Gymnastics!

Careful readers of our blog will (maybe) know that Viva is currently enrolled in two dance classes (both are a combination of acrobatics and tap dance) and two cheer classes (one is a tumbling class and one is practice for a division one cheer team). She was in karate with her brothers, but dropped it to join cheer.

Is she busier than her brothers? Bentley and Jake currently attend karate on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Sometimes they take one class, sometimes two. On Saturdays they have their weapons class, demo team practice, and if they want they attend a regular class or even two. The boys call the shots. They tell us how much they want to do on any given day. Usually it's the maximum amount.

So are they busier than Viva? Bentley and Jake were spending more hours at their activities until Kara checked out the gymnastics club. Why did Kara do that? You remember how acro and tap class lead to cheer club? Well cheer club led to gymnastic club. Viva is on the division one cheer team and tryouts for next year's teams are in March. Kara was curious how close Viva was to making a division two team, so she asked the cheer coach. Viva is lacking a back hand spring. Rather than hiring a private coach Kara decided to check out other options for learning a back hand spring. (Yes, there's always YouTube instructional videos, but we wanted a safer learning experience.)

Kara called the gymnastics club last month to find out if they had tumbling classes. They had a tumbling only class that Viva could come in and try out. She did and she enjoyed it. The instructor was impressed with Viva's flexibility and strength. She said the combination of the two aren't often found in children Viva's age. She said Viva might like a different tumbling class that the gym had for more able students.

Viva went and tried that class out. It was filled with girls from the cheer gym. This set of girls (a few years older than Viva) are serious cheer athletes so, they take an 8-10AM class on Saturdays at the gymnastics club. They are more advanced than our Viva who has only been doing cheer for a few months. Viva enjoyed the class and asked to join it even though it is early on Saturday morning which is the only day she has to sleep in.

When checking out the advanced tumbling class that instructor suggested that Viva might like to try out their team level gymnastics classes. Viva was very interested because she had spotted the uneven parallel bars during the tumbling class and she wanted to try them out. Kara took her back to meet with that group. Most of the girls in the group have been with the gym for at least a couple of years so they have some skills on the balance beam and the uneven parallel bars that Viva does not have, but Viva was way more advanced than they were when it came to floor exercises (tumbling). 

Viva is now attending the gymnastic level one group practices which are twice a week and she's taking the Saturday morning advanced tumbling class with the older girls from cheer. She is definitely putting in as many hours of athletics as her brothers.

Of course Kara does not intend to keep Viva in three different programs. It's quite expensive! The boys' karate seems like a steal of a deal when compared to the fees from dance, cheer, and gymnastics combined! So why is Viva participating in three programs? Kara is looking ahead to next fall. She wanted Viva to experience the three different programs (dance, cheer, gymnastics) so she could choose which one she enjoys the most and then focus on that single program next year. Bentley and Jake love karate and Kara would like Viva to have an activity she is equally passionate about.

I asked Kara if she is trying to relive her childhood through Viva. Kara was enrolled in the same dance school when she was Viva's age. Then we discovered that she had Legg Perthes Disease which ended her involvement in any and all impact sports (which is pretty much every sport other than swimming and biking). Kara says she never wanted to be a gymnast, so that's not why she's checking it out with Viva. However, she is now totally fascinated by the world of gymnastics. She stays and observes all of Viva's classes at the gymnastics gym as do quite a few of the other parents. 

For me it's weird to make sports such a focus in our home when for the past twenty five years they have been deliberately down played due to Kara's disease. Life is crazy sometimes--you can't predict what paths you will end up exploring. For now we will take it one year a time--or in this case one very busy month at a time.