After a year off competing since joining their new gymnastics club, Fran had her first comp this weekend. The club didn’t get regional accreditation until after the level she would have liked to do had gone past, so she revisited a Level she has done before to get back into the swing of things. It’s been a long time since she did a comp and the club are still learning the ropes, so it was good to get an easy ease in.
At Fran’s level there tend to be less gymnasts in her age group and they tend to come from Huntingdon, which have a very solid squad of older, committed gymnasts who still do plenty of hours in a very established setting – so it’s a daunting task to go up against them. They also do more hours than her 11 or so a week I think, judging by the moves they added into their routines. So she wasn’t expecting to medal and just wanted to do her best.
As you can see from the picture, she did great 🙂
Despite mysteriously forgetting a leap sequence and despite being up against girls who flicked on the beam and did a harder tariff dismount, she got silver. One of the most baffling parts of gym judging is that sometimes doing an easier move really well can be better for you. She got Silver and was utterly thrilled. She looks so different on beam since moving to Footworks – it used to be her most hated piece. She hasn’t had a Silver on beam since her first ever comp!
Annoyingly, she simplified her floor routine to suit the comp but somehow missed out a cartwheel. The other girls put some higher tariff tumbles in that Fran can do well but took out – learning curve though and she’s really pleased with how neat and precise she was.
Bars. They’ve only really just got back to bars as they’ve been waiting for new equipment. Fran took her long upstart out at the last minute so didn’t medal but it’s great to see her back at bars. And at least she didn’t jump off the top one this time!
She also scored a Silver on vault and got a Bronze overall. I think the thing I was most proud of though was her ability to be a bit of a team leader; she was with 3 gymnasts who are younger and have very little comp experience. This was a big comp and it’s quite an intimidating environment too. She did a great job of hugging, bolstering and encouraging as they went round and leading by example and they all did great. Proud of you Fran 🙂 Proud of you, Footworks.
She’s neat as a pin :D!! Well done Fran!
I’m always telling our girls that it is far better to get a good mark for a simple move done well than to try to do something you are not quite ready for, do it badly and lose a tonne of marks.
Well done to Fran x