Gymnastics pictures

Well, competition season has started. J. has had 2 meets and M. has had one. Below are a few pictures from their meets.





Before I get any harrassing comments on my pictures, let me provide the following caveats:





* All of the pictures are taken inside a gym





* Lighting inside gyms is not conducive to picture taking - think flourescent bulbs





* You cannot use a flash while taking pictures at a gymnastics meet.





Therefore, the pictures are not great. Some of them are not even very good. Some of them are outright bad. These are the best of the lot, though.





If any of you have any suggestions on how to improve these pictures, please let me know!





Thanks.








Here is J's dismount off of the beam:

















Split leap on the beam:









The bars are her best event. Below is her handstand on the high bar:












Part of her floor routine:













Back tuck in floor routine:






M. in the middle of her tumbling pass at her first meet:









Split leap:









Not really an exciting picture as far as action goes, but it turned out well. This is during the dance part of her floor routine:









Dismount on beam:











Scale:









In dance portion of beam routine:






Preparing for 1/2 turn:












Rebound:









Stretching out:











So, if you are not a close family friend or a gymnast, these are probably not that exciting to you. However, it is the icing part of a gymnasts life.





If you have never been involved in gymnastics, it is hard to understand. I am working on a post to tell you what the life of a gymnast and their family is like. Here is a quick snapshot:





J - 18 hours of practice a week


M - 9 hours of practice a week


This is every week. There is no off season. The girls get 1 week off a year. There is anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes of conditioning in each practice. This is hard work - and the meets are where they get ONE CHANCE to show off what they can do, so it is a pretty big deal to them.





Here are their stats from their first meet:





J: - 1st on all 4 events and 1st All-Around with team placing 1st


M: - 1st on vault, tie for 1st on floor, 3rd on bars, 2nd on beam, and 2nd all-around with team placing 2nd.





At J's second meet, she placed 1st on vault, 2nd on bars, 3rd on floor, and 4th all around with the team placing 1st.





This past weekend was homecoming at our school, so I will be posting some pictures from there soon.





Don't forget to leave me a note and let me know you were here.





Thanks for stopping by!