We have participated in four competitions and have two more before the season ends. We took a nationals title in Houston two weeks ago and William was recognized as overall best individual performer (see picture to the right This past weekend we were in Shreveport where we had two performances in the same day... For older kids this was tough, so you can imagine for William being the youngest and only 7 what it was like. He nailed his first performance, but during the second about 1/3 of the way into the routine he missed a tumble pass, it took him a few seconds to get back in sync and he was spot on the rest of the routine... even though others made mistakes, he felt the reason they lost was completely his fault. We hugged him and praised him and told him that no matter what happens we are always proud - I reminded him that he should be extremely proud of all he has accomplished and reminded him that he is only 7, and this alone amazes us not to mention everyone else who sees his shows/videos. He rubbed his eyes and snuggled up in my husbands arms until they called everyone to the floor for the
awards presentation.
So, you may be asking how are we not on the same page - my husband, Gil, and I don't agree on what we should do next season. Tryouts our in April/May for most gyms and William technically in his tumbling should be at least one level possibly two higher. He only has one basic and two upper level skills he has yet to master - but he will only be 8 years old and most kids at his level are 12+. I'm not sure if moving to a new gym is the right answer - however, not moving would mean William would stay at the same level at his current gym as they don't have a higher level team he can participate in. Skills allowed correlate to the level, so he would be limited in what he could perform and he has stated over and over he wants to perform the higher level stunts/tumbles. Then the second factor is that we started so late in the season, so his skills lack around cheering motions and his jump skills. Going somewhere else he might be able to impress with his tumbling but he could be held back until he masters the cheer/jump skills. Additionally, Gil is focusing on Gyms that have junior/senior level teams basically the age range is under 14 for Junior and under 18 for Senior. William could be on both since they are ranking on skill not age - I don't want him on a team where he could be 4 or 5 years younger than everyone else and would prefer we find a gym that has youth level teams - Gil thinks being with older kids will challenge him. If you ask William what he wants it is like trying to decipher a cryptogram...To quote "I want to stay with my team but do bigger stunts/tumbles, but that place down the street that has the green uniforms, I like them, the kids are friendly, but I have so many friends here too that I would miss"
Wife of Gilligan
