End of the gymnastics year, that is, which coincides with the school year. So this is actually from this past June. Yeah, I’ve got a few videos on the back burner just waiting to be posted. Better get them out before 2013!

This was at the end of Emily’s first year of gymnastics. And she loved it. Loved it so much that she’s back for a second year and tearing up the spring floor – though the video below is no indication of her current level. Pay no attention to the false start(s). Don’t worry about the handstand-to-forward-flop. Disregard the asynchronicity of it all. Now please pay close attention to the joy in their hearts. And damn, that is one sharp cartwheel.

At the end of last year, the trainers at the club singled Emily out and suggested we place her in the accelerated program. That was very flattering, but we were very concerned with the time commitment. She was already going twice a week, for almost two hours each day. They wanted her to start coming three days a week, for two and a half hours each day, and every other Saturday. That would have meant going from 14 hours a month to 35 hours a month! And she was only five! So we said no, which I think was particularly hard for Jan given her competitive gymnast past. But she agreed. Not this year.

So now she’s the big fish in the little pond, performing stellar splits, cartwheels, and round-offs while the others flop around. As long as she doesn’t get bored, we think we’ll stick with this track. But ask me again in June.