Sports and Such

I enrolled my daughter in a local gymnastics club, in a class called Tumble Bunnies. Let me tell you, she thinks she is HOT STUFF in her leotard. In the past, she’s done some minor activities, but never at a real gym. Now, she informs me that she’s going to “real gymnastics.” There is nothing funnier than watching a bunch of three-year-olds purse their lips, lift their hands high above their heads, and do a forward roll down a mat. The Olympic stars have nothing on these kids. When she’s finished with her class, each child gets a lollipop and a hand stamp. No one is prouder than my girl when she skips down and flashes that stamp at me like a diamond ring.

Gymnastics was the only sport in which I ever had formal lessons. And at my best, I was mildly average. I never competed at the club circuit–only in my high school. But I think a small part of me always wanted to be an elite athlete. And the sport was so much fun. Endless variety, and if you were having a bad day on one event, there was always another skill that would probably go well. Some of my favorite high school memories involved going to meets with my team. I competed on vault, balance beam, and floor. Bars were never my strong suit, not because of arm strength, but because of lack of stomach strength. Who knew that it took great abs to do well on bars?

Anyway, the best moment I ever had was at Districts. I stuck my balance beam routine and scored a whopping 7.95, taking sixth place in the district. Hey, that was a high score for me! My worst score was when my coach convinced me to do an uneven bar routine once, in order to get an all-around score. Yes, I scored a 3.5. Can you tell why I never competed bars? It was pretty sad.

Now they’ve changed the scoring entirely. It’s all Greek to me, since now the high score isn’t a ten. I have no idea what’s a perfect score anymore.

Did you ever do gymnastics as a kid? If not, what sports did you play?