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Wednesday, March 20, 2019

More than proud

This has been a year already!  I already posted about Beth's engagement...well, she is married now!  B and K were married on Feb 22nd and it was beautiful.  Pictures will be coming.

What I want to talk about today is Naomi.  She has been doing gymnastics for a few years now.  She has been competing for just two years.  She started out last year in Xcel Gold and moved up to Platinum this year.

Last year she did very well and ended up being Beam State Champ!  She qualified for Regionals in Galveston.  We went and she was so excited to compete.  God had other plans, though.  During the bars warm-up she lost her grip and did some roll or something(I did not see it bc I was coaching another girl) and landed on her head/neck.  By the time I got over there she was surrounded by people telling her not to move and the paramedics were coming.  She could move all of her limbs but they were worried about a break.

Beth and I watched as they put a cervical collar on her and then back-boarded her.  That is not something I ever want to see again.  We rode by ambulance to the hospital and tried not to think of the worst.

Once at the hospital we waited for more than 4 hours and never saw a doctor.  In hindsight I wish I would have been more with it and requested a doctor.  She had morphine, an mri, and more videos made of her antics than we can post.  She is quite funny on pain meds!  After waiting for another hour they released us.  No pain meds, no instructions, no nothing.

Again, I wish I would have been more aware and calm.  But I wasn't.

After the fall she did go back to the gym a few days later and slowly started training again.  She worked her way up to a kind of normal routine in a few weeks.  However, the pain never went away.  She was in constant pain.  She also dealt with constant fear on the bars.

When she moved up levels she moved up in skills as well.  (of course!) Unfortunately being afraid of the bars did not help the situation.  Her first meet of the season we all almost had a panic attack.  Okay, not almost.  We did.  She was shaking the whole time and Beth and I were crying and trying not to run and get her off of the bars.  She did it though.  She got up there and did a routine.  It wasn't good and the score was low but she did it.

She did it at every meet, for the entire season.  She conquered her fear every single meet and got up on those bars and did the skill she fell on.  Every.single.meet.

She also improved her performance and scores at every single meet.

Finally at our State Meet she had one last chance to improve on her routines and qualify for Regionals.

Ya'll, that was the best bar routine I have seen from her!  She did all of her skills, she connected them, and she got her START VALUE.  Meaning that the judges gave her credit for all the skills and she did them good enough that they gave her credit for ALL of them!  That hasn't happened all season.

I could not be more proud of her perseverance and determination.  She has worked so hard to overcome her fears and she is doing it every single practice.

What a great way to end the season!