Yeah, I’m making up a word. So what.
Last night Déla had a sleepover. Well, she attended one. Saturday was the culmination of the fall gymnastics season. In the afternoon there as the championship meet and in the evening was the sleepover.
Where Déla has her gymnastics there are three different locations. There are different levels of skill, so three different leagues are formed, and within each of those there are multiple teams. This is a sort of non-competitive league, which seems to defeat the purpose, but that’s not the case.
Each skill level group competes against each other, and points are tallied and the team gets a score. It is a competition, but one that puts more emphasis on having fun and building the skills. Eventually if the kids gain enough skill and aptitude as well as having a desire they can eventually move on to a more competitive regional league, but this is a great starting point.
The championship meet was for the top two teams, and Déla’s team was one of them. Her team lost, but only by a couple of points. She was naturally disappointed, but knew that it was a good thing her team made it to the championship. Laura was able to take her and watch the championship and could speak directly to her performance. She nailed the vault, which is probably her weakest event. When I saw her afterwards I told her I was proud of her for sticking it through and to remember that even though her team got second place, that’s a heck of a lot better than the teams that didn’t even make it to the championship. And this was her first session (autumn) in the league, so she’s come a long way. That seemed to bolster her spirits a bit.
Later that evening it was the league sleepover event. I should have taken a picture. It was so crowded with all the gymnasts from that one location I thought it was a regular afternoon class. Every league team from that location was there. She dumped her stuff and was gone, disappearing into the mix of young girls, obviously happy.
When I picked her up this morning her hair was disheveled and the spring in her step was slowed quite a bit. Still, however, her mood was upbeat. She relayed how the event went, having a couple of muffins and grapes for breakfast, pizza for dinner, watching Cars 2, staying up until midnight, and building a fort to sleep in.
At home she sort of flopped on the couch and was so clearly tired Laura said she should go lay down, which she did. I went up an hour later to check on her, and she was out. I’d guess she napped close to 4 hours.
For the winter gymnastics quarter the league will simply practice, work out a new routine and then for the spring gymnastics session a new round of meets will take place. And whether or not her team makes it to the championship, I’m sure Déla will be ready for that sleepover.