Leo

Seriously love the new leo's this year.

New Beam routine

Here is Maddie's new beam routine for Xcel Gold. Love it. She learned it 2 days prior to me taping this so it's a little rough.

Classic City Challenge

Boy are we glad this meet is over.  Maddie did a beautiful job, but the scores were so low.  I knew floor would be low because I saw the mistakes she made (8.75).  I knew bars were going to be low, but so thankful she hit her kips (7.85).  Vault and Beam I knew would be her strongest events.  She always does well.  She got a 7.95 on vault and a 8.575 on beam.  I'm still realing over those especially watching other girls who competed prior and after who got higher and had more bobbles.  One of them didn't even complete a skill.  Oh well - it's done.  No more level 5 until next August when she will complete the new level 5 which is the old level 6.... confusing isn't it :).  Now we are on to what she loves.  The Xcel season starts in January.  So excited for that.  She's also been working on new skills at gym.  She has her back walkover on beam, ro/bhs/bt on floor and front punch.  Just needs to keep working on the kip and get a clear hip circle on bars.

Beach Blast

This past weekend was Maddie's first real level 5 meet.  She did awesome!  We were sweating the kip on low and high bar.  She did them twice during warmups and I was nervous that she wouldn't make it during competition.  She did!  She scored an 8.2 on bars.  I was impressed.  Let me tell ya, her beam routine was a thing of beauty.  I think beam has become her new favorite event.  She ended up with 8.625 - vault (4th), 8.2 - bars (3rd), 9.2 - beam (1st) and 8.9 - floor (2nd).  She ended up with 2nd place all around for her very first level 5 meet.  We are just so proud of her.  The next meet is the first weekend in October.  That will be her last level 5 and then on to Xcel Gold.  Of course, next year she will compete the new level 5 which will be the old level 6 but will be called level 5 - so confusing :).

1st meet is coming

First meet of the season is 9/8 in Gulf Shores, AL.  So excited.  She's only doing 2 level 5 meets, this one and one in Athens and then she will concentrate on Xcel Gold.  Can't wait to have these meets out of the way.  She has to score a 31.0 in at least one of them.  I'm sure she will.  Bars are still a little iffy because of the kip.  She hits it and then doesn't, then hits it, then doesn't... I know it will get more consistent as the season goes.

New floor routine

This is her new Xcel gold floor routine.  Love it, love it, love it.  It's the Austin Powers theme song.

Meet

Tomorrow the gym is having a meet for the level 5's.  It's so they can have a "score out" meet.  It will be interesting to see what the scores will be.  Kip is still hit or miss, but everything else is beautiful.  The leo she is wearing is their leo for the breast cancer meet in Savannah this year.  It was an awesome deal... $79 and we paid $15!  It is beautiful.

Kip

She hit it consistently today and I actually got to see it.  She was so excited and I was so happy for her.  It's not pretty, but at least she can mark it off of her list.

Dance recital

Today was Maddie's dance recital.  She looked beautiful.  She needs to smile more, but we loved it.

She got it

After trying over and over for about 10 minutes last night, Maddie finally got her kip by herself and I didn't get any video.... dang it.  I had turned my head to talk to a parent and she was running over to me to tell me she got it.  I made her go back and show me.  She's tricked me before ;).  Sure enough, up she went.  She did it one more time and then it was time for practice.  I'm so proud of her for not giving up and she was so proud of herself for finally getting it.  She even got it with her grips on.  Hopefully tomorrow night at practice I'll be able to get one on video.

Yes!

It was the only one she did and you can tell Haedyn didn't touch her....  so excited for her though.

Ugh

Even closer....

Level 5

Maddie went to open gym this morning. She got to work on bars by herself for an hour. She's oh so close on her kip. Hoping by mid summer she will have it.


Here's her round off back handspring back tuck. Not sure why she has to run a country mile.

Xcel Silver State Meet

Well this past Saturday was Maddie's last (hopefully) silver state meet. She did really well. She fell off the dang beam again, but then it turned out that she had an ear infection. In the video you can watch her beating her ear while she's waiting to salute the judges for vault. Poor thing. Movin on the to level 5 now. Time to get serious about her kip :).

Courtney Kupets Invitational

Last weekend was the Courtney Kupets Invitational in Savannah. Maddie did well. She fell off of the beam again doing her cartwheel and then forgot to do her leaps, but she still did good. She ended up 4th all around. On 3/24 she has her Xcel Silver State meet and then officially on to level 5. She's already picked out new floor music for her Xcel Gold routines. She wants the Austin Powers theme song. I think it would be cute. I hope her coach agrees. I will update next week on how she does at states. Wish her well.

Hilton Head beam routine

Here is Maddie's Hilton Head beam routine. She nailed the cartwheel, but put her hands down on her dismount. She was beautiful.

Spivey's Stars

Here is Maddie's video from Spivey's. Watching her beam routine, she had the cartwheel landed but jumped off for whatever reason. Oh well she was beautiful anyway.

Spivey's Invitational

Today Maddie competed at the Spivey's Invitational meet. She did awesome. Her whole team did. The team ended up with 1st place overall. Maddie ended up with 9.225 on vault (1st), 9.35 on bars (1st), 8.85 (4th) on beam, 9.25 (3rd) on floor and 36.675 (2nd) all around. She fell doing her cartwheel on beam, but other than that everything else was great. My flip died once again. Hopefully I will have the video tomorrow night from another mom. When I get it, I will post it. 1 more regular meet in March and then states and then on to level 5.

Hilton Head meet

Maddie and her team (they finished 3rd out of 8) had an awesome meet! She totally rocked it. She got 1st on bars with a 9.425, 2nd on floor with a 9.225, 2nd on vault with an 8.8 and 2nd on beam with a 9.05. She got 2nd All Around. She and the girl who got 1st all around were neck and neck. She got 1st on everything Maddie got 2nd on and she got 2nd on the bars. Her mom is also an Olympic and Collegiate gymnast and she spends all of her time in the gym. She's also been competing Prep Silver since 2010 when Maddie was competing compulsories. I'm just glad she did well. She did so much better than last year. Sadly I don't have her beam routine. My flip died and a friend recorded Maddie, but I don't have a copy of it yet. Here is her floor and her bars. I'm not posting her vault just because once you've seen one vault... you've seen them all :). Next meet is on 1/29.

Hilton Head or Bust

Getting ready to walk out the door to our next meet. We will be going to Hilton Head. Pictures and videos to follow. Here is a link to last year's Hilton Head meet.