There will be kittens

Last year, in an effort to keep Jess in WAG L5, mainly to get her to Nationals and keep her fit, strong and flexible to cope with Intermediate Foundation ballet (going en pointe), we said if she got on the Nationals team for Auckland she could have a kitten at Christmas.
Well, as those who follow this blog know, Jess did one WAG L5 comp, quit and transferred to RG 5-6 weeks later.
Jess asked this year if the kitten offer still stood.  At that stage, she was sitting around 12th out of the 37 girls competing RG L4 in the country and top 28 go, so we said "yes, but as RG selection is easier you'll need to get in the top 10 overall at Nationals".
There's also a thing called a Proficiency Pin - awarded only at Nationals for scoring a certain mark and above overall, and for RG L4, it's 46.000 (over 3 routines).  Up until Nth Is Champs, Jess' highest score was mid 45 so it was going to be a big thing for her to achieve.
We also knew the Canterbury girls were good and that of the 4 Auckland girls, Georgia was the only one really likely to threaten their hold on the top 5 spots.
SO
We went to Mystery Creek, had a full on three days of competing and volunteering and cheering hard for the other Auckland girls competing, and came home with one very happy gymnast and an extremely proud Evil Gym Mom:

3 personal best scores (hoop, free, overall)

Proficiency Pin awarded

4th in free

silver for hoop (!!!!)

5th overall

Jess is now gleefully planning for HER kitten.
Auckland's RG L4s also came home with 1st free for Frances, 2nd free/ 1st ribbon/ 2nd overall for Georgia (I knew she could do it - woohoo Georgia).  Canterbury took 1st, 3rd & 4th.

As I was volunteering at the other end of the stadium I only just made it back for Jess' medal ceremony so no photo (sorry! there might be an update if one of the other moms got one), but there is video:

Jess at Nationals 2010

GO JESSICA!!!!!!!

Tis the season to brag it seems

I arrived to pick Jess up from ballet last night to be greeted by a very excited Jess - they'd had their level 1 contempory ballet exam results back...

High Honours

(90-94%)

She's thrilled to bits as this was the first year of doing contemporary and she missed most of the extra exam classes due to gym comps, plus Miss Emma didn't decide to put them in for the exam til late so preparation was a bit rushed.
Now it's Recital time, and the girls are having A LOT of fun learning their dance - it's to the Crazy Frog's rendition of Popcorn - big grins throughout every class!

Yet another brag session

The NZ gymsports season ends with Nationals, held every year over five days starting the last day of term 3.
Every competitive gymnast (Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline & Aerobic) who is 9+ and Level 4+ aims to qualify and be selected to represent their region at Nationals.
Jess made reserve in 2008 for WAG L4.
2009 was a washout as she changed codes mid year so wasn't able to qualify.
But this year, this year, we knew she had a really good chance of making the Auckland team for Rhythmic L4. 

And she has.

Today was pick up the tracksuit, be in the team photo, and start to get really excited day.



So on Friday we hit the road and head for Mystery Creek Events Centre to be part of Nationals - Jess to compete and me as a volunteer.

May this be the first of many.

Stitching AND Blinging!

Yup, I can stitch and bling - woohoo

Stitcher Tree by M Designs, WDW caribbean on 22ct hardanger, with crystals of various colours instead of beads

Because I scanned it, the different colours of the crystals don't show, but there's topaz, green, light sapphire, volcano and clearAB on there.
It was given to a dear friend, Cherry (who has known me since I was in nappies!!), today at Crafternoon.

Brag Alert!!!!

Evil Gym Mom has LOTS to smile about today.....
After a good start to the season with a couple of podium finishes, Jess lost her mojo a little at the last 3 comps much to her distress and frustration.
So last week she tried praticising a little differently, a bit more at home and it seemed to work as she came home from Wednesday's training much happier with her work, plus her coach tweaked her routines a little.
Net result, from today's inaugural North Island Championships held at Counties Manukau:

3rd in Freehand

2nd in Ribbon

1st in Hoop

1st Overall!

Jess was absolutely thrilled - as you can see by the biggest grin I've seen from her on a podium ever.

Way to go Jellybean!!

Another chance to brag

The same week that Tamsin did her Grade 1 jazz exam, she also did her RAD Grade 2 ballet exam.  Due to the way RAD process exam marks, the results aren't available the following week as they were with jazz, but come back up to 6 weeks later.  So, here we are, roughly six weeks later and Miss Emma handed out the marks and certificates at the end of class today.

Merit,

with 71 out of 100,

and nothing below a 7 (there are 10 sections each worth 10 marks)

Tamsin was a bit peeved as she was hoping for Distinction (75+), but Miss Emma said they weren't handing many of those out this year and I told her that this year's mark was better than last year's mark (68) and way better than the year prior to that - so she's all cheerful again.

Go Tinkerbelle!