The Karg Family: F's First gymnastics meet

Well the day had finally arrived. F's been training in gymnastics for a little over 4 months preparing for "competition" season. As newbies to this sport we really didn't know what to expect and there was a lot of anxiety on all of our parts to see just exactly we had gotten ourselves into. Saturday was the day. We headed to Levelland, about 2 hours from here, for F to compete. She was pretty nervous but excited at the same time. I think she just wanted to get the first meet under her belt so we all knew what to expect. And boy did our girl deliver!!! We were just so proud that she went out there and did the best that she could do and most importantly, she had a TON of fun. It's in her bones now and she's already counting down the days until her next meet.

Here is F, waiting for her "practice run" on floor. It was the first time she had seen us since we had dropped her off in staging and I was prepared for either tears or smiles. I was so happy when this is what I saw. Boy, was I proud.

So for those of you that are unfamiliar with meets (as we were) this is what happened. We dropped her off in staging where she was to stretch and get ready. Then they grouped the girls by age and by level and by event and waited for their name to be called. They tried not to have the girls compete with someone from their same gym but it was completely random, how many were in a flight (those that competed with her) and who was with her. First up was floor. Now let me tell you this brief history. She competed at a level 3.1 and each girl has a list of 2 of 3 passes to chose from. F's been working on her power round off flip flop for almost 2 months and she's been so close but just hasn't been able to get it on her own. So we had expected her coach to help her at the meet, although that would mean she'd obviously get a lower score. But get this.... at 5:15, 2 days before her meet, she nails it in practice 5 times in a row!!!! Talk about coming down to the wire. We weren't sure what to expect at the meet since it was still fairly new to her and with the added stress, we didn't know what to expect but our girl DELIVERED!! She nailed her flip flop all by herself on the first try!!! They get 2 run through's and then the real deal, and in floor they get 2 passes. She did great and look what she got????

1st Place!!!!!!!!!!! First year, first meet, first event, 1st place. Here she is getting her medal.

Here second event was double mini. As you can see it is a completely different set of girls. She didn't do as well on her double mini and didn't land either of the passes on her feet but she still took 3rd place. Way to go!!

Waiting for her medals... all smiles!

Her third event was the trampoline. It was a bit different than what she's used to at the gym because her trampoline at the gym is below ground and the one she competed on was above ground but she did really, really well. Another 3rd place.

We were just so proud of her and most importantly she was so proud of herself. She just kept saying that over and over and she can't wait until her next meet. It's 2 weeks away and of course there are always lots of things to fine tune and work on so she'll get back to work on Tuesday. For now, she's living it up and loving all that she's accomplished. So proud!!

F and I with her medals.

The back of our shirts. See all the hearts on the back of F's shirt? Those are from all of the people who sponsored her in gymnastics. Thank you to everyone for making her competition season possible. She really loves it and enjoys all the support from her "fan club".

F and her medals. (Don't mind the weird hair. We were told all of her hair needed to be plastered back with clips or hairspray or anything possible so we did all we had to to get her bangs back. ) :}