I'll Tumble For You

Today is Mattingly's 3rd gynnastics meet of her "rookie" season. This one is extra special because it's her first home meet at the chalk box. The previous two she competed in were held in Uniontown, about 10 minutes East of the Canton/Akron Airport. Mattie did extremely well last time although her scores didn't reflect it. Here is a breakdown of her 4 events.

Floor 8.2- She hd a fairly good routine but was perhaps a little ahead of her music, still I watched plenty of girls do worse and receive higher scores.

Uneven Bars 7.3- This is actually a lower score than her first meet, but she was attempting a more difficult dismount and she got her leg hung up on the bar once. I actually watched another girl make the exact same two mistakes and get a 7.8.

Vault 6.9- This is the greatest 6.9 in the history of gymnastics. Why? Because in her first meet Mattie got a 4.0, (While great on her 1st quarter report card, not so good from the judges). Due to a number of issues she was unable, at that point to hit the spring board, plant her hands on the mat and do what is basically a hand stand over, without her coach doing most of the work. She is now getting over on her vault with no assistance, and just needs to get her legs straightened out.

Balance Beam 8.5- She blew me away with how good her beam routine was, and I tend to be critical and always find the one thing she could have done. We were really expecting a score in the 9's, but it didn't happen. I know I'm not a judge and there are plenty of little things I don't see, but beam was 6 feet in fornt of us and we watched 70+ girls on that beam, many of these girls looked pretty sloppy and received 8.5's or above. Karen asked Mattie's coach afterward about it and she said we never score well there and that she should do better in the home meet.

The meet starts at 2:45, so I hope to have an update this evening.