Re: First meet of the season

[Guest guest]

I loved reading about your gymnastic competition & glad you're with such a

great group! I like your nickname, Kassaroll but would use your real name

on the jacket at competition; Kassianne is a pretty & unusual name.

Marie (mom to Kimber, 14 10/12 yrs)

>

> Well, first bars-beam-floor-vault meet EVER. I used to

> just do power tumbling, but now I'm at a gym in

> Spokane, WA (yes, I live in Montana. I can drive an

> hour and a half and be treated well, or I can drive an

> hour and a half and be treated like dirt. I pick the

> former) called Flip Factory. They have a program

> called Recreational-Optional, which has 3 levels and

> you can be in more than 1 level at a time, and you

> make up your own routines within certain guidelines.

> The owner is a former special ed teacher, so she is

> totally OK with having an autistic athlete. She

> explained to her husband that I'm just WAY too

> advanced for Special Olympics and if he makes any of

> that sort of comments at me he'll find himself

> verbally eviscerated (he's a jerk sometimes) and that

> was that as far as jerky comments.

>

> So we go to this meet. The gym is in a church, no

> biggie, so are we sort of. Except our first event,

> floor, is in the BASEMENT with an 8 foot ceiling and

> Im 5'4 " and can JUMP. They introduce all the gyms, and

> explain that the judges are going to hold a mini

> clinic and are writing evaluations for us to take back

> to the gym, so it's like a practice meet even though

> it counts for State. Then they send half of Flip

> Factory and another gym down to floor.

>

> The nice thing about a church basement is it doesnt

> get too loud. And the nice thing about rec-op is every

> gym supports everyone. They had ALL the competitors

> waiting their turns on this big squishy pillow

> together, and everyone cheered for each other & stuff.

> The other teams went first, then us. My team really

> rocked (except I kicked the ceiling on this leap I do

> where I kick my head. Overshot it a bit...and I

> REFUSED to do my no handed flips, because the judges

> said we didnt have to if we were tall). One girl does

> the Worm into a backhandspring! And a girl from

> another team can really dance, her name is . My

> evaluation said that I needed to make my skills

> cleaner and I'd be state champion, and that I had the

> most advanced routine out of the group. wow. I got an

> 8.3, which isn't bad, I saw the video. I fell sort of

> and pretended it was on purpose LOL. My music is belly

> dance music, because I feel that my dance skills need

> more work before I am ready to use 's work. But I

> want to one year before I retire! When I'm REALLY

> good!

>

> My 2nd event was balance beam. My routine is really

> easy, but I've been afraid of my handstands and

> cartwheels up there for some reason. I keep kicking

> myself in the leg and falling off. I took a really

> nasty fall on a cartwheel when I slipped on someone's

> hair glitter and needed a shot for my adrenal failure

> but after I was done shaking I competed anyway. My

> coach told me to just leave out the handstand or

> cartwheel and we'd think of something at practice. So

> I did and ended up falling on my HALF TURN! and

> getting back up on my half turn heehee. This makes me

> giggle. All I had after the turns was jumps, and I

> made my audience nervous because I jump really

> high-the beam isn't going anywhere-and bring my legs

> way up if I'm supposed to. And I stuck my landing. I

> got a 7.6 with 1.5 in required deductions, so I could

> have had a 9.1 or higher. Oh well. I always thought

> beam was one of my WORSE events!

>

> Third I had vault. Only they didnt HAVE a vault so we

> had to jump onto a mat and do a handstand to flat

> back. EASY stuff. Except..um...the only springboard

> they had, it's meant for 80 pound kids. Hee. I weigh

> 128. I can do it without a springboard, even with a

> whole 3 step run (thats what I had!) but it was

> difficult...no help from the board...Id have liked a

> bigger board set back about a foot more. So my comment

> sheet says I have incredibly strong legs. I have an

> 8.75 and it started out of a 9.5. We think vault and

> floor are going to be my 2 best.

>

> LAST I had bars, which are really hard for me because

> I have long legs and skinny arms. The bars didn't even

> go to an appropriate height for me (and I am NOT all

> that tall even for a gymnast, the low bar is SUPPOSED

> to go to 5'6 " or so). So it was funny. I JUST started

> making most of my routine by myself, and there was one

> skill where I got stuck 3/4 of the way over and

> EVERYONE in the whole gym was yelling (lead by my

> teammates) " Muscle it, Kassaroll! " . One of the little

> kids on team couldnt remember my name and decided a

> straddle roll is a Kassaroll because I do one in my

> routine, and I'm Kassaroll, and it stuck...and soon

> the PARENTS were yelling with their kids. So I muscled

> it to be a good example even though all these little

> kids can DO harder bar routines, and scraped my butt

> on the ground on my dismount, and saluted. I have no

> idea what score I got and I dont CARE because I got

> through a BAR ROUTINE!

>

> What was really cool was

> 1. Everyone supported EVERYONE ELSE...at a lot of

> meets it's like, " you arent from my gym, FALL!'

> 2. Everyone supported everyone else's KID

> 3. No one asked if I was too old, or thought it loudly

> even

> 4. They did awards for character traits, not for high

> scores. They talked about how that was the important

> part...one girl from each team got one for bringing a

> team together...they did one for composure under

> pressure (and I totally agree with the choice from my

> gym), they got the powerful pixies, one for the smiley

> girls...lots and lots...I got one for determination.

> They paired all the awards with a famous gymnast, and

> the gymnast I was paired with is even taller than me,

> aloof (like an autistic may be described), and kept

> going for THREE Olympics. And she was flexible and

> creative too. I really liked that they emphasized

> positive attributes of everyone, not just who had the

> best beam routine.

>

> So Rec-Op was really very autism friendly, overall. Or

> at least very Kassiane (Kassaroll? I wonder which is

> going on my jacket...my coach thinks the nickname is

> hilarious, and that I'm a good sport about it. But I

> prefer it t having my name mutilated) friendly.

>

> And at the next meet...there will be a REAL vault and

> REAL ceilings.

>

> I may or may not put vids on my computer, it depends

> if we figure out HOW! We video'd it. The floor routine

> is the best one except my tumbling looks like junk to

> my (very critical) eye...if I do I'll let y'all know,

> if you want...

>

> Kassaroll (Kassiane)

>

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