Meet Jitters

Today was my first competition of the season. Isn’t it a little late for season to start? Well, I have not been competing this year, and was not planning on competing at all, but at the last minute I decided to compete at this local meet. The meet today was in Lindon, Utah, about an hour away. It was a smaller meet, but it was nice to start off my season. But being the first meet, I had a lot of meet jitters. The night before I literally went to sleep at 8:45, knowing I would be awake super early. And I was right, I woke up at 5:30. On a Saturday. Because of this, I had seven hours until my meet. Seven hours for me to fret. Seven hours to freak myself out. The time dragged on. And on. And on. And on.

Post-Meet Dinner

So, after everyone competed, we went out to dinner. My team goes to this same meet every year, so we have continued a tradition. This was the fifth year in a row that after the meet my team and I went to Buca Di Beppo for dinner. Buca Di Beppo is a family size, Italian restaurant. It is flat out my favorite restaurant. Ever. I have so many memories there and the food is delicious. Other than the food itself, I love the ambiance of the restaurant. It is old fashioned with red carpet floors, red and white checkered table cloths, old black and white pictures all over the walls, and unique statues. There is something new to see everywhere you look. 

Image Courtesy of Hispanic Lifestyle

To split between eight girls, we ordered three pasta dishes and a salad. Now maybe you can imagine just how big the portions are. Eight teenage girls who just did gymnastics for about four hours...we were pretty hungry. We didn't even finish any of the pastas! Everything was delicious! This trip to Buca Di Beppo is so special to me, it was all I thought about the whole month before the meet, making sure everyone knew the plan. So concluding the day with the tradition of Buca Di Beppo with my team was something to distract myself throughout the day.

Full of Blocks of Foam

The dirty, pungent, itchy thing full of blocks of foam. You never know what is down there: socks, bandaids, food, and of course the dust, dirt, and dead skin. When you land, the contents fly into your nose, eyes and mouth. Yep, sounds delightful. It is like looking at a ball pit you played in as a child thinking, “Why in the world did I ever enjoy this? Nasty.”

But…..

The fluffy, injury free, life saving thing full of blocks of foam. Like landing in a cloud of comfort. You can land on your head over and over, and get right back up and try again like it never happened. 

For example...yes, this is me.

So, how can I be describing the same thing? What is this revolting yet glorious “thing”? Three words: the foam pit. 

Image courtesy of Firestorm

 The pit is the life-saver for all gymnasts. You can chuck almost any skill imaginable, and come out perfectly healthy. Well, other than the contents you inhaled when you landed. Truly, the worst outcome is getting stuck head first and needing your teammates to dig you out. 

But…after a certain amount of time, the foam blocks get packed down, calling for a fluffing. This means the whole team jumps in the pit and starts throwing all of the blocks out until you reach the bottom. The job of fluffing the pit fits my initial description: nasty. The pit is about eight feet deep and contains one thousand blocks, all of which must be taken out. As you get closer to the bottom, the grosser it gets, as the small items weave their way through to settle down there.

No matter how many points I make on how horrible the job of fluffing the pit is, I have to admit, I do enjoy it. It is a time where my teammates and I can talk about things other than gymnastics. We come up with games to play or blast the music and sing at the top of our lungs. Some of the younger girls try to build tunnels in the foam, and us older girls help them since we are pros from doing the same thing forever ago.

One activity we do to entertain ourselves while emptying the pit is to throw all of the blue blocks on one side of the pit, and black blocks to the opposite side. Then once the pit is empty, we push all of the blocks in, and the two colors of the pit are divided in half. 

Foam Art in 2010 (sorry its kind of blurry!)

During the process of putting the blocks back in, someone always ends up getting pushed in with the blocks, and sinks all the way to the bottom. It is always interesting to figure out a way of getting them out without getting stuck yourself. And when all of the blocks are put back in and we have finished admiring our masterpiece, everyone wants to jump in. We jump off the bar, or throw the little girls in just to have them get stuck again.

Another time we really enjoy the pit is during sleepovers at the gym. When you are younger, it is the first place everyone wants to sleep. Looking back to those past sleepovers, I still don’t understand how I could ever sleep in there. Maybe because it is warm and makes you feel safe when you are little? Well, maybe not, since there is always the rumor of the pit monster. It is also the go-to hiding spot for the little ones when we play night games. And of course you can use the pit and the area surrounding it to make an exceptional fort.

So overall, the pit is the best invention ever. It is life saving when you are doing skills, and a good time to bond with the team when it calls for a fluffing. So to whoever invented the pit, I give you a round of applause. You are a genius. 

The Gymnastics Movie of All Time

Every single gymnast has seen the movie Stick It. This movie is one of the closest representations of a gymnast’s life and captures the intensity of gymnastics. It has the drama of an everyday teenage girl, a lot of humor, and is quite inspiring to gymnasts. 

Cover

The main character of this movie is former gymnast Haley Graham. She was once considered one of the most talented gymnasts in the US, but walked out of the World Championship in the middle of the finals, costing the American gold medal and making her one of the most hated people in gymnastics. When Haley gets in trouble with the law, she is forced to go to the elite Vickerman Gymnastics Academy to learn discipline, honesty, integrity and teamwork.

Image courtesy of Flash Games

Throughout the movie, there are many scenes describing a gymnast’s life. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is:

“Gymnastics tells you no. All day long. It mocks you over and over again. Telling you you're an idiot. That you're crazy. If you like running full-speed towards a stationary object, vault is for you. If you like pealing pieces of skin the size of quarters of your hands... bars is for you. Because the only thing more fun than rips, is when your rips get rips. It's super sexy. And floor, are you serious, I mean who doesn't want to parade around in a leotard getting wedgies and doing dorky choreography? It's delicious. If you like falling, then gymnastics is the sport for you! You get to fall on your face, your ass, your back, your knees, and your pride! It's a good thing I didn't like falling... I LOVED IT!” 

-Haley Graham

Although this movie is about gymnastics, it is not just for gymnasts. Besides the fact it is hilarious, it is relatable to other people too (although it is mostly for girls). It gives a positive message of pushing through and overcoming obstacles, and to stand up for what you believe in. But these messages are shown in their own unique way.

Whenever I am with my team, this is our go-to movie; I have seen it about fifteen times and it never gets old. I know every single word to this movie, so if you have not seen it, just come to me and I can narrate the whole thing for you.

gymnast terminology:

“stick it” : plant the landing with proper technique and no stumbles