New Faces On Team: Krystiana

Krystiana is a new face on the OTW Level 4 Team, but not a new face in the gym. She is a second grade student that has been involved in gymnastics for three of her six years! Very impressive! Krystiana loves leotards and couldn't wait to pose for pictures in her new competition leotard. Her favorite event is floor. Some of her other favorites include the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and the TV Show "The Wizards of Waverly Place". Her favorite food is lobster which she says is yummmy!!

Krystiana gives two thumbs up when talking about her move from Pre-Team to the Level 4 Team. Her smile is absolutely huge when recalling how excited she was to get a locker, and a beautiful new competition leotard and warm-up suit. Krystiana is "looking forward to spending more time at the gym with all of the Team girls". Congratulations Krystiana and welcome to Team. We can't wait to see your beautiful smile at practice and on the competition floor.

Summer Camp - Week 4

Watching warm-up and the morning meeting you can tell the girls have the summer camp routine down pat. They are in perfect step during Coach Becky's morning dance routine and they even take their own attendance! Yup that’s right, instead of the traditional daily attendance where Coach Paul calls each girl’s name and each girl responds positively somehow indicating that she is present, the girls sound off in order (they know who they are after) just saying “here”. If there is a pause in the “here”, “here”, “here” rhythm Coach Paul notes the absence and the sound off begins again. Its strange to observe, but a very quick way to complete the morning roll call. Efficiency experts would love that model!

There were a couple of surprises in the Wednesday morning announcements; not only was Tuesday’s last place team in first place, but each of the team totals were only tenths apart. Usually the first and second place teams lead the third and fourth place teams by a couple of points – but not this week!

The midweek handstand challenge of one minute and twenty seconds on the rail was also close. The last click of the stop watch showed the girls surpassed that goal by a whole second! Phewww! No push ups!

Thursday it was to time to empty the pit and rid it of blocks that have seen better days and those annoying loose block particles that sink to the bottom and manage to fly up and land right in the gymnasts eyes from time to time. Looking around the gym you could gymnasts creatively outfitted in surgical masks, sunglasses, and even swim goggles to avoid the "pit stuff". You could also see creative ways off moving the blocks from the pit to the sidelines. These included Miss Liz's beloved parachute, blankets, trash bags, and towels. Once the pit was emptied everyone was happy to see the dreaded pit stuff swept up and removed. With that done Coach Paul was able to perform routine maintenance on the submerged sub pump and dehumidifier. Once everything was in good working order the girls tossed the blocks back in. Wow.....its truly incredible to see the depth of the pit and how many blocks it takes to fill it. It was also incredible to see how hard everyone worked and the team spirit that made light work of this huge task. Great job everyone! Its awesome to have a nice clean, fluffy pit ready for the last day of camp and the fall season - which is just a few weeks away!

OTW Girls at Kingston Days Celebration

Early Saturday morning the girls gathered at the gym to practice their dance routine and tumbling in preparation for the Kingston Days performance. Once the coaches felt the routine was ready for prime time the trucks were loaded with equipment and the caravan headed for the big tent on the Kingston Common. Once the floor was in place Miss Liz took the microphone and introduced the team. The girls dance routine and tumbling accompanied by Liz's narration were a big hit with the crowd! Afterwards the girls set up an obstacle course for the kids in the crowd to enjoy........and for once the weather was just perfect! After that it was back to the gym and the equipment was put back in place and is ready for camp on Monday.

Summer Camp - Week 3

Early Monday morning everywhere you looked in the gym you could see focused, determined gymnasts working hard to perfect their new beam series, vaults, bar and floor skills.

Tuesday brought temperatures in the high 80s with 50% humidity so a unanimous coaching decision was made for it to be Pool Olympics Day! Great decision! Congratulations to the gold medal winners: Maddy (diving), Allie K. (underwater swimming), and Emily (smallest splash)! Congratulations also to the Pre-Team girls who were assigned lockers this week. It's awesome to see your hard work paying off. Way to go!

Wednesday was yet another hot day in the gym, but the girls pressed on and continued to work hard at mastering their new skills plus a dance routine for this weekend's Kingston Day Show. Great job girls! Your dedication is very impressive! The mid-week handstand challenge of one minute and 25 seconds on the rail.......well......lets just say that 25 push ups were done by all.

Week 3 - Wrap Up

Flex Routines:
This week’s flex routines were truly impressive and enjoyable to watch. There were more scores awarded in the 9s this week which reflects the awesome progress the girls are making; and there was more variety in the routines because the girl’s that have received 3 scores of 9+ are now performing their own routines. All of the routines have come a long way in just three weeks. Great job girls! Congratulations to LaNaya – her truly awesome routine on Friday received a score of 9.8!!! WOW!!!

Skits:
The theme for this week's skits was game shows. The audience got to drive around with Maddy and a cast of oddball passengers in the Cash Cab, laugh at some hysterical Family Feud contestants (last minute fill-in Melinda being the funniest contestant ever!), and enjoy some dares, double dares and physical challenges during the Double Dare 2000 game hosted by Allie K., and try to solve the I Am A ____? clues given by Becca and her game show crew.

Handstands:
As for the end of the week handstand challenge, suffice it to say a long week ended with a few pushups!