Level 7 Regional Championships

Season.  Is.  Officially.  Over.

Sounds so weird!  I don't think it's sunk in yet because yesterday we were at a competition and today it's back to the normal grind.  When I realize we're not gearing up for another meet it will probably seem all the more real.

Our final trip took us back to Las Vegas (woo!) and we had to get up quite early to make it there.  Allan and Ericka picked me up Saturday morning and we parked the car at the airport instead of trying to deal with getting a shuttle/transportation.  SFO has been closing down runways lately and rescheduling flights so we lucked out when we left on time.  It was my first flight on Virgin America and the plane had such a cool vibe to it!  I slept most of the way in, we arrived smoothly, and were greeted by hoards of people and long lines at the rental car place.  Once on our way we went to check-in at our hotel (the Aria!), raced to change, found lunch, and made our way to the competition.  When I first got to the room it was really dark so I went to the curtains to open them; I couldn't figure them out until I realized they were automated and all I had to do was press a button and they would retract!  The whole room was set-up that way which made it all really spiffy.

Our first session was with the NorCal state team, made up of the top 12 all-arounders in the state.  NorCal competed against SoCal, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, ending up in second place by 0.125; we won every event except for bars where we had three falls.  SoCal took advantage and came through with the win, but it was still a great experience to be a part of.  After that session ended we stayed for one more with two of our girls who ended their season with fantastic performances.  They both walked away with season-high all-around scores and one of them with the regional all-around and beam titles!  It was a lot of fun to compete with them because of their energy and excitement and I'm happy that their efforts and attitude were rewarded.

That night we (including Annie who we stole away from her Utah crew) went to dinner at the hotel and ended up talking for a few hours.  She really wanted to go out and promising me that we wouldn't be gone too long I humored her and we went up to change.  Of course we didn't end up coming back to the hotel at any sort of decent hour but our Vegas adventures were fun and it was worth the lack of sleep.  3.5 hours after my head hit the pillow I was up again getting ready for day two of competition.  Both sessions we had went well with the girls continuing the streak of personal best performances.  Although we were all exhausted we walked away from the meet feeling really good about how we had prepared the girls to peak at the right time.  We're proud of all the hard work everyone put in this year and it's exciting to continue to watch the program become what we want it to be.  All three of us, though in need of some serious rest and relaxation (we sat on the runway last night for about an hour after SFO notified us we weren't allowed to fly in at our scheduled time), are excited to get back in the gym and work hard.  Success is a definite motivator, as is looking back to the beginning of the year and now seeing just how far we've come.

I'm so proud and thankful to be a part of the Twisters family.  I love Allan and Ericka so much and am grateful for all the opportunities they've given me as well as all the important life lessons they've instilled.  Great job, 2013 optional team.  You definitely proved what is often said to be true about sport, that passion often has a funny way of trumping logic.  Congratulations  :)