Regionals (plus 4 other meets)

I don't know why I put off uploading Calvin's gymnastics videos, but I do. It's not like there is anything new in them, it's the same 5 (should be 6) routines each time. Anyway, there are a lot to catch up. I won't embed them all.

In mid-February, we traveled to Iowa City for the Iowa Boys Invitational. Calvin's all around score was 61.8, the best for the season. His routines are here: floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, and parallel bars.

March started off with a meet at Salto, where he got an all around score of 57.1 (floor, pommel, rings, vault, and p-bars).

The following week was our meet; his all around score was 57.3 (floor, pommel[painful!] , rings, vault [messed up his steps], p-bars).

The week after that was state, which Calvin qualified for, as they changed the qualification score. His all around score this time was 60.9 (floor, pommel, rings, vault [messed up his steps again!], p-bars).

Finally, this past Saturday was regionals. They were held here in Milwaukee, so we didn't have to travel anywhere. The boys started out on floor, where Calvin got a score of 13.85:


Next was pommel horse, which was painful to watch. He got a score of 6.2:


On rings he got a 12.8:


Then it was on to vault, where he got his steps right! His score was 14.45:


Last, parallel bars, with a score of 11.75:


His all around score was 59.05.


He also got to meet Morgan Hamm. Paul (his twin brother) was there as well. Morgan will also be at Porter Camp this summer, so they'll get to hang out again. :)

Competition season is DONE!

Swiss Cup

We had another gymnastics meet Saturday night. The team started on high bar, and Calvin did not compete on that event. He really needs to work through whatever issue he is having on it, because he will not be able to qualify for state without a high bar score.

After high bar they rotated to floor, where he got a score of 13.8:


Next was pommel horse, where he got a score of 7.6, one tenth better than last week, plus I think he didn't fall off as much:


After pommel comes rings, with a score of 11.2:


On vault he got a score of 14.2:


The team ended on the parallel bars, where Calvin got a score of 11.9:


His all-around score was 58.7, improving by two tenths from last week. Next meet is in 3 weeks, so he has plenty of time to focus on getting that high bar routine ready for competition!

By the way, this meet was especially fun to watch, as the session was for levels 7 through 10. Some of the skills the 10s do are just breathtaking, and sometimes it was hard to decide which event to watch.

Windy City Invite

Competition season has started again for Calvin. This year he is in Level 7. My understanding is that this is a particularly difficult level, and he has really been struggling lately. His first meet was Sunday. He actually did much better than I was expecting, since earlier in the week the team had run through their events with a judge and all did pretty terrible.

The boys started on rings, and Calvin scored a 13.2:


Next was vault, where he got a score of 14.2:


On the parallel bars he got an 11.1:


He did not compete on high bar (he needs to be able to do giants better)

Next was floor, where he got a score of 12.5 (he shouldn't be landing on his butt for a front tuck, he almost never does that!). I especially like his first tumbling pass, with that beautiful layout:


The boys ended on pommel horse, which was pretty rough for him. Calvin got a score of 7.5:


His all-around score was 58.5. Not enough to qualify for state yet, but now he knows what he really needs to work on, and has a goal to reach for. Next meet is Saturday night!

by the way, the team got new uniforms this year, they look pretty nice, no?

LaFleur Meet

A few weeks ago, on January 3, Calvin had another meet (yeah, I'm behind in getting the videos up). He did pretty well, improving on his previous scores.

Para la familia del sur: Aqui estan los videos de la gimnasia de Calvin. Está era su segundo competición de este año. ¿Él es muy fuerte, no? Mi papá quisiera ver su nieto. Una trabajo perfecto sera diez y seis puntos. ¡Ganó su equipo primer lugar!

Los videos! ;)

First was floor. He scored a 13.4, and I think this was good for first place in his age group (I forgot to write down his placing on the events):


Next was pommel horse, where he got a score of 12.0:


On rings he got an 11.4:


He got a 14.5 on vault:


His p-bar routine got 12.5:


On high bar he got 12.9:


His all around score was 76.7, which was good for 5th place in his age group (10-11). Best of all, the team won first place! They were pretty thrilled:

Racine Meet

Calvin had a gymnastics meet yesterday, the first of this season. He has moved up to Level 6, so that has meant learning new routines. Each routine builds on the previous level, so while there are similar elements, there are new things to add. What has made this hard for Calvin is that in practice he'll be working on his new routine and then find he's automatically doing the old one. He was nervous about this meet because of this and because he's really been struggling with some of the events. This is a really nice meet to start the season because the judges will talk with the boys and/or coaches after each event about what they did well and why they got certain deductions. It's kind of like a practice meet. :)

This year he started on high bar, one event he was quite nervous about. You can see he uses grips now, and he hates them. They take some getting used to, and even though he's been using them all summer, he still hates them. He was worried about his cast. It's a scary skill to learn, but he did it! He got a 13.2:


Next was floor. On his last pass he forgot to do his scale, but he remembered in time to go back and do it. He got an 11.7:


Then it was on to pommel horse. Not his best event by a long shot. After he watched these videos last night, he told me he forgot to do 2 of the circles on the mushroom, which would partly account for the very low score (the mushroom counts for quite a bit of the score). He got an 8.8.:

(by the way, if you want to see some amazing pommel skills, check out this routine by Alexander Artemev)

He uses grips now on rings as well (they are different than the high bar grips). He hates those too. He scored 11.3:


He got a 13.4 on vault. He needs to run faster:


He seems to really struggle with p-bars in practice also. He did pretty well, and managed to get up into some handstands (something he seems to be hesitant to do). I can't remember what the skill is called where he has to hold himself over the bar and then go into a press, but he did it much better here than I've seen in practice. He got a 12.7:


His all around score was 71.1, which was good for 8th place in his age division (ages 10-11) and a little trophy. :)

Regionals

This past weekend we went up to Minneapolis, MN, for the Region 4 Gymnastics Championships (region 4 consists of 6 states: IA, MN, NE, ND, SD, and WI) . They were held at the University of Minnesota. The NCAA Men's Championships were also that weekend (same venue, in the evenings), so on Saturday night, Calvin and I went to see the individual event finals. WOW. Some amazing stuff!

Calvin competed on Sunday morning. There were 123 level 5 gymnasts of all ages, and about 30 or so in his age division (age 9). The meet style was Capital Cup, which means the gymnasts warm up on an event, then compete on that event, etc, etc. Since there were so many gymnasts, they were divided into two "flights", and while flight A was competing on their events, flight B was in the other gym warming up.

On to the videos! Calvin was in flight A, and started on rings. He scored 13.9, good for 16th place:


Next was vault, where he scored 14.4, and 6th place:


On p-bars, he scored 13.5 and 15th place:


He scored 14.5 on high bar, which was good for 5th place:


Calvin changed into his sport glasses for floor (he broke his regular glasses on Easter, and was wearing his backups). He got a 15.1 and 7th place:


He had some difficulty on pommel. He got a score of 13.1:


With an all-around score of 84.5, he got 11th place. (He's the 3rd gymnast on the right):


Practice is year-round, but it'll be nice to have the break from meets. Now it's on to Caleb's soccer games, which start this Saturday!

State Meet

This past weekend was the Wisconsin State Men's Gymnastics Championships. Calvin competed yesterday afternoon. He had been nervous about this meet for almost 2 weeks (unusual for him).
Mama? What if I do bad? What if I mess up my floor like I did in Iowa?
You'll be fine, Calvin.
But what if I do bad?

He did fine.

He started on floor and got a score of 15.1, good for 7th place (level 5 ages 8-9):


Next was pommel, where he felt confident enough to try his flares on the mushroom, and got a personal best score of 13.8:


Then it was on to rings, where he got a score of 13.9 and 16th place:


Vault was next, with a score of 14.5, and 7th place:


His p-bars routine got a score of 14.3, which was a tie for 9th place. He took 10th place (event ties are broken by the all around score):


Last was high bar, where he got a score of 13.6, another tie for 9th place (he took 10th):


His all around score was another personal best of 85.2. Not only that, he got named to the all-state level 5 team (the top 20 boys ages 7-9, by all around score)! This means he gets a t-shirt and gets to go to a Brewer's game with his coaches. He was pretty excited about that (I know it doesn't look like it, but he always gets kinda serious when he sees me taking his picture).

I'm really proud of Calvin. I think he's done very well this season. He started learning 4 of these 6 events last June or July, and I remember tears and frustration from him last summer complaining that he'll never figure out how to do a circle on the mushroom, or he'll never remember his floor routine, or he just can't do a kip. He's come so far and has been so determined and dedicated to improving. We are all so happy and very proud of him.

ONE more meet!

M&M Meet

Today Calvin had another gymnastics meet (I know! A whole month without a meet! He was supposed to have one 2 weeks ago, but it got cancelled). The meet was at M&M Gymnastics, home of Olympian Chellsie Memmel. Calvin did well (level 5 ages 8-9).

This time around he started on vault, and got a score of 14.2:


Next was p-bars, where he got a score of 13.0. There is a deduction each time his coach touches him to prevent him from going over. However, it's good that Calvin being aggressive in going for the handstands, instead of hesitating because he is afraid to fall over. His coaches want to see him going for it:


Then it was on to high bar, where he nailed his routine! His clear hip circle was fantastic, and he got a score of 15.5, and first place:


After high bar, it was on to floor. Again, he did very well, and got a score of 15.4 and 2nd place:


Ah, his most difficult event, pommel horse. He didn't fall off the mushroom! He got a score of 13.5, which I'm pretty sure is a personal best:


He finished on rings, where he got a score of 14.7 and 8th place:


His all-around score was 86.3 (another personal best, I believe), which was good for 10th place. In two weeks he has the State meet, then on to Regionals in April, and then our meet season is DONE. :)

Iowa Boys Invitational

This past weekend was spent in Iowa, for another gymnastics meet. As there was no school on Friday or Monday, we made it a little family vacation, visiting with relatives, who were able to come and watch Calvin compete (even his great-grandmother -- how special is that!). We drove into Des Moines on Friday night (running into a bad snowstorm just at the end of our drive). Saturday afternoon we drove up to Iowa City for the meet, watching a NCAA mens meet that night. Very cool! Sunday morning was Calvin's session, and afterwards we drove back to Des Moines to visit some more. We came home yesterday. Phew! Ok, on to the videos!

This time, Calvin started on rings. He got a score of 14.6, and 4th place (level 5 age 9):


Next was vault, and he stuck his landing! With a score of 14.9, he got first place:


Then it was on to p-bars, where he got a score of 13.2. I can see he is still sometimes hesitant to go all the way up into the handstand. I think he doesn't want to fall over again:


On high bar, he got a score of 13.9 and 4th place:


Then it was floor, where he had a brain fart and botched up his first pass. He did a dive roll instead of a front handspring and realized it while he was doing it! He finished off his routine and was laughing about his mistake afterwards. He got a score of 13.5:


His last event was his nemesis, the pommel horse (actually, it's the mushroom he has trouble on). He got a 12.0:


His all around score was 82.1, which got him on the podium in 6th place. Overall, we had a wonderful time at this meet. There were teams from 8 different states (NE, IA, IL, KS, SD, WI, MN, and ND) and everyone had a good time. I'll definitely sign him up for this meet again next year.

Infinite Meet

Calvin had another meet today. This time, the format was different. Instead of warming up on all six events and then competing in rotation, the gymnasts warmed up on one event, then competed on it, then rotated to the next event, warmed up on it, competed, etc. He didn't care for this, as he said they didn't get as many turns to warm up. Also, it wasn't just a Level 5 competition, it was Level 5-10 (our particular team only had levels 5 and 6). This meant we got to watch some really cool upper level routines. (Gwen? you asked if I get nervous watching him? Yes, I do! My heart beats faster, and sometimes I'm even a little shaky, though I try to keep the camera steady)

Ok, on to the videos! Today, they started on pommel horse, and Calvin just does not have a good relationship with this apparatus yet. He got a score of 12.1 (level 5 age 9+):


Next was rings, with a score of 13.6, which got him 2nd place:


From rings, they moved over to vault, where he got a score of 14.6, good for first place!


Then it was on to p-bars. I don't know if you can see, but his hand touched the floor on his landing. That's a big deduction, and he still got a score of 14.0:


Next was his high bar routine (and between you and me, this judge scored our team pretty low in my opinion). He got a score of 11.5:


He finished on floor this time around, and just nailed his routine! His score was 15.2 and that meant first place:


With an all around score of 81, he got 2nd place. We have another meet next weekend; this one is out of state. It should be a lot of fun, and we'll also get to watch a NCAA college meet. How cool is that???

Swiss Cup

Calvin had another meet yesterday, and did quite well. His grandmother came all the way from Arizona to watch him compete, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He also had a surprise in store for us that he would not tell us about (and then slipped up and told us anyway. We decided we can scratch CIA operative off his list of possible careers. ^_^).

This time around, they started on high bar. His surprise was that he has finally gotten his kip! He scored 13.9 and got 4th place in the 9 year old age division:


Next was floor, which I think he did very well on. His score was 14.9 and that was good for 2nd place:


Pommel seems to be his weakest event. He got a 12.4 this time around:


On rings he scored a 14.2, good for 4th place:


His vault got a score of 14.6 and 2nd place:


On p-bars he got a 13.8 and 5th place. More importantly, he didn't fall:


His all around score was 83.8, good for 5th place overall in his age division. He was quite pleased with his routines and his six medals!

Next meet: February 7-8

LaFleur's Meet

Calvin had another meet this weekend. It was at our gym, which meant I had to help set up, tear down, and work a concessions shift. We both worked Saturday night (Calvin was a runner -- he would bring the scores over to the computer), which meant we got to also watch Levels 7-10 compete. Pretty cool!

He competed yesterday afternoon. He told me he was a little nervous, since they were the host team. Like last time, they started on floor. He got a 13.7, and 5th place in his age division (8-9):


Next was pommel horse. He got a 13.2, and 10th place:


Then he did rings, earning a score of 13.7 and 12th place:


Next was vault. He was pretty happy with it, as you'll see. He got a score of 14.3, which was part of a 4 or 5 way tie for 6th, but he got 9th place (to break a tie, they go to the all around score):


On p-bars he had some trouble. He got a score of 11.4:


Last was high bar. He is just so close to getting his kip! I watched him do one in practice on Friday. He got a score of 14.1 and 4th place:


His all around score was 80.4, and that got him 10th place. He was pretty happy, and it was so cute to see all the boys shaking hands and congratulating each other during the awards presentation.

Next meet: January 23-25!

Judges Meet

Calvin had his first gymnastics meet of the season today, and did pretty well! He placed 14th in his level (5) and age division (7-9) with his All Around score (79.6), out of 46 boys. Considering that six months ago he had never even been on 3 of the 6 apparatus (rings, pommel, and p-bars), that's great!

Before I get to the videos, I want to let you know that there is a new scoring system. If you watched the Olympics, you saw gymnasts get scores above 10, such as 16.325. In 2006, FIG instituted a new scoring system that combines an execution score (where the 10.0 would be awarded for a perfect routine) with a degree of difficulty score (such as 6.5, this is decided by the skills that are combined in the routine). This year the new scoring system is being used not just in the elite levels but in all levels. So, the boys are now getting scores like 13.8, or 14.1. At Calvin's level, all boys do the same routines, so in order to get the higher scores, one tries for bonus points. For instance, on floor, bonus points are awarded for holding the press to handstand for 3 seconds, or for doing 2 back handsprings at the end of the routine instead of 1. (Trust me, I don't understand it all yet either)

Ok, on to the videos! Unfortunately half of his floor routine is out of focus because it was quite crowded downstairs in the actual gym, so I was trying to get pictures from upstairs. (word of advice: taking video through glass doesn't work) Here is his floor routine, with a score of 14.1:


I then moved down into the gym. Next, his pommel horse routine, with a score of 11.2. Pommel horse does not get the nickname "the beast" for nothing:


Currently, Calvin's favorite apparatus is the rings. Bonus points are given if one can do the muscle-up (a pull-up that transitions into a dip. It's the first skill he does in the routine) without help. He got a 14.2:


On vault he got a 14.0. Bonus points are scored for height:


He got a score of 12.8 on the parallel bars:


His last event was high bar. He is so close to getting his kip (he's managed to do it once or twice), and when he does, he'll get bonus points for doing it on his own. He got a score of 13.3 yesterday:


I had a really fun time watching him compete. Now he has about 3 weeks to refine his routines for the next meet.