Saturday, February 19, 2011

Ok, Im back!

Hello blog, I'm so sorry I've neglected you for 7 months! High school is so... I don't know. There's a lot of words to describe how much I hate it. But that's beside the point. In my gymnastics life, there's lots of thing to brush up on that I've missed!

Lets see... the last time I blogged was back in July! So much has happened since then, both in the elite world and in mine! I would've blogged about the National Championships and Worlds but I guess I never got around to it. I guess I don't have much to comment on them now except for three things. I miss Bridget Sloan. Where the heck did Aliya Mustafina come from. And someone please smack that bratty look off of her face. Where are our American guns when we need them? (Ok that's four, sorry). I haven't been following elite gymnastics as much as I want to, but I try to whenever I can. :)

As far as my life goes, I'm in the middle of the meet season -- level 7 again, yes, but this time around with much better routines, and much more confidence. Oh yeah -- and a giant flyway! Ive had a decent season so far, my two best meets being the Snowball Classic, where I got a 36.7 AA -- 2nd place to a 36.725 (had I stuck my landings I would've snagged a 37 which I haven't done since level 4 State!) and the Battle in Seattle where I took 1st AA with a 36.15 while competing against some major gyms! :) It's been quite encouraging after the year I had before. The other meets so far have been not-as-spectacular, but not terrible. My flyaways have proven to be quite the troublemaker the past few weeks though, where I have been consistently doing "double back timers" -as coach Kevin calls them, both at practice and at the last two meets. Its been frustrating, as well as disappointing, because I have worked so hard on them and I am typically one of the 7's top bar scorers. For now, I just gotta keep working them cuz I'm tired of getting 8.5s when I should be getting 9s...

My final note now is for those who thought Grace was a 'goner' after the summer we went through and the coaches we lost. GGC took home $8,000 for The Strong Kids Campaign this past weekend at the Bumbershoot Invitational! Out of some 39 teams, we beat out some major guns including Roach, LEGA, Gym East, and Emerald City to win the overall team competition and money benefiting the charity of our choice! It was really encouraging for us all, especially Coach Kevin. He wrote up a heartfelt email to everyone that I though I might share a couple pieces of because it really sums it up.

Hi everyone,
I cannot begin to tell you how extremely proud I am of our gymnasts, my
coaches and you parents for the wonderful support you’ve shown.
Especially when you consider the tumult we’ve endured the past year. All of
you need to know that this was a total team effort – all levels, boys and girls.
Without the strength and great performance of every level competing, this
would not have happened. Consider that our Level 3 girls have only been
working on the routine for around a month and were a last minute entry into
the meet. Consider that the Boy’s Team was nearly scrapped in December
because of no coach. Consider the very large shoes many of our coaches
have had to fill over the past nine months. Finally, consider the many
coaching changes our gymnasts have faced as well. Amazing is one of
several words I can come up with explain it, but nothing quite seems to be
big enough.

Months ago, I wrote an email saying that before you can see a silver lining,
you have to go through the storm clouds. It’s nice to know that through faith,
you will see that lining eventually. Now, I’m not naïve enough to think there
won’t be more dark clouds, but I am smart enough to know who shows me
the way through. In the words of Max Lucado, “focus on giants, we all stumble
-- focus on God and you giants tumble.” I’d say this weekend is a definite step
in the right direction. Now let’s go win $1,000 at the Seattle Open.

Mathew 14:22-32

Kevin Milliren


~ Got Grace?