Welcome, Nastia!

Today Twisters had the pleasure of welcoming 2008 Olympic all-around champion, Nastia Liukin, to the Bay Area.  She is here to help promote the Olympic Trials which start on June 28th at HP Pavilion.  It's really exciting that the trials are in California once again and Nastia commented on how honored she is to be a part of the process.

We had a very short practice for the girls today and then stopped them so they could help us clean up the gym.  We spent two hours getting everything ready and with all of the help we were able to get it all set up without any major issues.  There were streamers, balloons, banners, and even a couple of video presentations.  It was all very well done and I have to say that Allan's hard work and preparation really paid off.

It ended up that Nastia's flight from LA was delayed due to the weather, so she arrived about 15 minutes late.  Then tension in the gym was palpable and everyone was on edge waiting for her to arrive.  She finally got there and was escorted in, the video tribute was played, and a little speech was made before the mic was handed over to her.  She gave a very inspirational talk before answering some questions from the girls and signing autographs.  Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of time because she had another gym to visit before the evening was over, but all of the girls were excited to have the chance to meet her and get a picture with her.  I'm hoping her words will serve as encouragement for our girls to set goals and dream big.