A journey in which I was a passenger: Emmaline's gymnastics story

At the end of a race or the end of a vacation, I write a report. What happened? Where did I go? Would I do that again? 

Recently a journey ended, and while it wasn't my journey, I was there for it and it somehow feels important to reflect and think about that journey and tell that story. So here we are, Emmaline's gymnastics story and how I got to go along for the ride. 

It all started one day at the library. I used to take Emmaline to various story times at a few different libraries around town. One of the moms there, watching Emmaline go everywhere mentioned that Capital Gymnastics had an "open gym" where kids could go and climb and run and jump and play on all the stuff in the gym. I didn't really know anything about gymnastics, I mean, other than what I sort of caught now and then in the Olympics. I knew who a few of the more famous gymnasts were. Sure, why not? We'll give it a try. And so, just before she turned two, each Friday, we would head over to the gym for unstructured play time. 

At her second birthday well-check, I filled in a questionnaire from the pediatrician about Emmaline's verbal abilities and apparently she failed and we had an evaluation with the state to see if she needed to have speech therapy. Two ladies came to the house and interacted with her an asked us questions about her abilities, both verbal, gross motor and find motor. At one point they asked if she could walk along the edge of a curb or something like that without falling off. I said, "like a balance beam? She does that all the time at the gym." This was apparently in the 3 year old bank of skills. Ultimately, they said that she was about 6 months or so behind verbally, but over a year ahead in gross motor skills. She was so far ahead gross-motor wise, they said they weren't surprised she wasn't really talking. She'd be fine, they said. (And she did catch up eventually.) 

At age three and a half, she still loved it so much that I enrolled her in a weekly 45 minute class. On Feb 2, 2012 she went to her first real gymnastics class at Capital Gymnastics (their old McNeil/Parmer location). She had a great time! 

She continued in gymnastics class and even loved it so much she had her fourth birthday party there in July. 

But by the fall of 2012, however, she was ready to move on and wanted to try dance. So I signed her up for a weekly dance class with a couple of other friends. It was a combination of ballet and tap.

She enjoyed dance and was really good at that too. In May of 2013, she completed a season of dance and participated in a ridiculously cute recital at a theatre in central Austin. When it was time to re-up in dance, her teacher pulled us aside and said that Emmaline was being invited to invitational dance and we should attend an info session at their other studio in Cedar Park. 

So off we went to the info session for our four year old dancer. I can't remember exactly what the invitational dance company entailed but I remember it seemed like a ridiculous number of hours per week. She was just shy of five years old and starting kindergarten in the fall and it just seemed like way too much. We decided to pass and asked her what she wanted to do. She said dance was boring anyway and she wanted to go back to the gym. So by July, at age five, we were back at the gym. 

And so we continued on once a week at gymnastics. At this point, she was going to an hour long class (vs. the 45 min class she did when she was 3). 

In first grade at age six, she had moved up from the kinder class to the Girls 1 class and then she moved to the Girls 2 class. She was working on handstands, back bend kick-overs, and roundoffs and starting to get ready to actually tumble. 

By the end of 2015, Emmaline was seven years old and was halfway through second grade when Coach Chelsea pulled me aside at their end of year showcase and assessment. She told me it was time for Emmaline to move up, but the next class up, Girls 3 was full of tweens and not really the right fit. She recommended that I take Emmaline to one of their other locations, Pflugerville or Avery Ranch and get an evaluation for Showteam. I remember her saying, "Emmaline, show me your bridge kickover," and Emmaline did and then she turned to me and said, "See, that's just too pretty. Go get her on Showteam."

So off we went to Pflugerville (because it was closer to her school) and we met Coach Abby who would evaluate her. I thought cool, cool, maybe an extra hour a week or something. So when Coach Abby said she would be great on Showteam and gave me the schedule of eight hours a week, I nearly fell on the floor! Here we were again with her being invited to participate in another invitational activity at a number of hours a week. But she really wanted to do it and so we said yes. We figured it if was too much, we could always just go back to regular rec classes. 

And so we went from Thursdays 4:30-5:30 to Tuesdays and Thursdays 4-6:30 and Fridays 4-7. At the time, it felt like so much gymnastics.(At the end, where we ended up, it sounds so small now.) 

Most of the girls on Showteam came from Hot Shots which is sort of a step up program, but we came from rec and it was a tough transition. She was often tired and hungry, but she was also loving it and doing gymnastics everywhere: at home, on vacation, you name it. The first few weeks were definitely an adjustment. Eventually we fell into a rhythm with the new schedule.  

In the spring of 2016, when she was seven, she was in her first Showteam performance, a parade in Georgetown. She had a blast!

The team had several other performances through the spring and she continued to work on all her skills at practice for all four events: vault, bars, beam, and floor. And we found ourselves back at the gym for a gymnastics birthday party once again for her eighth birthday. 

By November 2016, Showteam had their final performance and we awaited news of what was to come the following year. There were spots for about half the Pflugerville Showteam girls to move to JO (USAG Junior Olympic program, now called USAG Development Program). Letters went out near the end of the year and Emmaline got the news that she was selected for JO. She said she wanted to go so we had to move gyms again, saying goodbye to the friends and coaches we had made over the past year, moving to the Avery Ranch location with about I think about seven other girls and merging with the girls from their Showteam that had also made it to JO. Emmaline was to train for USAG Level 3. (Capital doesn't compete levels 1 and 2 and they aren't required by USAG. They do Showteam instead to prepare for Level 3.) 

It was another adjustment, adding an extra day but shortening the hours on other days. The new schedule was Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-6, Tuesday 6-8 and Friday 4-7. It felt like so much gymnastics, but she was still super into it and super committed. And we started the tradition of "car dinner" so she could eat after practice. 

In July 2017, she competed in her first meet as a competitive gymnast. She had several meets through the course of the end of the summer/early fall all around Texas, generally within an hour or two away. 

Things started off a bit rough at the meets. Bars were her nemesis (and would remain so all the way to the end) but she consistently improved her scores through the season and finished strong at the end of December and it was decided she would train Level 4 in January 2018. In February 2018, at the end of season wrap-up even, Emmaline took home an award for the most improved Level 3 gymnast on the team for that year. 

She continued to train hard, adding more hours to train Level 4. She was at 11 hours a week with a schedule of Monday and Wednesday 4-8, and Friday 4-7. And she finally achieved the dreaded kip on bars in April, which was a huge milestone and something she had to have to compete Level 4 bars. 

She competed her first season of Level 4 in the fall of 2018, at age 10. She had a solid season, especially on beam, but she struggled on bars and wasn't ready for the move to Level 5 so at the end of the year, her coach told us she would stay in Level 4 for another year. Emmaline was actually relieved and happy and ready for another year in Level 4. It's not uncommon at all in gymnastics to repeat levels. 

So the last few months of 2018 and first half of 2019 saw her training Level 4 again. Some other girls also stayed, some girls moved on. Her schedule shifted slightly, with different days, but the same number of hours. That was one thing about Capital that made me crazy. The schedule changed several times a year and they seemed to have these weird arbitrary training groups that didn't always make sense. The end of that year also saw the departure of one of her favorite coaches, followed by the hiring of a new coach that would cause a situation down the road. But we didn't know that yet. 

In beginning of 2019, Emmaline was once again honored at the end of season awards with the "Most Capital Character" award for her level. This award recognizes Capital's top values: integrity, hard work, kindness, etc. 

In the summer of 2019, her hours increased to 16 and practices were in the middle of the day (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 12-4). It was such an awkward schedule and we could never do anything else during the summer. It was all about gymnastics. It's really hard to describe the level of commitment and also sacrifice that this sport took. While friends were hanging out at the pool, she was training at the gym. She sometimes had to make choices about what to attend: a friend's birthday party or a meet. 

At the end of July she attended Peak Training Camp, an all-weekend, all-day training camp lead by two former Olympic gymnasts (Betty Okino and Kyla Ross), a former collegiate gymnast, and another high level gymnast. They did dance, gymnastics, and also did some workshops in the mental and emotional aspects of the sport. She had a great time and I think really got a lot out of it coming into her second year of Level 4.

And just like that, it was time for competition season to start again at the end of the summer, just as she was starting middle school in 2019 at the age of 11. From the start of the season, her scores were better and she seemed more confident, landing herself on the podium for beam a couple of times and even placing 4th all around at one meet.

Unfortunately, her season didn't end well. At North State she had a fall both on bars and beam and didn't end up qualifying for State. It was the first and only time I saw her really upset at a meet. That's just how the sport works, but it was a tough, heartbreaking day. 

She still had one more meet though and in February 2020, we went to Orlando, Florida for a fun meet at Walt Disney World. She was the only Level 4 from Capital that went so it was just her at the competition. She had a much better meet than at North State, finishing out Level 4 strong. 

Returning to Austin, Emmaline started working on upgrades. A new head coach had taken over, and had decided that Capital would not to compete Level 5 any longer. While Level 5 is a required level, they would learn the compulsory routines (in Levels 1-5 everyone does the same routines), compete them once at an in-house meet with a USAG judge to score out and then move on to compete Optionals (levels 6-10, in which the gymnasts can do any routine with the a combination of skills at the required difficulty level). Optionals don't compete in late summer/early fall, instead their meet season starts in January, so we were looking at nearly a full year without any competitions. So she had a lot of time to get her new skills ready. At this point, she was still at 16 hours per week of training.  

And then everything came to a screeching halt in March 2020. It was so tough for all the girls. The Optionals were in the middle of their season and many had meets cancelled. Things were really complicated. The gym set up Zoom sessions at home for a couple of months until May, at which point the girls were invited back. We were hesitant at first and set up some private one-on-one sessions with her favorite coach until we were ready to go back. Ultimately the choice was go back or quit. There really wasn't another option. So she went back. 

She was back at the gym training Level 6 but was feeling frustrated by the way a particular coach treated her and the other girls. She continued to have issues until things came to a head one night in September when he berated and belittled her as she was attempting to learn a difficult new skill on bars. She walked away from bar rotation crying and upset - very unlike her. Moving on to beam, which was the last evening of the evening, she was working on her flick (like a back handspring step out) when she landed her hands awkwardly and hurt her wrist. When she came out from gym, she was more upset about the incident with the coach on bars than her wrist. 

The wrist was still a problem the next day so we went and had it looked at, got x-rays and learned it was fractured. She had a buckle fracture of the left radius and would need to be in a cast. It was her first big injury (other than sprained ankles and some other minor aches and pains). Another setback in 2020. 

I ended up in a meeting with the coach and the owner of the gym about the incident (and other incidents) and left feeling a little better, like things would be better. Upon reflection, I later realized, actually, I had been completely gaslit and told what I wanted to hear. It was like an abusive partner smoothing everything over. Everything was fine! It would be fine! She continued to train what she could with her injury, with half practices at the gym until her cast came off near the end of October when she was put into a brace and sent to physical therapy. Unfortunately, she had lost time, both because of Covid and because of her wrist and I think it impacted her down the road, and is ultimately a part of what led to her competing a second season of Level 6 (more on that later). 

Training through the last part of 2020 and getting ready for meets in early 2021, she did end up testing out of Level 5 and got her Level 6 routine, which was one of two routines put together for ALL the Level 6 girls, which is pretty much not the point of Optionals. The point of Optionals is that each girl gets a routine that is tailored to showcase her strengths and limit skills that are a weakness.

On top of that, her bars were still a struggle and we continued to have issues with the coach, culminating in a situation where Emmaline was accused of lying about what work she had done at a station on her own. When I went to speak with the coach I was lied to, manipulated, and gaslit.

At that point, I was DONE. I had been bringing up the option of switching gyms previously and Emmaline was pretty against it, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back and I started seriously looking at changing gyms with her blessing. I reached out to another gym in the area, AcroTex, and spoke with the head coach, Daire. I had listened to him coaching at other meets and I really liked his positivity and kindness. Emmaline went in for a visit day at the end of January 2021, the weekend before her second meet of the season with Capital. 

The whole meet season was strange and marred by various issues: their competition leotards weren't in at the first meet, meets were cancelled due to weather, coaches were not being positive, supportive and present during the meets, and all the craziness with Covid (being exposed, testing, etc.). She only had three meets, two regular meets and a State meet. By the second meet, we knew she was going to leave Capital, but it just made sense to finish out the season with them. She had a great meet at State (this time she had qualified) and we returned from State to have one final practice at Capital on Monday, at which point, I told them she was leaving. And she started practice the very next day at AcroTex. It was sad to say goodbye to her friends and some really great coaches, including her favorite, Coach Kelly. 

Things went well at AcroTex. She made friends quickly and had fun training. She would come home and say things like, "We played a game today!!" When she first arrived at AcroTex, she trained 20 hours, just like she had been upon leaving Capital. However, soon her schedule changed to 25 hours a week with a Saturday practice and it immediately began taking it's toll, so she went for a tryout at a different AcroTex location to try their Xcel program. 

Xcel is still a USAG program, but it typically trains fewer hours and it's less intense. However, there's an upper limit and she was already close to it. The Xcel program has levels Bronze through Diamond (with rumors about a Sapphire program coming). Bronze is similar to Level 1, Silver is similar to Levels 2-3, Gold is similar to 4-5, Platinum similar to 6-7 and Diamond similar to 7-8ish. (USAG DP goes to 10.) So she would have moved into Platinum over there (but the coach said that would have to take things out of her routines and I don't think Emmaline was happy about that). 

Ultimately, she decided she wanted to stick with Level 6 and then reassess at the end of season. Oh, right, Level 6 again. When she arrived at AcroTex, she wasn't where she needed to be to move from Level 6 to Level 7 so it was decided she would compete Level 6 again (broken wrist and Covid strike again). However, her routines would consist of increased skill levels to prep for moving up. She would compete a harder vault, she would have an extra element in her front tumbling pass on floor, along with a different (harder) leap pass as well as an additional skill on beam. Now, she didn't need any of these to meet the minimum for Level 6 scoring. She did fine with the bare minimum the previous year, but this was with the goal towards skilling-up to what she would need in Level 7. 

Her floor and beam routines were choreographed by Stacia, her awesome floor and beam coach, and she got a hand in some of the elements that went in it and was so happy to choose her own music. She loved both of them and was really excited to compete them in January-March 2022. Her meets with AcroTex were some of her best ever and she found herself on the podium multiple times with some all-time best scores both on individual apparatus and all-around. 

But I could tell she was getting restless. She complained about Saturday practice. She was frustrated by bars continuously and she was starting to look ahead at the skills coming up and was scared of them. Things were getting intense and 25 hours a week is just a lot of time in the gym and once meet season was over, she was unsure what she wanted to do. For awhile, she continued to go to practice until one day she just said she really thought she was done and so that was that. 

She finished up a couple of last weeks and on Friday, May 13, she went to her last practice, said goodbye to all her friends, and hung up her grips for the last time. And so here we are. We don't really know what's yet to come, but I know for sure that she learned so many lessons: perseverance, hard work, integrity, and what a toxic person looks like and when to leave (unfortunately). She got to enjoy friendship, camaraderie, and being part of a team. She tested herself in ways that many adults never do and learned to push herself past her comfort zone. And she left on her terms, after a successful final season in a supportive environment. All of this before the age of 14. I can't wait to see what she does next!