Ella's First Team Gymnastics Meet

After practicing really hard and putting in very long hours at her gym in Auburn, Ella's first gymnastics meet finally arrived today.  Her meet season runs December through March and there are six meets that she gets to compete in.  The first meet, called The Reindeer Games, is held at her gym every December.  Ella was so excited all week long and kept on squealing every time she thought about it.  Her Level 2 team had to be there at 2:30 today for a 3 o'clock start time and so I had to check her out of school two hours early to have enough time to take her home to get her ready before leaving at 2 p.m. to make it to Auburn in time.  I was able to leave home a napping Emmett with both Lia and Logan (who I had also checked out of school early since I had no way to get him home from the bus stop at 4 p.m.) and was able to just focus on Ella which was such a relief.  In addition, my mom offered to drive down from Issaquah to watch Ella compete.  We all pulled up into the gym parking lot at the same time which was a convenient coincidence.  My mom was able to find our seats while I helped Ella get dressed in her beautiful team leotard and warmup suit that wasn't ready for pick up until today.  Ella was so excited to put on her fancy, new clothes and to go out onto the floor to join the rest of her team.

The meet started at 3 p.m. right on the dot.  My mom and I got amazing seats on the second row and were comfortably able to watch everything from where we sat.  We watched Ella's team warm up for 30 minutes before the actual competition started.  The coaches then divided the Level 2 girls into small groups and they then rotated around the four events for the next two hours.  Ella started on the floor and then moved to vault, bars, and finished off on the beam.  She did so well on all four of her events and even scored a 9.2 on the vault which is her strongest event.  I was so impressed by how calm and confident she looked out on the floor!  When the meet was over, the judges tallied all four of their events and the top ten girls in each of the four age groups received a medal.  Since this was the first competition, we had no idea what to expect, so I was so surprised when Ella's name was called out from a huge group of girls to go up and get a medal.  She came in 9th place for her Junior B age group and received a beautiful reindeer medal hanging from a red ribbon.  In addition, since her overall score came to 34.9, Ella qualified for the State Championship meet at the end of the season since she scored over 34 points.  I was so impressed that she was already able to accomplish this goal at her first meet.  Way to go, Ella!  I am so proud of how well you did today and how hard you have worked all of these past months!  Your determination, hard work, and persistence have really been an amazing thing to watch these past six months.  You are so awesome!

Ella dressed in her new team uniform and ready to go at the beginning of the meet!

Ella standing with the group of girls that she was assigned to compete with through the different events of the meet.

Ella getting a pep talk from one of her coaches, Bree, before starting her first event on the floor.

Ella waiting for her music to start.

Completing a backwards roll.

Ella leaping...

and doing a handstand...

and a bridge.

Ella waiting for the judge to signal to her that she can start her routine on the beam.

Ella doing a pull-up pullover...

  and then finishing her pullover.

Doing a cast...

and a back hip circle.

Ella smiling at me while her group walked by the audience on the way to the vault.

Ella starting her beam routine.

Ella doing a passe...

and a t-lever.

and a handstand into her dismount.

The Junior B girls standing on the blocks after getting their medals.  Ella is the one on the far right.

Ella smiling for me after getting her medal.

Ella standing on top of the medal ceremony blocks after the entire meet was over!