Oregon

This weekend I was supposed to be in Oregon for a meet but I couldn't compete because of my toe injury. For the last week I've been thinking of a new skill to do instead of my front tuck because my coach won't let me do it anymore because if I land on my toe again it can really hurt it since there isn't anything protecting it. So I've decided on doing a front toss. It's very similar to the front tuck but instead of punching with 2 feet I only take off with 1 foot so it's less impact when I land.

                                                                        Front tuck 

Front toss

Getting Injured

Getting injured sucks. Nobody ever wants to get injured.  Two weeks ago I was at gym working out on beam. When gymnasts are on beam we have to land with one foot in front of the other otherwise we will split the beam. So I did a front tuck on beam and my right heel landed on my big toe on my left foot.  As soon as it happened I was already holding my toe before I even hit the ground.  My coach thought that I just bruised it like I did a couple months ago, but then all the blood started pouring out from between my fingers. I landed so hard on my toe that it popped off the left side of my toenail and the only part that was still attached was the bottom right corner.

I went to the doctors on Friday to see what I should do about it. They told me that it had to come off. They gave me three numbing shots in my toe and then pulled the rest of my toe off with pliers. I didn't think it was that bad, but them three hours later the shots wore off and the pain was excruciating. I couldn't even put a little pressure on it. I told my friend, "great, now how am I supposed to paint my toenails???" and she said,"well, you could always paint the skin."  At least the doctor said it will grow back, but it will take a year.

It still hurts to walk on it but I am able to still do conditioning at gym.  My coach told me that I have to take out my front tuck because she does't want to risk me landing on it again and really hurting it badly since I don't have a toenail on it anymore.  So now I am probably going to learn a front toss because it's still like a front tuck and I like doing front tucks, but it will be an easier landing for my toe.

 

Front Toss on beam

Hawaii

I went to Hawaii the week after Christmas break to compete at my first meet of the season. It was my first meet ever competing as a level 10 and I did pretty well. I got fourth place all around even with a fall on beam. I was pretty happy for it being my first meet of the season. Then after the meet I got to have fun and I played at the beach and went shopping.

Blog Reflection

What I've Done
I have posted blogs about my thoughts and my personal experiences.  I have posted video's and pictures to show people what I am talking about so they won't be confused.  I have also taught some people about gymnastics that they might have not known before.

My Best Post and Why it's Good
I think my best post I have posted is Trudi Kollar because it brought back old memories of my favorite coach and it was fun to write about her.  It was fun to go back into my childhood memoeries and relish in them. 

What I'd Like to Improve on
I would like to improve on my writing.  I want it to catch people's eye's so they read my blogs.  I don't want to make people fall asleep at their computers.  I would also like to improve on writing more blogs than necessary.

What I've Learned About Myself as a Learner
I procrastinate sometimes and only make my blogs when I have to.  I make little time for my blogs and always decide to put it off till later.

Where I'd Like to Go
I would like to have more time for my blogs so they can become better.  I would like my blog to become more about me now that my competition season is starting up soon.  I would also like to share my personal experiences about what is going to happen this season.

PR Wraps

I have something wrong with my left wrist which makes it hurt really bad doing mostly anything.  My coach is stumped because she has no idea what is causing my pain because it isn't hurting in a wrists usual spot. It hurts on my bone on the outside of my wrist, instead of the inner side of my wrist.  I never did anything to it for it to start hurting.  So I ordered a pair of PR Wraps and they are amazing! They are even better than Tiger Paws. For those who don't know what I am talking about, a Tiger Paw is something you put on your wrist for support if you have pains in your wrists.  And a PR Wrap is just a better version of a Tiger Paw.  Gymnasts use them for vault, beam, and floor.   I didn't think that a PR Wrap would even work because it is literally a piece of cloth that is about 2 feet long and you just wrap it around your wrist.  I can't explain how it works, but it does. A lot! PR Wraps are actually meant for athletes that do cross fit.  But gymnasts are starting to use them.  They aren't bulky like Tiger Paws and you still have full range of your wrist.  Sadly I used them on vault on Friday and they don't work as good as Tiger Paws.  But they do help me on beam and floor.

My Favorite and Least Favorite Events

I have this one teammate who just LOVES beam and if she could she would just do beam and not work on any other events.  I always respond to her by saying, "You are crazy.  I hate beam.  I have never liked beam and I never will."  My favorite event always switches between vault, bars, and floor.  It just depends on what I am doing better on.  Right now my favorite event is floor.  I like floor right now because I am doing great on all my new tumbling passes.  My first pass is a double back.  My second pass is a 11/2 layout punch layout, and my third pass is a front rudi.

                                                            Double back on floor

                                             1 1/2 layout punch layout on floor

                                                    Front hanspring rudi on floor


Vault is probably my second favorite event because I can do it, I just don't really like doing it.  Vault scares me.  Especially now that I have to do a urchenko layout full.

                                                     
                                                           video of urchenko layout full on vault

Bars is my third favorite event because I still have to put my routine together.  I need to catch my jaegar and start putting it in my routine.

                                                                 
                                                                       Jaeger on bars

 

Las Vegas

Last weekend I went to Las Vegas for a gymnastics showcase.  I went with three others from my gym.  For those who do not know what a gymnastics showcase is, it's sort of like a meet.  But not exactly.  You get a leo thats a color that represents the year you will graduate so that the scouts from colleges know what year you graduate.  All four of us that went had different leos because Hannabeth's a freshman, Natalie's a sophmore, I'm a junior, and the Hannah's is a senior.  HB had a pink leo, Nat had a lime green, I had blue, and Hannah had purple.  We all had to wear numbers on the back of ouor leos so that the colleges knew who they were watching.

Instead of competing and saluting judges, we just show off all the skills that we can do.  The college scouts are not allowed to talk to us yet because then it would be breaking NCAA rules, so they just were walking around watching who they wanted to watch.  But sunday was a little different. Instead of it being a showcase it was a clinic.  That is when the scouts are allowed to teach us and help us learn new skills. But they still are not allowed to talk to us about coming to their college because that would be breaking NCAA rules.

The showcase was really fun.  I saw a lot a good gymnasts that have been levels 10's for a couple of years now.  So I'm kind of nervous about competing because I have to compete against girls that have been level 10's for like 3 years and I'm a first year level 10.  It was a good experience seeing them though because I got to see girls that I will be competing against soon.