather, and the outdoor swimming pool. I can understand why some people maintain a winter home in Nevada or Arizona, or anywhere south of the Utah border. :)