New Faces on Team: Shilanna

Shilanna may be new to Off The Wall, but she's an experienced gymnast. She started gymnastics when she was 3 years old, and has stayed with it for 12 years. This past season, she competed as a Level 8 for Gym-Ken. At States this past spring, she took 2nd place on Bars and placed fourth in the All-Around with a 36.00 (15+ age group).

Her favorite event is Bars. One of her highpoints from last year was scoring a 9.6 on Bars. The biggest highlight had to be qualifying to be on the Level 8 Regionals Team. Shilanna's favorite food is ice cream. Her favorite movie is Stick It.

Shilanna joined us towards the end of summer, but has gotten into the swing of things pretty quickly. Her favorite part of OTW? "Being on the team," she says. "The girls are all so nice and comforting to me!"

Glad to have you with us, Shilanna. Welcome to the team!

New Faces on Team: Nicole

Nicole isn't technically totally new to the OTW Team, but she's a good place to start our introductions of the new girls on this year's team. Nicole joined us shortly after Spring States this past season. She was on NEGTC's Level 5 team then and placed 7th in the All-Around.

Nicole is 8 years old now, and in the third grade. She started gymnastics when she was 3, taking a Parent and Tot class at OTW with Miss Liz. She went on to a year of pre-team, then competed as a Level 4 and last year as a Level 5.

Her favorite event is Bars and her highest score was a 9.7 (Sakes!) That was a high point for Nicole last year, but so was performing at the Fox Run Invitational and meeting Alicia Sacramone and Steve Nuno. Her favorite food is Whoopie Pies. Favorite Song: "Walking on Sunshine." Her favorite movie is Charolette's Web.

She trained with the team through the summer "camp" weeks and is really looking forward to competing as a Level 6. Her favorite thing about OTW? "The girls -- they are soooo nice!"

Welcome to the team, Nicole!

First Tag Day: off to a good start

This first fundraiser of the '07-08 season got off to a cold gray start. Even though it was drizzly (or outright raining), the girls stood at their posts. Their smiling "good morning!" calls seemed to cheer up the gloomy shoppers. Many of the girls took part, from the littlest Level 4, to the seasoned veteran Level 10s. The candy was a big hit with the kids in the shopping carts. (although it seemed like a lot of the dads were going for the Smarties).

The proceeds were good, given that there was an unstaffed shift at MarketBasket and that we wrapped it up an hour earlier than last year. Still, the girls managed to raise a good sum. The funds raised will be going towards helping defray the expenses of sending our girls to Regionals and Nationals, and for the year-end banquet and yearbooks. Good job girls.

Thanks to: Anne, Bri, Becca, Kenna, Kayla, Jess, Allison, LaNaya, Nicole, Ally, Allie (K), Courtney, Jamie, Melinda, Amanda, Mackenzie, Cassie and Maddie. Emma and Hope too. (sorry I forgot you.) -- If you were there and I missed your name, add it via the Comments feature below.

Thanks to the parents who helped too: Pat, Gail, Mary, Lisa, Fred, Roger, Julie, Rita, Liz, Audrey. Thanks for giving up part of your Saturday to help the girls. (If you helped too, but I forgot your name, it's because I didn't write them down on Saturday. I thought of it, sure, but did I do it? Noooo. Use the Comments area below to let me know if I left your name off the list)

Paul wins Coach of the Year Award

As a fitting tribute to the amazing season the OTW teams had, Coach Paul was named Coach of the Year by the NH USAG. He and Bri attended an awards banquet and ceremony on August 4th for the Regional and National Champions. The various champions, coaches, judges and professionals of Region 6 were there. "We had a great time," said Coach Paul. "They showed a 30 second video of each of the regional and national champions (including Brianna) and of course Alicia Sacramone (world champion). Party went great with great food and dancing." Congratulations Paul!