Caleb has had quite a year of gymnastics, starting his training in New Jersey, taking a month off when we moved overseas, and then getting acclimated to the way they do things in England as well as having a new gym, coach, and team. He’s been a trooper and has stuck with it, even through the emotional times. He’s putting in almost 20 hours a week at the gym and he still loves it.
You would think gymnastics is gymnastics, but we were surprised to find it’s not so. When we moved to London, Caleb found out there are different names for all the ‘tricks’ he’s learned: back handspring=’flick’, back tuck = ‘tuck back’, front tuck = ‘front tummy’, lay-out = straight-back, straight-front. Also, one of the events isn’t high bar, but ‘loops’ where they wear gloves and ‘loops’ on the high bar. They also have an extra event called ‘PPP’ – Physical Preparation Programme.
The rest of us got to see and experience all this first hand as we watched Caleb in his first British Gymnastics Competition this weekend. Here are some photo highlights from the competition:
Caleb’s purple ‘garden gloves’ he used for ‘loops’ – we’re going to have to find him some new ones . . poor kid.
Doing his giants with ‘loops’:
Part of his floor routine:
Showing his strength on the rings:
I like this picture of Caleb warming up for Parallel Bars with his coach and the assistant looking on:
Handstand on the P-bars:
During the competition, as I was talking to other parents, I found out Caleb was competing with boys a year older than he is. Afterward I asked his coach about it and he told me he wants Caleb to be with boys at his level, not at his age. Honestly, I was a little frustrated but when I asked Caleb about it later on, he said he’d rather push himself than win each time. Obviously, he is more mature than his mother – so thankful for him!
Hannah also participated in the meet . . . as a ‘runner’ for the judges. She also helped hand out awards and got quite embarrassed when they had these four little ‘runners’ come out and take a bow for their hard work.
As for the competition results, they only recognized the top three overall boys, not even for each event. Caleb wasn’t one of them and he told me he has lots to improve on. We watched the video when we got home and he laughed at all his mistakes and pointed out what he needs to work on. Then he told me he had only been doing that level’s routines for a couple weeks and he was getting it confused with the other routine he had been learning. If only I could be as adaptable as this kid, my life would run much more smoothly!
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