Thursday, August 6, 2020

Cheers for Sweet Pea!

In the midst of all this year's uncertainty and chaos, we got some great news this summer: Sweet Pea was selected for her gym's competition team! 
This is a goal Sweet Pea set for herself ever since she started gymnastics at this facility two years ago. Her tryouts were supposed to be a well-attended, pressure-packed event in March that we were all looking forward to, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to Covid. The gym started very cautiously reopening in late June, but the coaches decided that since everyone was out of practice, it wouldn't make sense to have traditional "tryouts." Instead, Sweet Pea and the other pre-team gymnasts were invited to four sessions at the gym, to get the kids in shape again and serve as a combined tryout.

I was hesitant, because in June we were still socially distancing. But I was conflicted, because this was Sweet Pea's big chance, and what she's been working towards for so long.

Once I heard what safety measures the gym was taking, I was impressed: every child brings his/her own yoga mat to do stretches on, and their own water bottle because the water fountains are turned off. All the equipment has been treated with a micro-ban substance to held reduce any germ transmission. There are only about 10 kids in the entire gym at a time, and each one is on a separate piece of equipment. Each child has their own chalk bag for their hands. All the coaches wear masks the entire time, and the kids' temperatures are taken at the door. Hand sanitizer is used constantly. And no one is allowed inside except for the staff and gymnasts.

Ugh! That means I can't watch her! It kills me that I can't see her perform all the skills she's learned. And we have no idea what the meet situation will be -- for sure, none of their typical fall meets will be happening. We will just have to wait and see. But in the meantime, she's practicing over 7 hours a week. We're so proud of her!

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