Gymnast-Lyss
I first enrolled Alyssa in gymnastics when she was in kindergarten. She LOVED it. Abby went to the same gymnastics place, Hand 2 Hand, and little sister loved doing a big girl activity. Alyssa, naturally blessed with nimbleness and flexibility, took to the gym like an anthropologist to a recently discovered ancient ruin. She was so happy to be there. At her very first class, she was the only student there. She and one other girl were enrolled and the other girl didn't show up the first day. Alyssa had a smile on her face the entire class (if I didn't remember that fact on my own, I brought my camera and took many pictures all of which show Alyssa with a smile on her face during the class). She loved her instructor, getting one on one attention and running down the tumble track.
When kids enroll at the gym, they start at an entry level class and move up to the next class when they've mastered the skill set of the class they're in. No two kids will be in the same class for the exact same amount of time. Alyssa advanced quickly through the classes and when she was only about seven years old, she found herself in the back tuck class. This turned out to be an unfortunate event because Alyssa did not want to learn how to do a back tuck. She wasn't crazy about her instructor in this class, either, which didn't help matters. When Alyssa told me in no uncertain terms that she had no intention of doing a back tuck, I told her she'd have to quit gymnastics because that's the class she was enrolled in. The classes progressed; one didn't get to pick and choose which class to take. She couldn't move up to a different class without learning the back tuck. If she had no intention of learning that skill, there was no point in her being in the class or gymnastics. So she quit gymnastics.
In the years proceeding years her gymnastics exodus, Alyssa practiced the tumbling skills that she had acquired during gymnastics. She would do round offs, back handsprings, hand stands, etc. This summer she voiced a concern that she couldn't do a round off back hand spring anymore. I asked her if she would like to start taking gymnastics classes this summer, just to get confident in her tumbling skills. She said she'd like to take gymnastics again.
And so, we've (Donnie and I) been able to see Alyssa at the gym again with nearly as much enthusiasm on her face as she had when she started at age five. Alyssa says she wants to continue taking gymnastics even after summer ends. She'll have soccer three evenings a week soon and when that begins, I'm not sure she'll want to spend part of one her free week nights at the gym.
There is the matter of the back tuck. She's almost ready to move up to the back tuck class again (when I enrolled her this summer, I placed her in a class two levels down from the back tuck class since it had been so long since she'd been enrolled in a class). She doesn't seem as intimidated by trying a back tuck. In fact, a certain pixie faced, button nosed ten year old did a back tuck on her own last week, albeit into a foam pit, not on the floor. Still it's a good start and she is still insisting on taking gymnastics classes beyond summer. I have a feeling that back tucks on the floor are in our future. And I can't wait to see them :).
The day of Alyssa's first gymnastics class- September of 2011. She was smiling at home before we even arrived at the gym...
At the gym at her first class- don't know why her eyes are red in most of these. Focus on her expression- not the red eyes!!
At the end of the class, her instructor let her swing on the swing thing in the main part of the gym
I wish these next two pictures had turned out better from a picture quality perceptive...
Here is a link to a YouTube video of Alyssa doing a round off back hand spring in October of 2012, about a year after she started taking gymnastics. The file size was too large to link directly to the blog so I had to upload it to YouTube:
Alyssa at gymnastics- 2012
I took this really short video of Alyssa at gymnastics last week:
When kids enroll at the gym, they start at an entry level class and move up to the next class when they've mastered the skill set of the class they're in. No two kids will be in the same class for the exact same amount of time. Alyssa advanced quickly through the classes and when she was only about seven years old, she found herself in the back tuck class. This turned out to be an unfortunate event because Alyssa did not want to learn how to do a back tuck. She wasn't crazy about her instructor in this class, either, which didn't help matters. When Alyssa told me in no uncertain terms that she had no intention of doing a back tuck, I told her she'd have to quit gymnastics because that's the class she was enrolled in. The classes progressed; one didn't get to pick and choose which class to take. She couldn't move up to a different class without learning the back tuck. If she had no intention of learning that skill, there was no point in her being in the class or gymnastics. So she quit gymnastics.
In the years proceeding years her gymnastics exodus, Alyssa practiced the tumbling skills that she had acquired during gymnastics. She would do round offs, back handsprings, hand stands, etc. This summer she voiced a concern that she couldn't do a round off back hand spring anymore. I asked her if she would like to start taking gymnastics classes this summer, just to get confident in her tumbling skills. She said she'd like to take gymnastics again.
And so, we've (Donnie and I) been able to see Alyssa at the gym again with nearly as much enthusiasm on her face as she had when she started at age five. Alyssa says she wants to continue taking gymnastics even after summer ends. She'll have soccer three evenings a week soon and when that begins, I'm not sure she'll want to spend part of one her free week nights at the gym.
There is the matter of the back tuck. She's almost ready to move up to the back tuck class again (when I enrolled her this summer, I placed her in a class two levels down from the back tuck class since it had been so long since she'd been enrolled in a class). She doesn't seem as intimidated by trying a back tuck. In fact, a certain pixie faced, button nosed ten year old did a back tuck on her own last week, albeit into a foam pit, not on the floor. Still it's a good start and she is still insisting on taking gymnastics classes beyond summer. I have a feeling that back tucks on the floor are in our future. And I can't wait to see them :).
At the end of the class, her instructor let her swing on the swing thing in the main part of the gym
I wish these next two pictures had turned out better from a picture quality perceptive...
Alyssa at gymnastics- 2012
I took this really short video of Alyssa at gymnastics last week:
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