Camp Week 1: Hot!

The weather was especially hot and muggy for the first week of OTW's Camp. There was plenty of conditioning, of course, to get everyone back into shape. The girls were formed into four teams for some informal competition in flex routines, skill contests and challenge games. This week's teams: Look At Me Go, Guagua, Dirty Birds, and Banana Pancakes. The winning team for this week was the Look At Me Go team. Joining the team girls from last season were several pre-team girls working on their Level 4 skills, and some new faces too.

For skit day, Friday, the theme was Commercials. Among them was a hair remover commercial, and an ad promoting adopting giraffes as pets.

Hopefully, Week 2 will be a little cooler. The girls will be reshuffled into new teams and the training continues. Hang in there girls.

Team Week, no Old Home Days

The weather alternated between hot and stormy, but the girls attending this year's team week pressed on. After States, all the girls had been working on the skills required for the next level. This week gave some of them an extra concentrated focus. The progress on the new skills was encouraging. Now for a few weeks off before the rigors of Camp Weeks!

Old Home Wash Out-- Many of the team girls showed up at the gym Saturday morning, meeting up to perform gymnastics at the Plaistow Old Home Days. Unlike last year's very sunny day, this year was washed out. The heavy rain last night left the field too wet for the mats. A drizzle began to fall, which would have made the mats too slippery. In the interest of gymnast safety, Coaches Paul and Liz called it off.

Great Party!

This year's season-end banquet was a great time, as usual. (Click Here for some photos.) Coach Paul listed off all the first places the girls won this year, and how we had 19 State Champions this year -- the most ever for OTW. There was plenty of praise to go around. There was plenty of food to go around too -- also as usual. Booster Prez, Pat Whitman thanks everyone in the opening remarks. Booster VP, Michelle put together a terrific slideshow out of the six thousand photos collected over the season. A special treat was seeing shots of young Paul, young Liz and other coaches interspersed. In the girls' gift bags was a pair of light blue warm-up shorts, a yearbook and a DVD copy of the slideshow. It took quite awhile for everyone to sign each others' yearbooks. After that, the dancing took off, led by master DJ Josh. When it was finally 10pm, and time to clean up, none of the girls were ready to stop. "One more song!" they pleaded.

It was a great party to wrap up a great year. All the girls deserve huge congratulations for a job well done. All the parents deserve a special thanks for all their help with the fundraising this year, which sent 9 of our girls to Regionals AND put on such a great year-end party.

See you next season!

Banquet and News Bits

This year's year-end banquet will be held at the Atkinson Community Center. See the directions page for more info.

The Team page has been updated to use the shots we took for the yearbook. You can see them at: The Team Page.

Tag Day 3 -- Despite the rain, and the reduced number of shoppers, the girls did a good job. Receipts were only a bit under projections. Not bad for a wet gray day. Thanks girls (and parents)

Fun Meet -- This year's Fun Meet was a hot one. Temps in the 90s meant that water and juice boxes were big sellers. The Fun Meet has never been a big money maker for the Booster Club, but we did pretty well. Thanks to all you parents who donated goodies.

See you at the banquet!

Great Times at Regionals

The best Level 8 gymnasts from the seven state region were gathered in URI's Keany Gymnasium on Saturday. There was clearly a lot of talent on the floor. This year's Level 8 Regionals was a big one for Off the Wall. We had six qualifying gymnasts -- the most OTW girls in many years. OTW's girls were evenly split onto two New Hampshire teams. Courtney, Alyssa and Allison were part of the NH Intermediate Team. Jess, Kayla and LaNaya were part of the NH Seniors Team.

Both NH Teams Take 4th
The top four scores were counted. New Hampshire's "senior" team placed 4th with 141.90, not too far behind Massachusetts and New York with 144s. Connecticut took 1st with a 148.75. Plaques were handed out to the girls on the top four teams. The NH Intermediates also placed 4th with a 146.05. Mass took 1st with a 149.65. NY took 2nd with a 148.25. CT took 3rd with a 147.275.

Kayla is Regional Vault Champion

The Seniors started rotations on Bars. While many of them looked in good form, the scores seemed unusually low. LaNaya led the team with an 8.55. This was their weakest rotation. On Beam, things were getting better. LaNaya led the team scoring with a 9.05. On floor, they were gaining speed. Kayla led the team scoring with a 9.15. On Vault, the team was hot. Kayla had her Tsuk in great form. She took 1st place on Vault with a 9.55. She also took home a medal on Floor for a 9.175. LaNaya (whom the announcer called "La-Nadia") took home medals for Bars and Beam. Jess took home a medal for Beam.

Alyssa is Regional Bars Champion

The Intermediates started rotations on Floor. Isabel Goodwin led the team with a 9.20. Allison, Alyssa and Courtney's Floor routines looked very good. On Vault, Ellen Seidel led the team with a 9.30, followed by Allison's 9.20. On Bars, Alyssa stole the show with her 9.575 gold medal routine. (the crowd went wild). On Beam, it was Allison in the spotlight with her silver-medal-winning 9.425. Hope and Jackie were on hand to cheer. Jackie's calls of "Go Courtney!" carried through the whole gym.

All in all, this was a great experience. In a gym full of the best gymnasts, the OTW girls were right in there. Having both the Regional Vault Champion and Regional Bars Champion is great stuff. Add in a silver and two other medals for Beam, another for Vault, two more for Bars and three in the All Around. That adds up to a very good meet for the OTW girls. Way to go girls, you've provided a spectacular finale to this competitive season.