Ella's State Championship Gymnastics Meet

In the midst of a very busy second weekend of performing in three more Annie productions, Ron and I accompanied Ella to compete in Tacoma at the state championship gymnastics meet.  She was assigned a 6 pm report time for a 6:30 start time just a few days ago.  As a result, I had to have a very difficult conversation with her theater director, asking for permission for Ella to miss the Saturday evening performance.  Luckily, since Ella had been assigned an orphan ensemble role with only one line, her director was understanding of our situation and kindly gave me permission to pull Ella from the performance which was such a relief!  Since Ella's meet didn't start until 6:30 pm, she competed on all four of her events past 9 pm.  By the time the medal ceremony ended, it was 10 o'clock on the dot.  In Ella's two years of competitive gymnastics, she has never been assigned to an evening meet, so this was definitely a first for her and me!  Needless to say, the three of us were very tired by the time we got home at 10:30 pm and I got Ella to bed at 11:05 after she had a snack and a bath to wash out all of the hair gel and glitter out in her hair.

Regardless of the busy weekend and late meet time, Ella did an excellent job competing in all four of her events.  She received her highest scores of the season in vault and on beam and received her highest all around score of the season.  Her scores for each events were:  Bars: 9.425, Beam: 8.925, Floor: 9.05, Vault: 9.325.  With an all around score of 36.725, Ella came in 6th place which meant that she is the sixth best gymnast in our state in her age group for Level 3 which is a huge accomplishment!  Since only the top nine girls receive a medal in each age group, Ella was called up to the blocks to receive a medal during the ceremony.  Ron and I are so proud of her and of how hard she has worked this school year, especially while juggling several hours of theater rehearsal on top of 12 hours of gymnastics practice during the summer, fall, and winter months.  She is an extremely determined, focused, and hard-working girl when it comes to pursuing her passions.  Well done, Ella!  We are so proud of you!

Ella mounting the beam at the beginning of her routine.

Ella doing a handstand...

and landing her leap.

Coach Chad giving Ella a pep talk before the start of her floor routine.  Ella said that after he gives her advice on specific floor skills, he always says, "You're an actress, so you got this!"

Ella starting off her routine.

Ella doing her handstand into a forward roll.

Kicking over from a bridge.

Sliding into the splits.

Finishing off the routine with her ending pose.

Ella running to jump on the spring board of the vault.

Going into her bounder.

Flying over the mat and...

landing on her feet.

Ella starting her bar routine.

Completing a double, back hip circle.

Completing her front hip circle.

Ella doing a cast.

Ella in bird perch before...

leaping off into her dismount.

Sticking the landing and saluting the judges.

Ella came in 6th place overall for her age group in Level 3.  Here she is walking up to the stage to receive her medal.

Taking her medal from one of the meet staff.

Ella and the rest of the gymnasts saluting the crowd after receiving their medals.

A proud Ella showing off her medal at the end of a very late night!

Way to go, Ella!